Future generations will look at current older generations in the same way older generations now view those who sent children up chimneys, according to the head of The Wildlife Trusts.
Craig Bennett says that the way that recent and current older generations have allowed environmental degradation – from climate change and nature degradation to plastic and air pollution – will be viewed harshly by people in the future who will have to live with consequences that, in many cases, will be increasingly devastating.
“Future generations will look back at current older generations and the way we treat the environment in the way that we now all look back at Victorians and wonder how on earth they could send children up chimneys,” Mr Bennett told i.
“I’ve no doubt that the way we treat the environment now, living in an utterly unsustainable manner will, before long at all, be seen for the true horror it is,” he said.
Mr Bennett made his comments as a new survey provided further evidence that younger people are taking the lead on taking action to tackle climate change.
The survey of 2,074 UK adults found that 18 to 24-year-olds – a subsection of Generation Z that could be described as the “Greta generation”, after 20-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg – are the champions of sustainability.
The poll found that 64 per cent of that age group are principally guided by sustainability when shopping, while 43 per cent say energy efficiency is the first they look for when purchasing a new battery-powered or motorised product, according to the research from Swytch Technology, a maker of kit to convert regular bikes to e-bikes.
Meanwhile, 19 per cent say they plan to walk and cycle more and 60 per cent are pursuing a career in sustainability, found the survey, conducted by the Yonder agency.
Swytch Technology founder Oliver Montague said the increasingly sustainable behaviour seen in younger people paves the way for a revolution in travel and shopping.
“Gen Z has risen as the hero in the race to meet net zero. From demanding action on climate change from those in power to making eco-conscious decisions on where they spend or what type of company they work for, Gen Z is determined to make the world a greener place,” he said.
“From apps such as Depop and Vinted – which allow users to buy secondhand clothes – shooting up in popularity to terms such as ‘slow fashion’ entering the retail lexicon, Gen Z are revolutionising our consumer habits.”
Mr Bennett, who was not involved in the study, says the research tallies with what he has seen over the years.
He has noticed that even older people who are environmentally conscious in some ways can often be blind to or disinterested in other sustainability issues.
He said: “The number of times I meet someone who might tell me how good they are at recycling and then in the next few sentences will talk about having yet another foreign holiday or trip that year.
“Younger people tend to see the connections between issues – not least connections between the environment and social justice or climate and nature in a way that older generations tend to, at best, see as separate. And, at worst, older generations cannot see the connections between them at all and consider some aspects of social justice as entirely separate from sustainability,” he adds.
Emphasising that history does not judge inaction kindly, he said that a generational failure to tackle climate issues could be looked back at in the same way as for previous generations who tolerated slavery.
Mr Bennett continued: “In my experience, sometimes older generations think that certain changes just cannot be done, it’s not possible and will rule things out. Where younger generations typically will believe change is possible.”
“Twenty years ago I was being told, even by experts, that electric vehicles would never work, that you’d never have offshore wind at scale – all of these things we see now. And we’ve actually seen a far faster change in diet in this country, reductions in meat eating, for example, than a lot of people thought was possible. Nor is it that it’s necessarily an ‘either/or’ – a lot of younger people might eat less meat but they’re not necessarily going full veggie, or vegan, either.
“Older generations tend to see issues a bit more black and white whereas younger generations tend to have a bit more of a system level understanding of this whole agenda – that’s what I’ve found over many years of interacting with public audience at public meetings in a range of different situations, time and again,” Mr Bennett said.
The survey findings in full:
Sixty-four per cent of Gen Z agree that environmentally friendly initiatives have the greatest influence over the brands they shop from (compared to 53 per cent of the general population, 51 per cent of Millennials and 57 per cent of Boomers).
Moreover, 23 per cent of Gen Z no longer use their cars for short journey (compared to 22 per cent of the general population, 22 per cent of Millennials and 17 per cent of Boomers), while 19 per cent say they plan on engaging in more active modes of transport – including walking and cycling (compared to 15 per cent of the general population, 17 per cent of Millennials and 1 per cent of Boomers).
And 60 per cent of Gen Z are hoping to secure a career in sustainability (compared to 55 per cent of Millennials, 25 per cent of Boomers and 46 per cent of the general population).
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