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Costing the Earth

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Fresh ideas from the sharpest minds working toward a cleaner, greener planet

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Costing the Earth: Greening the Teens

Greening the Teens

04/05/2011

BBC Radio 4 - Costing the Earth, Greening the Teens

Costing the Earth finds out if teenagers can really learn to turn the lights out.

Is the future really green? Can computer games, mobile alerts and social media help make teenagers care about the environment, or are they already ahead of the curve?

Take your average teenagers, Trudy (13, loves sports and Twilight), Liam (16, loves computer games) and Craig (19, loves cars). So much of what they enjoy seems to be energy intensive but do this demographic really use more power? How do you get them to care about the environment they are going to inherit? That is the experiment Birmingham University are about to undertake. Can computer games, mobile alerts and social media create a generation of greens or are they already ahead of the curve? Farmworld is the most popular application on Facebook but could a real world equivalent to keeping and trading your animals online really help to change attitudes? Nestle have committed themselves to making the palm oil they use more eco-friendly after a Greenpeace spoof kitkat advert went viral but can teenagers pre-occupation with all things online always produce such results.
And should the kids really have to shoulder the responsibility, after all it was probably their gas guzzling, gadget consuming baby boomer parents and grandparents that created the problem. The UK Youth Climate Coalition is launching a long-term campaign, which will see all 650 Members of Parliament in the UK 'adopted' by a young person in their constituency, in an attempt to keep climate change at the top of their agenda. How successful will their campaign be, even if the kids are alright can they really affect change at the top.

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