This morning while perambulating with Cosmo, I listened to a story on the local NPR station about some big youth green conference taking place in DC this week. One young girl interning for the organization summed up her arguments thus: If we do nothing, it’s an “eco-apocolypse;” if we pass comprehensive climate legislation, we call it “eco party fun time.”
This raises something I’ve always wondered about. What happens when a whole generation of kids is taught that if they get the legislation they need they’ll usher in environmental nirvana, or as scientists call it, Eco Party Fun Time (EPFT for short), but when the bill is signed they don’t notice any difference to the environment at all, for their entire lives, and, in all likelihood, they do experience less economic growth? The letdown could breed an awful lot of cynicism in many, and an addict’s need for ever greater heights of activism for a few.