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<title>green consumption – AftertheMillennials</title>
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<title>How Will Our Youngest Generation Consume Energy?</title>
<link>https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2015/02/16/how-will-our-youngest-generation-consume-energy/</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Feb 2015 20:20:27 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Anne Boysen]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[forecasts]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Generation Z]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[green consumption]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Homeland generation]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[scenario]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://afterthemillennials.com/?p=3549</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<p>Ford’s recent report on Generation Z fails to mention the most obvious elephant in the room: Teens don’t care about cars anymore. Statoil recently published three scenarios for energy use in 2040. Not even the most low-carbon scenario envisioned the possibility that fossil fuels could constitute less...</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2015/02/16/how-will-our-youngest-generation-consume-energy/">How Will Our Youngest Generation Consume Energy?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p>
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Ford’s recent <a href="https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2014/12/29/2015-ford-trend-report-explores-generation-z.html">report on Generation Z</a> fails to mention the most obvious elephant in the room: Teens don’t care about cars anymore.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Statoil recently published three scenarios for energy use in 2040. Not even the most low-carbon scenario envisioned the possibility that fossil fuels could constitute less than 75% of total energy consumption in 25 years.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">It is an irony that when it comes to energy and transportation, most generational projections, consumer forecasts and scenarios are carried out by large companies. These quite often have vested interest in keeping status quo. And – surprise – most of these forecasts and scenarios project basically more of the same. Even a neutral institution like the <a href="http://www.energypost.eu/iea-exaggerates-costs-underestimates-growth-solar-power/">International Energy Agency</a> has been accused of failing to see the exponential trajectory in renewable energy. Even the “wildcard scenarios” stemming from these companies are typically conservative, well within the established industrial paradigms, the same paradigms that are starting to crumble around us. But we know changes are coming. And not only because the alternative could be a climatic apocalypse. Not because we are going to run out of oil any time soon. But because deep structural changes could make fossil based energy largely superfluous very soon. Everybody who hasn’t lived under a big rock or in a community of <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/07/rolling_coal_conservatives_who_show_their_annoyance_with_liberals_obama.html">coal rollers</a> for the past few years, have probably seen news reports revealing that the automobiles are quickly losing its all allure as a rite-of-passage object among teenagers today. Likewise, you might also pay heed to projections from architects, urban planners, forecasters in the renewable energy development as well as to signs that the whole infrastructure that underpins the current energy paradigm is awaiting some disruptive changes in the near future.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Most of the reports from both sides of the energy sector (fossil and renewable) focus on incremental projections of known and linear variables. For example, Statoil seems to base its projections on known demographic and economic trends of growth in population and income in emerging markets. These factors are not wrong in themselves of course, but disruptive forces, and mitigating and often surprising factors are not mentioned in their scenarios. The whole point of using scenarios is to account for complex systems that elicit radically different futures – or futures that differ from the present in kind, not only in degree. If we only make scenarios that are different variations of status quo we risk doing what statisticians call a Type II error, or failing to reject a false null hypothesis, with the null hypothesis being that the forces at play today will be the same forces at play 30-40 years from now. If change was linear, and all we did was perfecting the trends of decades past, imagine what kinds of typewriters we would use and outrageous mullet hairstyles we would sport today!</p>
<p>This is why oil companies, auto industry and the IEA tend to grossly overlook cultural shifts, disruptive technologies and the synergies that come out of this. So are a few variables that we believe could change the energy landscape for the next generation <em>beyond</em> considerations already accounted for:</p>
<p><strong>1) Younger generations eschew car ownership.</strong></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>Car no longer a status symbol. </strong>We have already seen the new trends with millennials. The sharing economy is all the hype now, and there is a shift towards embracing access to things than ownership. Much of this trend is due to their relative young age and their tendency to postpone adult investments and lifestyles. But some of this effect is generational too. Millennials saw their boomer dads driving their Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry. “What’s the point of having big car loans just to flaunt money you on’t really have?”, will be the recurring question from Gen Z’ers who have much more realistic economic expectations than their parents.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>Alternative transportation and car-sharing.</strong> Instead they rely on public transportation, car-sharing services and bikes. This is a long-term trend and does not indicate some psychographic blip where Generation Z can be expected to pick up the car-craze their Millennial predecessors didn’t have. (Despite what some biased surveys from auto-companies tend to suggest) From 1998 to 2008 the percentage of young household without cars increased with 20% to 28%.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>Too expensive.</strong> Not only the recession, but a longterm trend of stagnation in income compromises young people’s ability to buy a car and maintain it. Due to the recent drop in oil prices we might see an uptick in car interest and the sales of cars have indeed been growing. Even with light trucks ahead of personal vehicles. But Christopher Leinberger, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution says low gas prices will not cause a complete bounce back: “Lower gas prices will not change what is a structural change in lifestyle and economic development decision making.”</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>The future of self-driving cars. </strong>We are probably decades away from self-driving cars becoming commonplace. Just getting the logistics together and changing out the fleet will take a long time. But self-driving cars have the potential of solving so many problems, relating to accidents, parking issues, inadequate public alternatives etc. that it seems inevitable. With self-driving cars all rational arguments for car ownership evaporate because door-to-door transportation can be ordered at the swipe of the finger. If you can order a self-driving car pick up with a few minutes’ notice, why store it in your garage – which you now can convert to an extra room? Self-driving cars will reduce a lot of idle time and possibly even the need for traffic lights. Moreover, fewer cars on the road means less pollution.</p>
<p><strong>2) Urbanization and industrialization. </strong>Every week over 1 million people move to cities. Urbanization will quadruple within the next few decades. A vast study of 274 cities in China, Africa and the Middle East reveals global urban energy use <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/life/nature-environment/1.637246">will more than triple by 2050</a>. Yet it is uncertain what effect future urbanization will have on energy consumption. On the one hand, urbanization is associated with industrialization and income increases, which traditionally has increased energy use. On the other hand, urbanization increases population density and allows for economies of scale. This is consistent with the findings of a recent report from Perry Sadorsky at <a href="http://faculty.smu.edu/millimet/classes/eco6375/papers/sadorsky%202013.pdf">York University</a>. Urbanization alone is expected to be positively correlated with both renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, partly due to commuting from suburbs. But where will all the cars park in these megacities? Good luck finding parking in Shanghai in 2030! A recent study led by the University of Maryland suggests that urban planning and transport policies can limit the future increase in cities’ energy use by about one-quarter. This would taper off some of the energy demand. Moreover, most urbanization studies are based on previously observed development models which might be obsolete in a post-industrial society. We are beyond the days when new city dwellers commute by car to and back from work in energy intensive factories. Most people now commute from the suburbs to the city for office space, but gradually urban areas are becoming residential and corporations establish campuses on the outskirts of town. Since many developing economies lack basic infrastructure today, they have <a href="http://www.cafamerica.org/africa-energy/">great opportunities for leap-frogging</a>, which would allow them to stake out completely new green trajectories that are difficult to implement in more established markets.</p>
