Generation Green
By Justine

While Gen Xers are cleaning up after our affluenza binge, and trying to redeem ourselves from the moral debris of our gluttonous buying, using and trashing of stuff, a new generation is growing up learning from some of our missteps.

Generation Green’s (oh how I wish I had coined that term!) message is, like all the generations before it, a form of the rejecting past and current social norms and forging new ones. While Gen Xer’s (like me) cornered the market on apathy, the Gen G’s are a ravenously active and care deeply. Though I feel some guilt over helping to create the environmental mess we’re in today, I also know that disparate values between generations are the bedrock of social change.

You can see GenG’s live and in action in large and small, but certainly tangible daily ways. From bumper stickers to fashion, the shift is real. When the teenage bagger at the grocery store says, “where are your bags?”, that’s change. When my fourth grader tells his friend that Sarah Palin must be insane because she doesn’t believe in global warming, that’s change. When a first grader comments, “whoa, that’s heavily packaged” about a gift she received, that’s change. This generation has learned, from their parents, peers or media, to think about the environmental impact of everyday choices before they’re made. The idea that actions have consequences is one we all were taught as kids, but this posse is living the adage, and it’s cool to see. While generations before Gen G’s struggle to adjust to the eco-minded paradigm, Gen G’s know no other way. Without having to spend energy on changing themselves, they are the segment that will be most able to affect large-scale transformation of policy and cultural ethos.

So, what are they doing besides being aware (not that that’s a shabby start)? Well, the book “Generation Green” by Linda and Tosh Siversten (a mother and son team) may be the bible for this crowd. Written with teenage hipness and requisite acronyms and edgy graphics, this is a map for tweens and teens showing them the ropes of eco-mindedness on everything from eating mindfully to green careers, to activism that promotes policy change. Maybe we should all read this book.

Earth Day Network has just launched its “Green Generation” campaign, which invites people of all ages (but seems to be slanted to kids) to be a part of “a solution to urgent national and global issues, such as climate change or the world’s water crises” on it’s colorful website. The knowledge this generation is getting, and most importantly incorporating into their behavior, will result in a decidedly green cultural agenda. Even Nickelodeon airs green tips for kids, and green challenges, and kids are mesmerized. Gen G’s are all for fines for not bringing your own bags to the market, and for charging higher car registration fees for high emissions vehicles. They are well informed about the impact of oil drilling in Alaska and they ask the obvious, but dubious question, “what about the polar bears and seals?” and they’re inspired to walk or bike almost as a reflex. To Gen G’s, the term “tree hugger” is always meant as a huge compliment. This is change.

Many of my generation used to want a parade held in our honor if we biked to work, but we’re learning right along with Generation Green, and pretty soon we’ll be learning from them as well as relying on them to carry the environmental torch and revolutionize global guiding principles. This truly is change we can believe in.

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