So, Millennials, are we green, or are we not?
We believe that climate change exists and that humans are causing it. We support alternative energy and stricter environmental regulations. We’ll pay more for environmentally friendly products.
But, according to a new study that surveyed high school seniors and college freshmen over multiple decades, we’re much less likely than our Baby Boomer parents or even apathetic Gen X'ers to take action to help the environment. We're three times more likely than our parents' generation to say we’ve made “no personal effort at all to help the environment." And while 15 percent of Boomers say they “make quite a bit of effort” to help the environment, only 9 percent of our generation does. Fewer of us cut down on electricity, turn down the thermostat during winter, or drive less in order to save energy.
The authors of the study wanted to test out competing theories about Millennials, defined in this case as anyone born after 1982. Are we “Generation Me”—self-centered, self-promoting narcissists—or are we “Generation We”—socially minded, community-focused do-gooders? The study supports the former theory on a range of issues, especially environmental ones, where “some of the largest declines” in social-mindedness were found.
I believe the researchers understated our commitment to the environment, but it’s difficult to dismiss their findings outright, in part because some of its other conclusions do line up with my own conception of Millennials. The study found that we care more about image and fame than previous generations, which rings true to me—although for Millennials, fame might mean “famous on the Internet” rather than world-renowned. We care more about what our colleagues think of us than previous generations did, and being a boss or a community leader is more important to us. We care less about “developing a meaningful philosophy of life,” which makes sense because that sounds lame—a problem Dustin Hoffman might have mulled in The Graduate while whiling his summer away in his parents’ backyard pool.