<p><strong>3) Growth in the renewable </strong><b>energy market. </b>Germany is currently a leader in renewable energy consumption, and gets around 75% of its energy from renewables. And a recent report from <a href="http://www.nap.edu/catalog/18264/transitions-to-alternative-vehicles-and-fuels">National Academic P</a>ress indicates that technically we should <em>be able to</em> reduce 80% of our carbon dependency for motor vehicles by 2050. While history shows that inertia too often triumphs technological promise, something is amiss when such dramatic carbon reductions are not even mentioned in the petroleum sector’s scenarios. Either we can expect a lot of disruptive changes between 2040 and 2050 or Statoil’s scenarios are simply not visionary enough. Think about it this way, one hour of sunlight has the same volume of energy as a year of the world’s energy use. This means that once the capturing and storage of alternative energy sources is solved, the whole supply chain and access to resources is solved as well.</p>
<p><strong>5) * The collaborative economy and distributed energy. </strong>One of the emerging trends we see in developing countries in many areas is the development of self-sufficient energy production. There are many reasons for this. In many regions hooking up villages to the central electricity grid is cost-prohibitive. Microgrids can ameliorate blackouts and grid-failure, and become a better back-up system than generators. Future threats of cyberattacks and the realization that the whole U.S. powergrid system is as obsolete as the fossil-based energy it transmits, is another good reason for people to make the investments. Moreover, microgrids are going through exponential efficiency and cost development similar to what Moore’s Law is for computing, which lowers the barriers to installation. Once installed with integrated smartmeters in either multi-family dwellings or individual residences, it might be possible to sell energy back to the grid, helping people become <a href="http://www.worldwidewords.org/turnsofphrase/tp-pro4.htm">prosumers </a>and gain a much welcome extra income in a market where jobs and wages have stagnated.</p>
<p><strong>6) Telecommuting: cloud computing, virtual meetings and online education. </strong>We are living more of our lives online – including our professional lives. When Marissa Myers demanded all of her employees to physically work at Yahoo’s corporate office, this was a move against the trend rather than an example of its reversal. Since 2005 telecommuting <a href="http://globalworkplaceanalytics.com/telecommuting-statistics">increased by 80%.</a> Various studies have indicated that Generation Z is on track to becoming more entrepreneurial, and this too would reduce work-hour traffic since they are likely to work at home, in co-working communities or in local makerspaces. Travel for educational reasons diminishes too as more people take online education.</p>
<p><strong>4) Carbon bubble bust. </strong>This is possibly <a href="http://www.energypost.eu/historic-moment-saudi-arabia-sees-end-oil-age-coming-opens-valves-carbon-bubble/">why oil prices have imploded</a>.<b> </b>Oil was believed to be overpriced to begin with, but the dramatic drop in price could actually be a sign that OPEC-countries are trying to cash in before climate regulation and disruptive improvements in alternative energy start paying off. Because once that happens, there is going way back and oil will become obsolete. Or as Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani said: <em>“The Stone Age didn’t end for lack of stone, and the oil age will end long before the world runs out of oil”.</em></p>
<p>Neither Ford’s generational report nor Statoil’s oil scenarios reveal details on how they arrived at their projections, so it is possible that they have considered the variables mentioned above. But there are few signs that they did. Nor do they look outside of the conventional framework of expected linear development, when instead the most likely course is one of tipping points and exponential curves. Once we learn how to optimally harness and store renewable energy, the oil economy will go the way of rotary phones and typewriters.</p>
<p><strong>* Addendum 10-2015: </strong>The key obstacle toward renewable energy and microgrid conversion has been thought to be in limitation of storage deployment. Few households would accept intermittences that often occur with solar and wind, so storage of energy would become necessary for these systems to reach a tipping point in the market. But storage capacity and the price of lithium ion batteries (that also power EVs) are achieving breakthroughs and undergoing exponential improvements, see image below. Tesla’s Powerwall is already well-known. The Rocky Mountain institute believe storage improvements will make microgrids cost effective with 10-15 years.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A “wildcard scenario” should at least consider that possibility. However, signs of such considerations are completely absent. Strategic foresight is about establishing a multidisciplinary 360 degree field of vision where changes occurring in other spheres than your direct industry must be considered, and these are some of the most important methods underpinning <em>After the Millennials’</em> work. To learn more about Strategic Foresight, please read about <a href="http://afterthemillennials.com/strategic-foresight/">Our Methods</a>.</p>
<p><em style="line-height: 1.5;">Image: Point & Shoot @ 70MPH by Ellen Jantzen</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2015/02/16/how-will-our-youngest-generation-consume-energy/">How Will Our Youngest Generation Consume Energy?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p>
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<item>
<title>What Network Neutrality Means for the Next Generation</title>
<link>https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2014/11/12/net-neutrality-and-what-it-means-for-next-generation/</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 12 Nov 2014 05:58:20 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Anne Boysen]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[crowdsourcing]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[green consumption]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[innovation]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[media]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[network neutrality]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[sharing]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://afterthemillennials.com/?p=3236</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<p>If you already know what the internet of things is, keep reading. If you want to learn what the IoT revolution has to do with net neutrality and your children’s quality of life, watch this explanation from Jeremy Rifkin. Then ask yourself if the internet is really just...</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2014/11/12/net-neutrality-and-what-it-means-for-next-generation/">What Network Neutrality Means for the Next Generation</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p>
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you already know what the internet of things is, keep reading. If you want to learn what the IoT revolution has to do with net neutrality and your children’s quality of life, watch this explanation from Jeremy Rifkin. Then ask yourself if the internet is really just media or public utility of the future. <iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/XtQoPcscFts" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>Yesterday President Obama suggested to the FCC that the internet be reclassified as a public utility.</strong> In doing so, he signals that internet today must be considered key societal infrastructure. If we accept that the next evolutionary step for the internet is in the industries that today deliver utility services, this reclassification doesn’t seem too far out, does it?</p>
<p>Net neutrality proponents have long argued that keeping the internet an equal service for everyone is an essential cornerstone for innovations, participation entrepreneurialism and what has been dubbed the collaborative economy. With an unequal, multi-tiered system the opponents suggest, small start-ups and entrepreneur will have even lesser access to eyeballs and markets due to slow upload time etc. The critics of net neutrality argue that precisely because technology innovators have greater need for internet speed, a tiered system should be offered so low-level users are not forced to pay the same rate as heavy users. They argue that to incentivice the ISP providers invest in expanding its services fairly, they have to seek profit models that provide an autostrada for some, and congested city streets for others. This is the ongoing conflict.</p>
<p><strong>The engine of today’s economy is no longer made of atoms, but of bits.</strong> Since we rely so extensively on what we in the nineties called the “information superhighway”, decent internet access is to younger generations what horse power in automotive vehicles was to Boomers. It is not unreasonable to claim that the Internet today is what the railroad system, postal service and electricity were in the past.</p>
<p><strong>An occlusion of trends makes net neutrality particularly salient at the moment.</strong> As society we are transforming our ideas around how content should be created, delivered and consumed. Instead of clear distinctions between consumers and producers we are starting to see the emerging ‘prosumer’. You Tube celebrities, once regular users who just happen to build a viral fanbase now enjoy more fame and popularity among the youngest cohorts than traditional celebrities do, yet a testimony to the internet as the great equalizer. There are probably both <a href="http://www.sociologyencyclopedia.com/public/tocnode?id=g9781405124331_yr2011_chunk_g97814051243317_ss1-22">period effects and cohort effects</a> behind this trend, meaning that younger generations are particularly adapted to this new environment, but older generations are getting conditioned too. We are also starting to see the glimpse of a new type of internet that not only exchanges information between people, but also between nodes in a physical internet on which our lives are starting to depend. This could cause challenges for more centrally controlled manufacturers and utility providers. No wonder stakeholders are concerned!</p>
