Pint-Size Eco Police: The New Generation of Greenies

These days, adults are hardly the only ones thinking about how they can conserve more water, use less energy or recycle that widget when they’re done with it. Kids are being brought up in an increasingly more environmentally responsible environment, and many of them are taking their family’s efforts to go green very seriously.  So seriously, in fact, that they’re berating their parents for driving non-hybrid cars and forgetting to bring reusable bags to the grocery store.  The New York Times reports on the growing trend of ‘pint-size eco police’, kids for whom Earth Day is practically a religious holiday.

From The New York Times:

Ms. Ross’s children are part of what experts say is a growing army of “eco-kids” — steeped in environmentalism at school, in houses of worship, through scouting and even via popular culture — who try to hold their parents accountable at home. Amid their pride in their children’s zeal for all things green, the grown-ups sometimes end up feeling like scofflaws under the watchful eye of the pint-size eco-police, whose demands grow ever greater, and more expensive.

They pore over garbage bins in search of errant recyclables. They lobby for solar panels. And, in a generational about-face, they turn off the lights after their parents leave empty rooms.

“Kids have really turned into the little conscience sitting in the back seat,” said Julia Bovey, a spokeswoman for the Natural Resources Defense Council, a leading environmental group that recently worked with Nickelodeon on a series of public service announcements and other programming called “Big Green Help.”

Though this seems a bit Orwellian – one might wonder if we should be frightened that these little Spies are going to report us to the Party for thoughtcrime – at least it’s for a good cause, right? It should make us feel better that the younger generations are so dedicated. Stop looking at me like that, kid, I’m doing the best I can, I swear!

Link [NY Times]

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