The Young and the Green

I came across a Greenpeace volunteer on the streets near NYU the other day, and stopped out of sheer curiosity to his pamphlet waving.

He engaged me in a fairly lengthy conversation about Greenpeace in the U.S. claiming that the membership figures here are lower than they are anywhere else in the world (I have not bothered to check the figures).

Greenpeace’s drive is now to ostensibly recruit more members on the United States and in this respect, it is focusing more on students.

Accurate or not, I don’t know.
But, the theory seems to make sense intuitively.

Many environmental organizations, including ecotourism organizations are focusing on younger demographics to spread the word.

Think about it – they are the ones who will “inherit” the future and “the world,” and therefore may have more of a vested interest in saving the planet.

Also, drawing from anecdotal experience, I have heard many environmentalists say that younger people are willing to make more of the sacrifices in terms of foregoing “energy-intensive” pleasures than their parents and grandparents.

This is especially true of ecotourism which is ostensibly drawing more and more from a younger market pool, because doing with fewer material conveniences is something the younger generation is able to handle better.

Time alone can tell………