<p>There are more than technological reasons for why our younger generations are so interactive. But learning to maneuver a sophisticated web 2.0 at a young age has a lot to do with it. In the following paragraphs I will suggest some driving forces behind what could be called <em>The Collaborative Generation(s)</em>, and why I believe we might see a dramatic disruption of the youngest generations’ trajectory should the internet change its intrinsic power balance.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Horizontal power structures.</strong> Of course, power structures are no more horizontal now than they used to be, quite on the contrary. But younger generations have grown up with fewer hierarchical authority figures in their personal lives, and have come to expect horizontal structures elsewhere, hence the difficulties managers often have in managing millennials. From a net neutrality perspective this might be why in polls internet service providers come out as the most hated industries of all. Younger generations see them as little more than middle men skimming profits from a life-essential need.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong>Self-realization</strong>. Compared to only a third of generation X, 64% of generation Z craves fulfillment and opportunities for self-realization in their lives. This is why so many of this generation curate so much of their personas in online networks and why so many want to pursue entrepreneurial careers even though they don’t necessarily want the risks involved. You see this spirit every time you read about a barely teenage entrepreneur who spend long hours in the bedroom or local hackerspace coming up with products their elders can’t even begin to understand. We also see this tendency when companies find new ways to let them as customers individualize products and consequently influence corporate R&D.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong>User-Generated Feedback.</strong> Consumers can wield enormous power over companies by having access to a medium that allows them to post feedback, customer reviews and general social media buzz. In many ways social media has allowed civilian users to take over much of the power that once was reserved journalists and professional whistleblowers. Yelp, Google Local and Bazaarvoice are all examples of arenas that facilitate online open venues for honest conversations about products and services. Millennials and post-millennials are growing up taking access to this digital megaphone for granted. What would happen if a large company could pay an ISP to throttle, or even outright block, negative reviews or critical journalistic reporting?</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong>The Sharing Economy, aka Collaborative Economy.</strong> Esty, Uber and Airbnb are examples of new economic networks where people trade products and services directly instead of being mediated by large vertically integrated companies. The peer-to-peer economy is still in its infancy and depends on an equal playing field to work. Younger generations, often excluded from the traditional labor exchanges in today’s economy, have started to rely on this system to make ends meet. If the pipes providing communication in these networks are rigged in favor of big money, smaller traders on the fringe will become marginalized. If this happens, the p2p economy will continue to look like the online version of classified newspaper ads it quite frankly still looks like. It will never go to the next level and realize its full potential.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong>The internet of things</strong>. The days when the internet was merely about exchanging non-physical communication are about to end. The internet is starting to enter the brick-and-mortar world where our physical environment is regulated by sensors mediator over the internet. 10 years from now we might be receiving (and selling) our energy in distributed networks. We might organize transportation and production of physical items via logistic networks communicated via the internet. We might have sensors attached to almost everything which will regulate supply and demand and alert us when our attention is needed. We might completely bypass conventional supply chains for some of the goods and services we need on a regular basis. Even healthcare could be organized via the internet. Would you want your grandma’s pacemaker to rely on the slow lane because she can’t afford to pay her ISP for premium access? These are definitely wildcard scenarios, but they should not be dismissed.</li>
</ul>
<p>The three youngest generations living today, Gen X, Millennials and Homelanders, are the first ones to experience less financial security than their parents had at the same age. At the same time the large Boomer generation is about to enter retirement age without having the funds to provide for longer lives. In other words, almost every generation living today might have to look to technology to provide solutions that were not secured for them with the second industrial revolution. It is too early to say where this will lead, but net neutrality will continue to be a hot topic for a while. This is one of those major contingencies that determines the opportunities of the next generation, and After the Millennials will continue to monitor this space closely.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2014/11/12/net-neutrality-and-what-it-means-for-next-generation/">What Network Neutrality Means for the Next Generation</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p>
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<title>What Your Tween’s YouTube Celebrities Tell Us About the Homeland Generation</title>
<link>https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2014/08/02/what-your-tweens-youtube-celebrities-tell-us-about-the-homeland-generation/</link>
<pubDate>Sat, 02 Aug 2014 14:53:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Anne Boysen]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[entertainment]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Generation Z]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[green consumption]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Homeland generation]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[sharing]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://afterthemillennials.com/?p=3124</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<p>Although type of content varies between older and younger users in the same cohort, we see that the mobile screen is taking over as the electronic time killer of choice, while the big screen TV will eventually reduce to a – not irrelevant, but increasingly distant –...</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2014/08/02/what-your-tweens-youtube-celebrities-tell-us-about-the-homeland-generation/">What Your Tween’s YouTube Celebrities Tell Us About the Homeland Generation</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p>
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Although type of content varies between older and younger users in the same cohort, we see that the mobile screen is taking over as the electronic time killer of choice, while the big screen TV will eventually reduce to a – not irrelevant, but increasingly distant – number two. It is also common for children to use several screens at the same time.</p>
<blockquote><p>Every 22 minutes YouTube provides more content than Hollywood does in a year.</p></blockquote>
<p>This rapid production and turnover of content in user-generated media affects not only consumption by the viewer, but also the type and length of fame of the celebrities that the viewers root for. Many of the up and coming tween and teen stars make it into quasi-corporate channels like <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/television/meet-12-biggest-kids-stars-youtube-156180">AwesomenessTV</a> and earn fans for their charismatic humor and perceived earnestness.</p>
<p>With shortening attention spans the narratives are getting shorter and punchlines are coming more quickly. The humor is often goofier and less polished. Can you see a difference in preferences between post-Millennials and those older Millennial preferences displayed at the same age? Or is it just an age thing? Let’s have a look at the rising starlets in the post-millennial YouTube fanbase.</p>
<p><strong>The who’s who of emerging YouTubrieties: </strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/griernash">Nash Grier</a></strong>: T.J. Marchetti in imediaconnection called him the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0ltC_pVvsk">most important celebrity you’ve never heard of</a>. You might not have heard of him, but your daughter probably has.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong>Bunny Myers</strong> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/grav3yardgirl">Grav3yardGirl</a>: Humorous, expressive and insanely popular among kids. Reveals the gimmicky quality of many “As Seen On TV” products for her viewers.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/mirandasings08">Miranda Sings</a></strong>: played by comedian and actor Colleen Ballinger who took to youtube to build her fanbase. Her signature red lipstick is smeared amply around her lips and her character talks nasally about tings she knows little about.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/SevenSuperGirls">Seven Super Girls</a>:</strong> Tweens and teen girls create online episodes and sketches that take place around their homes.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/TeamAdaliaRose">Adalia Rose</a>:</strong> Adalia is a six-year-old girl in Texas with the rare disease Progeria in which the body ages abnormally quickly.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/DisneyCollectorBR">Disney CollectorBR</a>:</strong> Appealing to the very youngest ones, a mysterious woman with manicured nails and an even more mysterious accent unboxes and plays with toys popular with toddlers. Nobody knows who she is, but she has an immense following among the youngest viewers.</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>…and what they mean for their young audiences:</strong></p>
<p><strong>Humor.</strong> Sorry Disney and Nickelodeon, but your sitcom punch lines are getting some competition! Humor is enormously important to Gen Z or Homelanders kids. Rambunctious, unpolished, yet innocent humor. Not unfunny jibes in staged high-school hallways that rely on laugh tracks to announce their funnyness. But unrehearsed humor, yet one which reflects a childhood that has been largely protected from advertisement, profanity and commercial plot lines. Humor so soaked with self-ridicule and unpretentiousness that is forever lost on the over-confident female lead character with the long tresses (yea yea, we get it, Grrl power and all that.) and her goofy parents who dominate all cable TV sitcoms today. The path to this generation goes via real humor, not manufactured jokes and artificial punchlines. In fact when comparing desirable personality traits (for example in a study carried out by – tada – Nickelodeon!), Homelander kids are much more likely to say they want to be funny than popular or pretty than Millennials were at the same age. Other directed, down-to-earthy types are also the main role models they look up to, so if you’re in the entertainment industry, get your actors out of the styling rooms and up on the local improv stage. Or pick them up from the Central Station while they’re doing <a href="http://improveverywhere.com/page/2/">“Improv Anywhere”</a> with other public thrill seekers.</p>
