Greenpeace

It's become fashionable for older folks to bemoan the fact that youth activism today isn't what it was in the 60s era; the New York Times article "Generation Q" by columnist Thomas Friedman, may be the most prominent example, but there are many others.  The gist of these peoples' arguments is that young people today are quiet (hence Generation Q), meek, and in awe of authority; they just don't take to the streets and protest the way they did in the good old 60s. 

Well, it's time to set the record straight for Generation P - Generation Pass-the-Buck.  One characteristic of the various articles and editorials criticizing youth's inaction is that the authors almost always describe some personal experience visiting a college campus, make observations about the meekness of students there, and blythely assume that what they saw there represents the entirety of American student-dom (there's one priceless bit in Friedman's article where he implies that his daughter and her college just must represent every college student and campus in the country).  I have to ask these authors: what if you looked at a few random representatives of the previous generation (or generations)?  What would you see?  Perhaps a disturbingly large number of parents who are worried about their children's futures, but doing precious little about it.  How many "baby boomers" today are seriously rallying against global warming, campaigning to stop a new generation of coal plants from being built, or even writing to their representatives in Congress on a regular basis?  Is it really the younger generation that deserves the criticism?  What Thomas Friedman didn't mention in his article was that, even as he wrote, thousands of young people across the country were preparing for "PowerShift 2007" - a mass-convergence on Washington DC in support of firm action against global warming.  This month will see PowerShift Cascadia take off in Oregon - I will be one of many students from the Northwest gathering in Eugene to strategize for a clean energy future; and the event will end by dispatching student delegations to Salem and Olympia to lobby the state legislatures.  Meanwhile, student groups all over the country have been an integral part of the campaign to stop new coal plants, jumpstart fuel efficiency in Detroit, and bring on the green revolution.  Maybe Thomas Friedman should have looked beyond the actions of his daughter. 

It might seem crazy to talk about baby boomers "taking to the streets" to protest global warming - surely that's the domain of hot-headed college students.  But Generation Pass-the-Buck is overly eager to shift the blame for a dearth of activism onto young people.  By pretending that rabble-rousing is the job of students alone, and writing thoughtful essays on how the youth at this or that college are not living up to the 60s ideal, older folks neatly absolve themselves of the responsibility of doing anything about global warming themselves.  Isn't there a certain irony in this?  Especially when you consider that it is the older generation that sculpted the messed-up world we now find ourselves in?

Passing the buck to the younger generation is a great way to avoid a giant guilt trip.  When you think about it, Generation P had a chance to change the direction of national policy a long time ago.  They didn't take it, and now their children's futures are blighted as a result.  For Generation P, confronting that reality head-on might mean admitting that it's time they made up for opportunities blown.  How about a crowd of baby boomers outside every state legislature building, holding signs that say "Global Warming Threatens my Children"?  What about a massive gas-guzzler boycott led by adults - after all, young people with their student loans the ones driving most of the Sequoias and Tundras today?  College students everywhere are working to reduce greenhouse emissions from their respective campuses - how about a "Workplace Climate Challenge" led by private-sector employees?  Why not?  Is it just that Generation P is used to a comfortable life revolving around work and home?  Perhaps the idea that preserving a livable planet for their children will mean taking to the streets themselves is just too much to face.  Yet these people are rightly worried about the world they are leaving their progeny, so they circumvent the dilemma by shifting the blame onto students themselves.

Friedman-esque editorial writers are fond of reminding us that global warming, the oil war, and other intertwining issues present us with perhaps the greatest challenge every confronted by this country.  What they fail to realize, however, is that a problem of these proportions means every generation will have to pitch in to solve it.  They'd like to pretend that by passing the buck on to young people, they can negate the massive responsibility they themselves hold for contributing to climate change.  It's hard to admit that you messed up, and that your mistakes are now having dire consequences.  It can be daunting - down-right terrifying - to face up to what really needs to be done.  Generation P is in a tough place, no doubt about it.  But I think it's time they woke up to the reality of their situation.  They future of my own generation may depend on it.

-Nick