On Earth Day -- a 24-hour period dedicated to celebrating our
planet, encouraging environmentalism and insisting that it's super-easy
to be green -- Slate's Emily Bazelon asks whether we might be laying it on a little thick.
She
notes that the daughter of one of her colleagues is already, at the
ripe age of six, really tired of hearing about how important it is to
be environmentally friendly. Sure, she does all the right things, like
recycling. But at the same time, part of her yearns to rebel and do
something totally anti-establishment, like maybe use a styrofoam cup or
throw something plastic into a regular trash can.
Bazelon's essay
makes me wonder whether other children feel the same way. Is it
possible we are raising a generation of individuals who -- after
hearing everyone from their parents to their teachers to the hosts of
their favorite TV shows constantly spouting inconvenient truths --
wishes they could be anti-environmentalists? Or, to put it more
bluntly, have we Al Gore-d our kids to death?
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