<p>Miranda Sings makes videos of her comically talentless, egotistical and quirky character, often parodying popular hit songs her viewers are familiar with. Kids today are inundated with so many media messages of manicured, airbrushed and sound-enhanced perfection everyday. Subjecting this perfection to parody may actually bring some relief. Grav3yard Girl is another character with Homelander appeal. Refreshingly unpretentious and spunky, Grav3yard Girl (Bunny Myers) humors with theatrical facial mimicry and sardonic wit and kids find her videos irresistibly entertaining.</p>
<p><strong>The Heartthrob:</strong> Nash Grier is the pre-teen’s romantic fantasy Justin Bieber used to be became a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissus_(mythology)">Narcissus’ water reflection</a> hypnotized him to a point that the young tween girls ditched him. Nash is an ingenuous homeboy, handsome with sky blue eyes and affable affection for his little sister Skylynn, whom he often features in his vines. But even Nash has an innocence problem. In earlier vines recorded with his friends, he educates female fans on how “females should look and act” to win over guys. Lately, homophobic slurs have been found in his pre-fame tweets and vines. Fans are forgiving but despite his profuse apologies, his career with the kids might be jeopardized if his remorse seems fabricated and dishonest. On the other hand, if he’s a true Generation Z’er he might claim to be so post-homophobic that he takes liberties in poking at old taboos. No types of 20th century bigotry will win ground with this “plural generation”, which is both more diverse and more tolerant of diversity than any one before them.</p>
<p><strong>Diversity:</strong> Diversity to this generation is beyond ethnic background and sexual orientation, and has to do with the next paragraph, Authenticity. They want to see variety many different levels. You don’t have to win the genetic lottery or reach high scores on traditional measures of perfection to gain 7-digit views and a solid fanbase. Actually the most popular vines and videos are not those protagonists who ooze success or enlist in the video menagerie just to seek applause for their personal trophy collection. Rather success with post-millennials is granted those who are different, honest and who bring their personal battles out in the open. One example was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talia_Castellano">Talia Castellano</a>, a bubbly young youtuber who was diagnosed with cancer at age six and who built a following by doing online makeup tutorials for her viewers. When Talia died, her fans experienced true grief. They had connected with a real person with a disease. Not an actor who plays sick. YouTubers can’t always promise a happy ending. Or a happy beginning. When mother of Progeria-diagnosed Amalia Rose first shared her daughter’s videos on YouTube, she was met with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SQ60Eg47d4">vicious internet trolls,</a> but also a loving following of children who would otherwise never get to learn about this disease and the people affected with it. Speaking of, I should make a separate post about <a title="Mirror Mirror, Facebook’s Wall, Who’s the Fairest of them All?" href="http://afterthemillennials.com/2013/03/29/mirror-mirror-facebooks-wall-whos-the-fairest-of-them-all/">haters and trolls</a>, but that would put me in an unsummerly bad mood…</p>
<p><strong>Authenticity:</strong> Grav3yard Girl runs a series called “Does This Thing Really Work?” where she tries and comments on various <em>“As Seen on TV”</em> type products. By putting products to the test and unveiling false promises advertised in infomercials, she reinforces the message many parents try to drive home with their kids: to view advertisement with skepticism. Children enjoy when they can “discover” marketing ploys, and Bunny from Grav3yard Girl is a great help. Authenticity also shows up in kids’ preferences for “down to earth” entertainment. Studies show that this generation of kids is remarkably domestic and down to earth. They trust their mother more than any others and have more “realistic” ambitions than was common with Millennials at the same age. The rise of apps like <a href="https://www.snapchat.com/">Snapchat </a>and <a href="http://whisper.sh/">Whisper</a> are other signs that younger generations are looking for more authentic experiences in a world of digital footprints where reputation management and competition so often interferes the genuine, local and unique.</p>
<p><strong>“7-in-the-gang”:</strong> <em>Seven Super Girl</em>s and <em>Seven Awesome Kids</em> are popular ‘kidfluencers’ among 6-9 year old girls. Their ‘brand’ is a quickly growing staple in Gen Z girls’ entertainment. Creating little skits around topics that children recognize from their own lives, viewers get to enjoy entertainment that are more “real” than Elsa’s Ice Castle or other impossible living configurations depicted in children’s entertainment today. Seven-Super-Girls don’t live in glitzy high-risers or hotel rooms, but in nature toned familyhomes in the ‘burbs’. That is reassuring for a child. Spin-offs around this “seven-in-the-gang” topic include <em>Seven Awesome Kids, Seven Twinkling Tweens, Seven Fabulous Teens, Seven Gymnastic Girls</em> and <em>Seven Perfect Angels</em>. (Hey kids, what’s up with the number seven?)</p>
<p><strong>DIY:</strong> Splurging is out. <a title="‘I’m Gonna Pop Some Tags’ – Rise Of The Thrifties" href="http://afterthemillennials.com/2013/12/09/im-gonna-pop-some-tags-rise-of-the-thrifties/">Thrift is in</a>. And with online “how-to” videos on everything from hand crafted boutique styles, homemade skin and hair products and even how to curl your hair with bananas, the possibilities for thrifty fun are endless. And growing up in the shadow of a still job-plunging, future-robbing recession, Generation Z is indeed no strangers to frugality. <a class="g-hovercard yt-uix-sessionlink yt-user-name " dir="ltr" style="font-weight: bold;" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHfPdH_yrwLVstxYiyT5Gvw" data-sessionlink="feature=watch&ei=t_fcU8HME6OmwgPq9oDgCQ" data-ytid="UCHfPdH_yrwLVstxYiyT5Gvw" data-name="watch">Tanamontana100</a> is one of many YouTubers who teaches her viewers how to shop frugally and create various products for next to nothing.</p>
<p><strong>Unboxing:</strong> I mentioned Grav3yardgirl and her product testing of various products to test the advertisement hype. If product reviews or testing satisfies the pre-decision viewer, unboxing and haul videos satisfy gift opening and even surrogate buying. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/chadalantoys">Chad Alan</a> is another youtuber who has generated <a href="http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=chad%20alan">some buzz</a> the past year. Chad is a Millennial in his early 20s whose schtick seems to be buying Disney-princessy type toys by getting good deals (thrift), unboxing these toys and describing them, heavily spicing his vocabulary with a lot of “amazings”, “randoms”, “epics” and “awesomes”.</p>
<p>Unboxing videos has a following among adult product geeks and teens, but also among the very youngest of consumers. Toddlers find the opening of new toys, bright colors and sing-songy almost <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/DisneyCollectorBR">hypnotic voice of DisneyCollector’s voice </a>enthralling. The surprise element with blind-box/ blind-bag unboxing videos cannot be under estimated. In a time of economic distress and growing environmental awareness, parents as well as children are quickly turning into <a href="http://www.trendcentral.com/life/cassandra-report-digest-young-consumers-love-browsing-but-not-buying/">fauxumers</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Will the endless mushrooming of “free entertainment”</strong> put fabricated fame once reigned by Hollywood, Peoples Magazine and Joan Rivers out of business? Will the established entertainment industry lose this youngest generation to unsung You Tube sensations? Or is self-published content backed a large following becoming a necessary stepping stone in order to attract the big entertainment industry and the advertising money that goes with it? I guess as long as 11-years olds have the ultimate say on who’s hot or not, the question remains in the proverbial chicken and egg category – kid consumers decide who win and who lose, but the kids’ attention are in turn determined by a ginormous entertainment and advertising industry. Maybe as attention span continues to shorten, the red-carpeted period of glamour and glitz circulates faster as new “youtubrieties” get in the pipeline and the “new-old” celebrities are expelled into a phase of “epic scandals” similar to those of Spears, Cyrus and Bieber. These antics in turn (real or manufactured) will either move them into new markets or eclipse their careers at a rate that accelerates with the size of the pool of newcomers.</p>
<p>One big difference from my own 1980s’ entertainment industry is that today the young audience move an entertainer’s popularity up or down directly and instantaneously while MTV’s video hosts have become redundant.</p>
<p>Maybe we’ll find out when <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/TheFineBros">TheFineBros</a>‘ <em>Kids React To Used-To-Be-You-Tube-Sensations – </em>in the distant future of a year or two.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2014/08/02/what-your-tweens-youtube-celebrities-tell-us-about-the-homeland-generation/">What Your Tween’s YouTube Celebrities Tell Us About the Homeland Generation</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p>
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<title>Scenarios with Children – How A Class of 1st Graders Sees Life in 2026</title>
