I opened my Christmas cards… on Easter.
They had been sitting there for months. Stacked neatly, visible, but untouched. Not hidden. Not forgotten. Just sitting there.
Every time I walked past them, I knew they were there. I knew I would get to them eventually. But “eventually” kept getting pushed to tomorrow. Then next week. Then sometime after that.
And on Easter, I finally opened them.
And it hit me.
This is exactly how we treat a lot of things in life.
Not just small things like mail. Bigger things. Important things. The things we know matter, but somehow never quite make it to the top of the list.
We acknowledge them.
We talk about them.
We even convince ourselves we care about them.
But we don’t actually do anything about them.
And the longer they sit there, the more normal it feels.
Until one day, you finally open them and realize how long they’ve been waiting.
This is part of why I’m starting this blog.
And honestly, it’s long overdue.
I’ve been thinking about doing this for years. More than 15, actually. It was first suggested to me back when blogging was at its peak, when it probably would have reached more people than it will now.
But just like those Christmas cards, it became something I would “get to.”
Days turned into months.
Months turned into years.
And eventually, it just became something I had always meant to do.
Until now.
My name is Chris Vasco. I work in environmental science, specifically in stormwater, water quality, and municipal systems. But beyond my profession, I’ve always been someone who notices patterns, especially the ones most people walk right past.
And one of the biggest patterns I see is this:
We’re incredibly good at appearing like we’re addressing problems without actually addressing them.
In environmental policy, this shows up everywhere.
We implement partial solutions.
We celebrate small wins.
We check boxes.
But often, the root problem is still sitting there, like a stack of unopened mail.
Take invasive vegetation, for example. We know which plants are harmful. We know how aggressively they spread. We know the long-term ecological damage they cause.
And yet many are still sold. Still planted. Still everywhere.
We acknowledge the issue, but we don’t fully act on it.
Just like those Christmas cards.
This blog is where I explore those kinds of patterns.
Environmental issues.
Policy gaps.
Real-world observations.
But also life. How we think, how we delay, how we convince ourselves we’re making progress when we’re not.
I’ll also talk about something more personal: living with inattentive ADHD.
Because if I’m being honest, those unopened cards are part of that too.
And I know I’m not the only one.
This isn’t going to be a polished, corporate blog.
It’s going to be real.
Sometimes observational.
Sometimes analytical.
Sometimes uncomfortable.
But always honest.
Because sometimes the things we avoid the longest
are the things that tell us the most.