The green generation
Posted by DavidM in Climate change | 8 February 2008
There have long been keen environmentalists but today's adult population is the first to be made really aware of our impact on the environment and to start adopting greener behaviour. We are the generation that has driven corporations and governments to set targets to reduce CO2 output, energy consumption and pollution.
But I don't think we are the green generation. All this reduce, re-use, recycle is new to us and it's taking time and focus to make it happen. We are starting what the generation after is going to finish.
My children are growing up knowing from their first years that the world is changing because of global warming, that some of the terrible things that are happening are caused by man and that it's up to us - or them - to change it.
At school they learn about efficiency and recycling, they are encouraged to do their bit. And because all this starts from such a young age it seems normal to them.
Yes naturally they want to play with their Wii, Playstation or X-box, but they are conscious these things use electricity which is bad. My son is in primary school but already unplugs the Wii instead of leaving it on standby as a matter of course.
Our generation's role is two-fold. To minimise the impact of climate change as much as we can and, perhaps more importantly, to embed environmentalism into the next generation so that they are prepared to take the difficult decisions that our generation shirks.
Image source: SXC