<link>https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2013/10/08/scenarios-with-children-how-a-class-of-1st-graders-see-life-in-2026/</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 08 Oct 2013 16:22:18 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Anne Boysen]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[augmented reality]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[digital interfaces]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[education]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[forecasts]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[future]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Generation Z]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[green consumption]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Homeland generation]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[scenario]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[sharing]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.afterthemillennials.com/?p=2271</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<p>I keep turning back to a scenario project I did with a group of 1st graders in 2011. This was a regular class at a public school in Austin where the goal was to inspire the children to think creatively about their own future and...</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2013/10/08/scenarios-with-children-how-a-class-of-1st-graders-see-life-in-2026/">Scenarios with Children – How A Class of 1st Graders Sees Life in 2026</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p>
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://afterthemillennials.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/ID-10026804.jpg"><img class="alignright wp-image-2279" src="http://afterthemillennials.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/ID-10026804.jpg" alt="ID-10026804" width="318" height="320" /></a><strong>I keep turning back</strong> to a scenario project I did with a group of 1st graders in 2011. This was a regular class at a public school in Austin where the goal was to inspire the children to think creatively about their own future and life in the year 2026. This session yielded some particularly intriguing insights. I’m tempted to use the word ‘prophetic’. Ok, I did give them some leads a few times, but keep reading and you will see what I mean. <strong><a href="http://www.andyhinesight.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/68-The-Current-state-of-scenario-development-foresight-march-2007.pdf">Scenario techniques</a> </strong>are central to the discipline of <a href="http://accelerating.org/gradprograms.html">Future Studies/ Strategic Foresight</a>, and seek to help people and organizations build coherent images of various alternative futures. Most often scenario workshops are limited to strategic levels in larger organizations and their stakeholders and field experts. It is often implemented to help organizations prepare for an uncertain future. But scenario approaches are very useful with children too. Because who really need to prepare for an uncertain future more than the ones who have most of life ahead of them? As judge in the <a title="Report From the Future Problem Solvers competition in Texas" href="http://www.afterthemillennials.com/2013/04/20/report-from-the-future-problem-solvers-competition-in-texas/">Texas Future Problem Solver competition</a> I have been able to witness sage analysis and imagination from children who are just entering their adolescent years. Of course, “future problem solver students” are older and comprise the select few who made it into the ‘Gifted and Talented program’, so the expectations are higher. But I have found doing scenario projects with <em>any</em> children who are curious about their own futures to be highly fruitful. The technology age gap is decreasing sharply between adults and children, some might even say to the point where children know more than adults. They are the future costumers and producers of technology and content we might learn a lot about their desires and priorities just by listening to their ideas. Moreover, despite their limited knowledge, their views and imagination are not clouded by outdated perceptions. (Seriously, some of us old fogies haven’t even passed the old cold war dichotomies!)</p>
<p><strong>Anyway, here are some golden nuggets:</strong> <a href="http://afterthemillennials.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/ID-10096228.jpg"><img class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-2280" src="http://afterthemillennials.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/ID-10096228-150x150.jpg" alt="ID-10096228" width="150" height="150" /></a></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>They intuitively grasp the next chapter in computer technology</strong> – even augmented reality with 3D visualizations. They want smaller and larger screens for different purposes. Recent research does indeed show that kids are not ditching big-screens like the TV. It’s just that different screen sizes have different purposes. They also called for books that show 3D pictures when you point at it. Now two years later we have <a href="http://www.cypherkidsclub.com/">Cypher</a> Kids Club and <a href="http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/126657-animin-the-augmented-reality-pet-that-brings-tamagotchi-into-the-21st-century">Animin</a>. Not to mention Google Glass, of course.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong>They believe renewable energy could be mined from a vast arsenal of alternative sources.</strong> Kids’ overwhelming trust in solar as the next source of energy is backed by solid analyses that predict that <a href="http://www.resilience.org/stories/2013-09-30/solar-energy-revolution-reaching-full-speed">solar is poised to explode in the U.S</a> within a few years. We are just now reaching cost parity making solar soon outcompete the traditional fossil fuel based grid. In the U.K., you can even get your solar panels at <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/09/30/227790364/no-assembly-required-ikea-to-sell-solar-panels-in-u-k">IKEA</a> now! The kids looked beyond solar and saw a logical continuation by harvesting the energy produced by our bodies (kinesthetic energy, which has been demonstrated scientifically <a href="http://inhabitat.com/top-6-designs-that-harness-energy-from-the-power-of-play/">here</a>), from lightning (which has been demonstrated scientifically <a href="http://inhabitat.com/insane-hydrogen-producing-skyscraper-harvests-energy-from-bolts-of-lighting/">here</a>) and from stars beyond our sun.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong>Kids feel rigorous expectations at school </strong>and wish for high tech aids, such as robotic tutors and mechanic page turners. Their attitudes toward school revealed mixed attitudes towards school. They love school. They love to learn. But they are also intimidated by school. Some of these first graders had older siblings and had probably witnessed their love of learning turn to frustrations and hours of test prepping. Again these kids are highly tuned to technological aids to make homework easier, and I think we will see academic help videos like those from <a href="https://www.khanacademy.org/">Khan Academy </a>play a role at younger and younger ages. This generation would be prime candidates for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip_teaching">‘flipped classrooms’</a>. School shootings and the possibility of school turning into a danger zones resonates with this generation. One student wondered if there would ever be a need for army protection at school. And this was before the Sandy Hook tragedy.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://afterthemillennials.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/7694478124_baea354b39.jpg"><img class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-2284" src="http://afterthemillennials.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/7694478124_baea354b39-150x150.jpg" alt="7694478124_baea354b39" width="150" height="150" /></a><strong>They expect innovations like: </strong>cars that can drive themselves, modular homes, cloning of pets and people, and the convenience of making your own clothes with a 3-D printer. At first they needed a little nudge anticipating disruptive changes in manufacturing and technology. But once they were explained the concept of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_driverless_car">self driving cars</a> and computer <a href="http://investor.staples.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=96244&p=RssLanding&cat=news&id=1814995">printers</a> that can print out things in various materials, they didn’t bat an eyelash. It needs to be said that two years later, students from this school presented 3-D printed items at the science fair. There is an overrepresentation of families headed by parents in STEM related industries.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://afterthemillennials.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/5.jpg"><img class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-1779" src="http://afterthemillennials.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/5-150x150.jpg" alt="Conspicuous consumption/ access" width="150" height="150" /></a><strong>They are native disciples of the emerging <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1747551/sharing-economy">sharing economy</a>.</strong> Their emphasis on sharing came spontaneously after looking at my population projection graph which shows that we are already challenging the upper limits of our bountiful earth. In case you didn’t know, we will be 9 billion when these kids are adults and in the industrialized world we already consuming the equivalent of 3-5 planets! The idea that you don’t have to own stuff as long as you have easy access when you need it was theirs alone. And subsequently, these ideas have caught on and are quickly dispersing to areas outside hipster communities in urban areas. Alternative economies and <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/heathervescent/future-of-money-tv-series">complimentary currencies</a> are quickly pollinating areas of the economy traditionally dominated by hierarchical, often inefficient and sometimes corrupt money markets. The sharing economy could be seen as a central element of this trend. I didn’t do anything to nudge the kids along here, and I actually thought their ideas were a bit too idealistic at first. But as they grow up, these kids will be spearheading a trend where ownership and accumulation of things are not necessary or even desirable. Sharing is deeply felt with this generation and it comes from the heart, not from religion, adult authority or imposed moral obligations. In fact many children today are actively looking for opportunities to help others during the little they have of leisure time. A fairly <a href="http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/yourlife/mind-soul/doing-good/2010-11-29-sharing-donation-gifts_N.htm">new trend </a>among birthday children is to ask for donations for a special cause <a title="Happy Earth Day! Is the Homelanders / GenZ/ iGeneration also the Re-Generation?" href="http://www.afterthemillennials.com/2013/04/22/happy-earth-day-homelanders-genz-are-generation/">instead of presents</a>. The latest research from Jean Twenge’s team, the author behind the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Narcissism-Epidemic-Living-Entitlement/dp/1416575995">Narcissism Epidemic</a>, does indeed show the recession had a <a href="http://greenfieldlab.psych.ucla.edu/Welcome_files/RecessionMtFSPPS-1.pdf">pro-social effect </a>on the younger generations.