I'm being a bit bombastic here, and I'm not sure the exact results of the survey can be trusted, but we know at least some percentage of kids are really frightened by the potential for environmental disaster. Personally, I'm frightened by this statement from the article:
Interestingly enough, kids vex over the state of the planet, especially when it came to safe and clean air and water, regardless of any pro-environmental measures on the part of their parents. A staggering 95 percent of the children surveyed said their parents pitched in by recycling, using rechargeable batteries, and conserving water and electricity.
It's amazing to me that whoever wrote this never considered the possibility that "parents pitching in" is exactly what is contributing to the children's fears. It's like saying, "In a surprise finding, Catholic children fear hell more than all other children combined, despite the fact that the religion shows them exactly how to avoid hell." It only makes sense if you accept the premises of Catholicism and believe in hell.
If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck...
This is what I worry most about with my two oldest entering public school in the fall. But if anyone's going to be able to combat enviroprop, it's me and my wife. (Incidentally, I'm not sure how new this phenomenon since I distinctly remember an episode of Family Ties where Jen obsesses to the point of craziness about the ozone hole. I remember it only because it led me to buy a copy of 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Planet and then shortly after a copy of Dixie Lee Ray's Trashing the Planet. So that episode had exactly the opposite effect as its writers intended. :-) )
ReplyDeleteBill: I know it was around in the 80's, but it was not gospel like it is now. Of course, those parents on Family Ties were total hippies too. I don't think that happened in Growing Pains. :)
ReplyDeleteFor history and discussion of the environmentalist movement (among two others), listen to "Cultural Movements: Creating Change," three lectures presented at OCON 2008. It is available on the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights website, under PARTICIPATE, ACTIVISM, on the right-hand side of the page. Or do a search on the site for the title.
ReplyDeleteI am 65. I have seen the growth of the movement from the 1950s (caring about the parks) to what it is today. It has been a process akin to dropping a drop of black ink into a cup of water. The drop sinks but diffuses as it goes. After awhile, the whole cup of water is tinted. There is a similar "Brownian movement" in culture. And we are seeing the results today.
Having observed the Environmentalist movement from the sidelines, but only anecdotally, I would say that Environmentalism is a religion -- that is, a whole worldview based on mysticism -- for some individuals in that movement, but not for all. Those who do not treat it as their worldview treat it instead as a supplement to another worldview -- as with Christian environmentalists and Marxist environmentalists.
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