Environmental awareness across generations – Climate crisis, communication, strategies
The prospect of a dire future stemming from the climate crisis has undeniable impacts on the mental health of Generation Z and a few younger age groups. Although the global environmental crisis has generally become an inescapable problem by the 2020s, many people feel the lack of accessible and meaningful discussion on the topic, even though there would be a serious need for it. In the next three articles, we aim to fill this gap, covering thoughts of students interviewed at different faculties of ELTE, two experts researching ecological topics, and Hungarian fashion designers whose efforts, actions and work are driven by the goal of promoting and supporting sustainability. To begin our series of articles, first we will delve into the approach of university students to investigate how they perceive the problem of the climate crisis.
Can we take meaningful action? It isn’t entirely up to us… or is it?
The students interviewed by the author of this article all feel like they are largely left alone with the problem. According to them, official information and calls to action that can be found on various media platforms is not motivating or effective since it is either kind of a scare tactic or the exact opposite, it makes the problem seem something trivial. Materials that are available online rarely point beyond the topic of collecting rubbish selectively or saving energy, hardly ever extending their analysis or discussion to educate us further. They fall short when it comes to cogency and meaningful communication. It is suggested that we, conscious consumers and citizens, are responsible to act while the same source will directly contradict itself by stating that the outcome is solely controlled on a global, political and economic level. To illustrate this duality, I will try to put the issues relevant at the individual level into a broader context.
At an individual and small community level, most people are looking for locally available options, answers and practical applications which they can reasonably incorporate into their lives. The majority of those interviewed are city dwellers, except for students who come from the agglomeration to study, but they spend the majority of their time in the city as well, meaning they experience environmental issues in an urban environment too. This experience revolves around two important topics. One of them is food and material possessions (clothes, household items, etc.), the other focuses on generational differences.
Food production is one of the areas that is most directly related to climate change. However, access to high-quality, locally produced food highlighted in environmentally conscious discourses is not evident. The conditions for home production are rarely given and only partial, at best. Although people who are more enterprising even try to grow some vegetables and spices on the balcony of their block of flats, the majority buys food in shops, or relies on healthy produce coming from their parents living in the countryside. There is an undeniable preference and demand for own or locally produced food over imports, and for locally prepared food over ready-made products. However, the broader context only partially reflects these aspirations. Canteens operating in Hungarian public educational institutions have to source – currently – 60% of ingredients from businesses that have short supply chains, however the definition of a short supply chain gives way to taking advantage of many loopholes when it comes to the classification of crops and products coming from further away. This is partly a necessity, because Hungarian agriculture is limited in its preparation for environmentally conscious solutions. Local economy cannot solve the supply of raw materials even at the level of the canteens, they cannot provide the necessary quantity. A positive development must be mentioned as well, research and strategies for canteens take dietary habits, at the local and even family level into consideration, often emphasising the importance of traditional processing methods.1
In addition to the origin of food, young people are seriously concerned with how it is transported and packaged. Several people have mentioned that packaging-free stores are still not frequented, and basket communities didn’t go viral either. All of this which is surprising considering that these options are not only environmentally friendly solutions, but also make good quality more affordable. On the bright side, they feel like their age group is extremely successful in reducing the use of nylon and plastic. They opt for canvas bags and encourage their older family members to do so as well. One of the reasons they like to highlight this is because cutting down on plastic waste is starting to become a global phenomenon thanks to governmental regulations, such as packaging restrictions of various store chains, the use of biodegradable plastic, or the gradual reduction of single-use nylon shopping bags. Paper products that are starting to spread with the aim of replacing plastic are also met with disapproval. The ever more frequent use of paper cups and plates in cafes and restaurants is viewed as a shift towards another harmful extreme.
Generation(s) and approach(es)
Many young people point out that their parents’ generation does not see the importance of the environmental crisis, their approach is rather apathetic or sceptical and according to them the magnitude of the problem is exaggerated, a sort of trend. This is in line with numerous bodies of literature, according to which generation Z’s parents were socialised in “eco-ignorance”. They were inspired by trends that were able to utilise natural resources to a never-before-seen degree using technological innovations, thus ensuring a better quality of life in many parts of the world. Plastic also enjoyed its heyday, it became “trendy” to drink bottled water and soft drinks, while certain things became “embarrassing”, e.g. to wear home-made, renewed clothes. The parents’ generation embodies irresponsible environmental pollution, even if they didn’t do it consciously. According to some young people, the environmental ignorance of the older generations could mainly stem from a lack of information, but they also lack the motivation for a deeper understanding. These views brought younger generations closer to their grandparents who also faced serious crises and challenges. Although the environmental crisis is not only a recent problem, the grandparents’ lifestyle is also in many ways similar to the current, eco-conscious lifestyle. When students have awakened memories of their grandparents’ generation, they often mentioned counterexamples to waste production, such as growing seedlings in empty sour cream cartons. Perhaps it is also due to this nostalgia that many people, skipping a generation, learn every-day, environmentally friendly practices from their grandparents: from cleaning products that can be produced at home, to sewing and mending clothes, cooking, and in fewer cases (in rural environments) even farming. The revived tradition of composting is something many young people attribute to their grandparents too, as well as an even older practice of permaculture gardening.
Finally, we must mention an interesting element of the generational aspects of the climate crisis, which was also highlighted by several people. The generational differences can be also clearly perceived by taking a look at Generation Alpha. These “kids” talk and know (!) more about the topic and are even more anxious, so it is no coincidence that “the face of environmental activism today is a 16-year-old girl who can be anyone, I don’t necessarily mean Greta Thunberg” – as one student put it. This idea can be confirmed by ecofeminism as a trend, and literature also supports the concept that being eco-conscious is also strongly related to femininity. As in the case of techniques that do not exploit the environment, in the question of gender too, very old views embedded in religious ideas can be observed.
Young people think and talk a lot about the climate crisis and demand relevant information. Several people mentioned that they would like to read and hear more content on the topic. We are pleased to announce that Environmental Questions, Community Answers. A humane environmental science textbook has been published this year. Judit Farkas’s – who is one of the authors and editors of the book – findings will be summarised in the following article.
Ildikó Tamás
HUN-REN BTK NTI Senior researcher,
author of fashion antropology podcast.
- Thanks for the information to Anikó Báti (HUN-REN BTK NTI) ↩︎
This article was published as part of PERSPECTIVES – the new label for independent, constructive and multi-perspective journalism. PERSPECTIVES is co-financed by the EU and implemented by a transnational editorial network from Central-Eastern Europe under the leadership of Goethe-Institut. Find out more about PERSPECTIVES: goethe.de/perspectives_eu.
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible.
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