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong><a href="http://afterthemillennials.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/349883986_b263fabccd.jpg"><img class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-2285" src="http://afterthemillennials.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/349883986_b263fabccd-150x150.jpg" alt="349883986_b263fabccd" width="150" height="150" /></a>When they grow up SpongeBob will be old and brown.</strong> I loved this one! It’s actually very possible that SpongeBob will age faster than the kids he entertains because when it comes to the <a title="Homelanders – Our Youngest Generation" href="http://www.afterthemillennials.com/2013/05/14/homelanders-our-youngest-generation/">Homelander generation</a>, it feels good to be a kid. And despite the well-established notion that kids are growing up faster, they are absolutely in <a href="http://mom.me/tween/8403-our-kids-are-not-growing-too-fast/">no hurry to grow up</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p><em><strong>Images</strong>: <a href="http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/agree-terms.php?id=10026804">Vlado</a>, <a href="http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=4036">Victor Habbick </a>and stockimages @FreeDigitalPhotos.net and <a id="yui_3_11_0_3_1381246087005_891" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/markdoliner/">Mark Doliner</a>, <a id="yui_3_11_0_3_1381246581233_876" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/puuikibeach/">davidd</a> @ Flickr (CC), U.S. Dept. of Energy</em></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2013/10/08/scenarios-with-children-how-a-class-of-1st-graders-see-life-in-2026/">Scenarios with Children – How A Class of 1st Graders Sees Life in 2026</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p>
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<title>The Great Gatsby and Beyond</title>
<link>https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2013/05/19/the-great-gatsby-and-beyond/</link>
<pubDate>Sun, 19 May 2013 17:44:49 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Anne Boysen]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[cycles]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[economics]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[forecasts]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Generation Z]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[green consumption]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Millennials]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.afterthemillennials.com/?p=1739</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<p>I want to see The Great Gatsby. And then I hope Hollywood will churn out ‘Grapes of Wrath’ and ‘Death of a Salesman’ soon after. History rhymes, and once again we’re at this junction in time when the younger generations are reexamining the validity of...</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2013/05/19/the-great-gatsby-and-beyond/">The Great Gatsby and Beyond</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p>
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignright" alt="" src="http://sustainabilityatspu.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/the-great-gatsby-official-trailer-2-video.jpg" width="513" height="405" />I want to see The Great Gatsby. And then I hope Hollywood will churn out ‘Grapes of Wrath’ and ‘Death of a Salesman’ soon after. History rhymes, and once again we’re at this junction in time when the younger generations are reexamining the validity of the American Dream. The <a href="http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20130520,00.html" target="_blank">millennials</a> were taught to believe in pep-talk and the ‘sky is the limit’ type motivational speeches instead of hard statistical realities, like the fact that their student loans would one day eat their lunch. “Everything is possible if you just believe in yourself” was well-meaning advice during the roaring ‘90s, but as they say – the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Will younger cohorts change the American Dream from one of ownership and status symbols to one of access and participation? The guys at <a href="http://www.shareable.net/" target="_blank">Shareable.net</a> think so. More to come on the “sharing economy” in the near future when I interview <a href="http://www.shareable.net/users/neal-gorenflo" target="_blank">Neal Gorenflo</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Update: 10/09/13:</strong> In July this year <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2013/07/rock-and-roll-economics-and-rebuilding-the-middle-class.html">PBS reported on lan Krueger</a>, outgoing chair of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, who called our current economic syste The Great Gatsby Curve. With current levels of economic inequality there is very little upward mobility and the American Dream is becoming ever more distant.</p>
<p><em>Image: <a href="http://sustainabilityatspu.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/the-great-gatsby-official-trailer-2-video.jpg">Sustainablespu</a></em></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2013/05/19/the-great-gatsby-and-beyond/">The Great Gatsby and Beyond</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p>
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<title>Toxic Children</title>
<link>https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2013/04/26/toxic-children/</link>
<pubDate>Fri, 26 Apr 2013 16:08:36 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Anne Boysen]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[biotech]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[green consumption]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[health care]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[terrorism]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.afterthemillennials.com/?p=1670</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<p>A baby nursing at mother’s breast will ingest a better concoction of vitamins, sugars, essential minerals and proteins than Purina Petfood could ever dream of providing for the world’s most pedigreed show dogs. Baby will also benefit from enzymes and antibodies that can ward off...</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2013/04/26/toxic-children/">Toxic Children</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p>
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a title="breastfeeding by sdminor81, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wiredfornoise/3722042283/"><img class="alignleft" alt="breastfeeding" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2591/3722042283_5598e961a3.jpg" width="400" height="300" /></a></p>
<p><strong>A baby nursing at mother’s breast</strong> will ingest a better concoction of vitamins, sugars, essential minerals and proteins than Purina Petfood could ever dream of providing for the world’s most pedigreed show dogs. Baby will also benefit from enzymes and antibodies that can ward off ailments ranging from nasty infections to cancer. Mixed in with all the good stuff, baby will also be fed trace amounts of paint thinners, dry-cleaning fluids, wood preservatives, toilet deodorizers, cosmetic additives, gasoline byproducts, rocket fuel, termite poisons and flame-retardants. These were the results when <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/jun/16/breasts-breastfeeding-milk-florence-williams" target="_blank">Florence Williams</a> sent off a sample of her breastmilk to a lab in Germany. Then she wrote a book about it.</p>
<p><strong><span id="more-1670"></span>Children today are born into an invisible toxic soup</strong> of byproducts from chemicals that ironically often are supposed to keep us safe, such as pesticide and flame retardant. Every year <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/how-toxic-is-breast-milk" target="_blank">more than 4 billion tons of toxic chemicals</a> are released into the environment – 72 million pounds of which are known carcinogens. These chemicals travel via air, water and the food chain, and you can’t escape them. You might be a complete eco-loving, treehugging Gaia freak and raise your kid on nothing but organic hempseeds, filtered water and natural oxytocin, but man-maid chemicals want to bestow some love on your child as well. As a matter of fact the highest level of breast milk toxicity is found among the Inuits. I don’t know of too many Inuits who are in the habit of spraying pesticides with PCB on their arctic food sources, so there is obviously more than direct consumption to blame here.</p>
<p><strong>After colonizing your child’s body</strong>, many of these “trace elements” will have fun playing around with your child’s endocrine system. Girls today enter puberty a whole year earlier than they used to. But conventional school medicine keeps denying this link for lack of “evidence”, and points to the obesity epidemic as if that were the only cause. As if a mere correlation between obesity and early puberty were enough to determine the cause and even deny the existence of common culprits that could possibly cause both, especially when the correlation only presents in overweight girls and not in overweight boys. Maybe it’s those estrogenic chemicals than lipids after all? Is it so far-fetched to think that increasing rates of precocious puberty, low sperm counts, cancers and obesity are caused by the same endocrine disruptors? And who should have the burden of proving what? And so when we observe that earlier puberty sets in among children with the same BMI as girls in the past and in countries where children on average are leaner we really have reason to doubt that the EPA is up to par or at least very slow in it’s reaction.</p>
