from YAPRap November-December 2007
by Alastair, Freya & Imogen Wadlow
If you were born between 1980 and 1994, then you, like me, are part of generation Y. Apparently, we are the troubled generation who care only about ourselves. We respond to irony, satire and the unvarnished truth. We have been brought into a world of technology, conflict and obsession with the media. Australian Gen Y are among the world's biggest users of drugs and alcohol.
According to a 2007 survey of business owners in Australia, members of Gen Y are "demanding, impatient and bad at communicating". Almost 70 per cent of those surveyed said their Gen Y workers were unsatisfactory, had poor spelling and grammar and little understanding of corporate behaviour. However, most employers also praised the energy and charisma of their Gen Y workers - so it's not all bad.
But no generation before has ever had to worry about the death of the planet quite like us.
This isn't going to be the atomic Armageddon anticipated by the baby boomers. Instead, Mother Earth is heading for the terminal ward. We will watch her gasp for oxygen through a toxic veil of PCBs and CO2. We will observe her weaken, become frail and less able to cope. Her temperature is rising and her systems failing and yet we stand passively by, making the odd gesture of a wind farm here, an energy-saving light bulb there, and maybe an ad campaign to make us feel better.
One of my sisters is very vocal in her belief that the older generations have "stuffed the planet" and our generation is going to be left with the task of living with the problems and simultaneously fixing them. She thinks the baby boomers are merely tinkering with solutions rather than giving the environment their full attention - and the Gen Xers are too busy paying for their plasma TVs.
It's amazing how many older people come up to me and my sisters and say, "We're counting on your generation to fix things".
Hang on, but we're all waiting for you to fix it! Where are the demonstrations of the '60s? The marches, the rallies? This is our planet we're fighting for now.
One day soon, our supply of fossil fuels will run out. Not surprising really as the population of our planet has quadrupled in just the last 100 years.
Around the world, we use 80 million barrels of oil - a day! North America uses nearly a quarter of that. Closely followed by China and then Japan. Our population and consumerism is spiralling out of control and so is the demand for fossil fuels.
It is total and utter madness to hear the figures I've just given you, and then go to the shops and buy breakfast cereal from Canada, lollies from Brazil, tins of pineapple from Thailand and everything else from China.
As a member of Generation Y, I want to be part of a creative, intelligent and innovative nation that is facing up to the challenges of climate change.
My sisters and I are trying to do our bit by communicating to our age group about the environment through our Planet Patrol website. The best way to change behaviour is to educate so our motto is: "Communicate, Educate, Motivate and Activate".
Since starting Planet Patrol, we have come across many, many kids who care deeply about our future and are not afraid of getting their hands dirty.
Some have spent hours alongside us planting trees and cutting down privet. So much for the "uncaring generation".
So don't worry about Gen Y too much, the future is in good hands. But these hands are yet to hold any power in positions of politics or business, so we are relying on those who do to make brave, wise decisions - and to make them now. Because global warming is not an issue for the future; look at the climate, talk to our farmers. Don't despair, but do please act now.
[This is an edited extract of a speech Alastair gave to the Sydney Architecture Festival in October 2007.]
Planet Patrol
Alastair, 14, and his sisters Imogen and Freya, both 12, run the website - written BY kids FOR kids. Read about the latest environmental technology, fascinating plants and animals and discover how you can make a big difference by doing some really little things.