<p><strong>And then there’s that whole thing with epigenetics</strong>.<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kp1bZEUgqVI" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0"></iframe> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics" target="_blank">Epigenetics</a> belong to that fascinating field of research that can silence both sides of the nature-nurture diatribes. It refers to that delicate network that informs genes how they should appear. So while genes in themselves cannot be affected by your environment, the “software” that activate certain genes and not others in your body is. And not only that, the resulting phenotype will also carry over to your children and grandchildren. So how you live today will indeed affect the genetic makeup of your descendents. The chemical BPA (or bisphenol-A) is one of those pesky things that attach to the DNA and pass from grandmother to mother to daughter via the mechanisms of epigenetic transfer. This is significant since we know (don’t we now?) that BPA has estrogen-mimicking qualities. Since you inherit environmentally caused gene expressions from your ancestors you don’t only carry chemical trace elements accumulated over your own lifetime, but theirs as well. That might not be such a big issue today since most of our own grandparents lived in a time with arguably less sophisticated chemical pollutants, but this cumulative buildup of chemicals will be an issue for our grandchildren. So much for “minuscule trace amounts”.</p>
<p><strong>The BPA story,</strong> however, is one with a “happy ending”. (BPA is still around, hence the quotation marks.) I first started noticing a movement for BPA-free baby bottles among consumer advocates in California in the mid-2000s, but it took several years before you could find any BPA-free baby products in stores around the country, including baby bottles. I remember getting my own plastic stuff shipped from specialized manufacturers during those years. But today, good luck finding any child related item with BPA in it! That’s successful consumer advocacy at work. It takes a while, but it will eventually change the product range.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/01/lead-crime-link-gasoline"><img class="alignleft" alt="" src="http://www.motherjones.com/files/Lead_Crime_325.gif" width="325" height="365" /></a> <strong>Another success story</strong> is the elimination of lead from consumer products. Yes, I’m aware of lead containing toys from China, but the very fact that it made a ruckus is a sign of its success. Lead paint was banned in 1978 after it was proven to cause nervous system damage and poisoning in developing children. The link has actually been proven so strong that lead has become one of the <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/01/lead-crime-link-gasoline">favorite explanations</a> for why violent crimes have declined so much the last few decades.</p>
<p><strong>But bad toxins and bad business practices</strong> will not curtail unless they are challenged by consumer activists and independent scientists. And the troubling trend these days is the silent war against whistleblowers and other silent wheelings and dealings. Lately a string of new laws and provisions are giving special interest groups, particularly in the food industry, immunities against a checks and balances system that would otherwise pull in their reigns and expose potentially unethical or hazardous practices. One deal that silently went down a few weeks back when all the activists and slactivists were busy changing their social avatars to white on red equal signs in support of marriage equality was the so-called <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2013/apr/04/monsanto-protection-act-gm">‘Monsanto Protection Act’</a>. Monsanto is the biggest agricultural biotech company. If <a href="http://www.marklynas.org/2013/01/lecture-to-oxford-farming-conference-3-january-2013/" target="_blank">GM foods really are better and safer</a> than it’s reputation – an argument I as a futurist am very ready to accept, why the heck do they need a “protection act” to stop potential criticism and bypass existing laws?</p>
<p><strong>Even less known are the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Ag-gag_laws">Ag gag laws</a>,</strong> which criminalize the exposure of horrific animal abuse and potential contamination of meat. Why? Because the states that implemented the Ag gag laws can now prosecute undercover agents who record wrongdoings as terrorists. That’s right – a camera and concern for other species can earn you a criminal record with “terrorist” on it. Personally I think this is going to backfire big time and that people in PETA and other animal rights groups are going to use the terrorist label for all it’s worth. Because whenever that day comes that an activist goes on trial for terrorism after revealing slaughterhouse atrocities, they will get even more publicity and people will see how ridiculous it is to put these people in the same category as Al Qaeda members and Boston marathon bombers.</p>
<p>As a matter of fact what inspired me to write this post was a whistleblower, cancer survivor, mother and scientist who is now <a href="http://billmoyers.com/segment/sandra-steingrabers-war-on-toxic-trespassers/">serving jail time </a>for demonstrating against a fracking company. Today only a ‘secret public health” report is guaranteeing the safety of the fracking company’s operations, such as storing toxic byproducts close to a lake that provides drinking water to 100 000 nearby residents. Bill Moyer interviewed Sandra Steingraber a few days before her incarceration. It’s almost an hour long, but if you’re interested in the toxicity of childhood I encourage you to watch <a href="http://billmoyers.com/segment/sandra-steingrabers-war-on-toxic-trespassers/">the whole program</a> as it points to some systematic problems that affect the chemical composition of our children.</p>
<p><strong>This post is not supposed to read like a political rant</strong>. Especially not a partisan rant. It’s so easy to throw around stereotypical political labels whenever the bed that is shared by big business and big politicians is discussed. As a matter of fact it was “small government” Nixon who pushed through the lead ban in the ’70s. And it was “change agent” Obama who signed the ‘Monsanto Protection Act’ to the chagrin of liberal and Tea Party activists alike. My beef on this blog is anything and everything that effects the youngest generation, and toxic childhood is indeed one of these issues. What do you think?</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Images: Flickr <strong id="yui_3_7_3_3_1366988811074_1139"><a id="yui_3_7_3_3_1366988811074_1138" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wiredfornoise/">sdminor81</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp1bZEUgqVI">You Tube</a>, <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/01/lead-crime-link-gasoline">Mother Jones </a></strong></em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2013/04/26/toxic-children/">Toxic Children</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p>
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<title>Happy Earth Day! Is the Homelanders / GenZ/ iGeneration also the Re-Generation?</title>
<link>https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2013/04/22/happy-earth-day-homelanders-genz-are-generation/</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:45:32 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Anne Boysen]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[games]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Generation Z]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[green consumption]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Homeland generation]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.afterthemillennials.com/?p=1655</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<p>I just read an article that called our youngest generation the “re-generation” (sorry, can’t find the url), alluding to their familiarity with the reduce, reuse, recycle slogan and their attentiveness to environmental causes. I haven’t found any hard statistics that actually support the idea that the Homelanders...</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2013/04/22/happy-earth-day-homelanders-genz-are-generation/">Happy Earth Day! Is the Homelanders / GenZ/ iGeneration also the Re-Generation?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p>
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a title="Earth - Illustration by DonkeyHotey, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/donkeyhotey/5679642871/"><img class="alignleft" alt="Earth - Illustration" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5147/5679642871_9d3a2b6072.jpg" width="300" height="300" /></a>I just read an article that called our youngest generation the “re-generation” (sorry, can’t find the url), alluding to their familiarity with the reduce, reuse, recycle slogan and their attentiveness to environmental causes. I haven’t found any hard statistics that actually support the idea that the Homelanders will be more environmentally conscious, but OK, I’ll go with the idea that environmentalism is since environmentalism is gradually entering into our psyches over time a sense of urgency and importance might be greater among the young. One thing I learned from judging at the <a title="Report From the Future Problem Solvers competition in Texas" href="http://www.afterthemillennials.com/2013/04/20/report-from-the-future-problem-solvers-competition-in-texas/">Texas Future Problem Solvers</a> competition this weekend is that the fervent climate change deniers and “drill, baby, drill” knuckleheads are not making inroads into the mindset of the young. From my own experience it does indeed seem as if ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’ resonate on a much deeper level and are more actionable and instinctive with our the youngest cohorts.</p>
<p><span id="more-1655"></span>But there’s another great force that is influencing them equally, and it’s the message they get from marketers of consumer products. I think we will only see the real improvements if we can change or curtail the massive marketing to this generation (<a href="http://www.globalissues.org/article/237/children-as-consumers">$17 billion per year to the tween market </a>alone!). If there is more emphasis on targeting kids as consumers than as environmental stewards the three “Re’s” won’t do much at all because the energy and materials that go into their desired consumer products outnumber their greener achievements. That obviously is true for all generations.</p>
<p>But there’s hope for improvement and the kids are with us. Here are a few things I think will lighten the next generation’s imprint on the environment:</p>
<p><strong>Charity oriented birthday parties.</strong> Have you noticed a <a href="http://www.heraldnews.com/newsnow/x781379722/Do-good-parties-a-trend-for-birthdays">trend</a> lately where the birthday child asks for donations to a cause in lieu of presents? I think the last year most of the parties my 9-year old was invited to were of this kind. Every one of these parties have helped convince my daughter that she too can have a perfectly fun time with her friends and support a good cause at the same time. This concept is win-win-win on so many levels. For one thing it can provide substantial contributions for the targeted cause. Secondly, it teaches not only your own child, but also her/his friends that it feels good to help. When your child witnesses friends being able to help a cause they believe in your child will become motivated too. I never wanted to force charity birthday on my children afraid it might backfire, but I know they are ready now. And I couldn’t be happier. Birthday parties have always been followed by the headaches of trying to find out where to put their new toys, cajoling them into getting rid of their old ones and cringing at future battles of who’s going to pick up which toys, with me ending up cleaning the pigsties myself. After three kids I feel that when it comes to toys, less is more and quality is king. Charity birthdays take that whole thing out of the equation. Pewh!</p>
<p><strong>Give digital gifts and experiences. </strong>I think the biggest obstacle to giving presents that aren’t fortified in clamshell plastics, twist ties and all sorts of mercantile battle zone armor is that they usually can’t be wrapped or gift-bagged. How do you wrap the gift of 10 hours of horseback riding anyway? We – and our kids – have become so mired into thinking that a gift is something physical and tangible and that if they can’t play with it right away, the “givers of experience” are at risk of becoming <a href="http://www.sxc.hu/photo/790902/?forcedownload=1"><img class=" wp-image-1657 alignright" alt="sadgirl" src="http://afterthemillennials.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/sadgirl1.jpg" width="189" height="252" /></a>the ultimate party killers. And nobody want to make their children’s’ birthdays to end like this!</p>
<p>But there is hope. The Homelanders – or Gen Z or regeneration if you will – are digital natives. This means that they make few distinctions on life online and offline. When the dust, eeh curling ribbon settles, they will appreciate a digital gift or in-kind gift just as much as physical ones, if not more. So the eco-obstacle here is not the gift in itself, its the ceremonial aspect of gift giving. If we can overcome that, we can make our gifts far more earth friendly. Maybe by teaching delayed gratification in the form of gift certificates. Another idea might be to confiscate their touch device the night before and download a whole new One Direction/ Justin Bieber playlist and the latest Temple Run apps. Then wrap the device and let them open it on their birthday.</p>
<p><strong>Gamify eco-consciousness.</strong> Of course apps and games should not substitute real nature experiences. But we can’t plant trees with our kids everyday, so why not also connect with them at heir most every-day level? <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/gudmundsen/2013/04/21/earth-day-games-apps/2090787/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+usatoday-TechTopStories+(Tech+-+Top+Stories)">USA Today lists some apps</a> related to Earth Day which teach children valuable lessons about the environment and to look for solutions. Obviously these are simplistic versions of a complex problem, but you got to start somewhere. I tried out some of these and I look forward to introducing them to my kindergarteners this afternoon.</p>
<p>Happy Earth Day!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Images: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/donkeyhotey/5679642871/">Flickr (DonkeyHotey)</a>, <a href="http://www.sxc.hu/photo/790902/?forcedownload=1">Stock-Xchng</a></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2013/04/22/happy-earth-day-homelanders-genz-are-generation/">Happy Earth Day! Is the Homelanders / GenZ/ iGeneration also the Re-Generation?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p>
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<title>Genetically modified cows’ milk – the future of infant food?</title>
<link>https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2011/06/16/genetically-modified-cows-milk-the-future-of-infant-food/</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 16 Jun 2011 18:09:43 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Anne Boysen]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Nutrition]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[biotech]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[green consumption]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[innovation]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.afterthemillennials.com/?p=497</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<p>A former co-worker sent me this link a few days ago. A few years back when we did futures research and trend watching for a nutritional company, breast vs. bottle was a big issue. The trend is certainly a return to more natural forms of...</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2011/06/16/genetically-modified-cows-milk-the-future-of-infant-food/">Genetically modified cows’ milk – the future of infant food?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p>
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a title="Cow by JelleS, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jelles/2902422030/"><img class="alignright" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3260/2902422030_bb5321c452.jpg" alt="Cow" width="350" height="349" /></a> A former co-worker sent me <a href="javascript:var%20a2awp_button='http://static.addtoany.com/buttons/share_save_256_24.png';var%20s=document.createElement('script');s.src='http://static.addtoany.com/js/wordpress_com.js';s.type='text/javascript';void(document.getElementsByTagName('head')%5B0%5D.appendChild(s));">this link</a> a few days ago.</p>
<p>A few years back when we did futures research and trend watching for a nutritional company, breast vs. bottle was a big issue. The trend is certainly a return to more natural forms of child rearing where breast-feeding (or providing breast milk in BPA free bottles at the very least) is the quintessential deed for parents.</p>
<p>Even the latter option is viewed with some skepticism by the most devoted “lactivists”. Since breastfeeding often is viewed as more than just nutrition, a bottle served in a nursery is pitiful regardless of the contents of that bottle. Breastfeeding in this sense is about establishing a self-reinforcing symbiotic cycle of oxytocin generation. A mother-baby cocoon manifested by the wrappings of fair-traded, ethnic patterned, organic cotton slings where no commercial, genetically modified and climate threatening products can intrude. And yes, it’s also about identity and image.</p>
<p><span id="more-497"></span></p>
<p>So reading that a group of cows in China has been genetically modified to produce human breast milk, I highly doubt they will be met by welcoming cheers from the breastfeeding intelligentsia. Quite the contrary, I think the producers of genetically modified cows’ milk will see few retail opportunities in the organic, local food outlets where breast feeding mothers typically by their groceries. One of the big environmental reasons for breastfeeding is that you don’t rely on the enslavement and suppression of flatulent, climate-affecting cows. So if you get your babymilk from GM cows, you are indeed supporting the business of flatulent, climate affecting cows no matter how healthy the milk is.</p>
<p>But what about the complete opposite consumers? The ones who never even gave breastfeeding a second thought? The ones who gave up after one week because it’s “icky” or they are afraid it may “deform my breasts”? Well, this segment probably won’t give the products from bovine wet-nurses a second thought either. So I guess it might have to share shelf and attention with traditional infant formula brands.</p>
<p>Falling in between these two extremes are of course a vast number of parents and care takers who have no other options than to feed their loved ones with a bottle. These include those caring for NICU babies, non-biological parents or custodians, mothers with hopeless work schedules and a minority of women with physiological lactation problems. These are the ones that have provided formula companies’ the best alibi ever since the “breast is best” campaigns started winning people over. These babies are no less important than “traditional” babies and give the moral impetus for most of the research money spent on making infant formula better and better. One might argue, some of these babies have en even greater need for superior nutrition than traditional babies. And to the extent that formula is their only alternative, it exculpates formula companies from some of the bad reputation they have earned over the years. It is just that people know that if the companies can stretch beyond these niche segments and thereby expand their market share, they will.</p>
<p>So this is how I suspect GM cow milk will enter (if it ever even makes it through Western legislatures!) If it is met with initial resistance (which it most likely is) it will start out taking the moral high road by finding niche markets where the product is well received and ethically justified. They might even brand it as a type of health food. But will they be satisfied with niche markets in the long run? Or will they try to eventually penetrate into more traditional markets? I suspect so.</p>
<p><em>Source:<a href="javascript:var%20a2awp_button='http://static.addtoany.com/buttons/share_save_256_24.png';var%20s=document.createElement('script');s.src='http://static.addtoany.com/js/wordpress_com.js';s.type='text/javascript';void(document.getElementsByTagName('head')%5B0%5D.appendChild(s));"> Gizmag</a></em></p>
<p><em>Image: </em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jelles/">JelleS</a>, Flickr</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2011/06/16/genetically-modified-cows-milk-the-future-of-infant-food/">Genetically modified cows’ milk – the future of infant food?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p>
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<title>New material for hydrogen storage is a step closer to green transportation</title>
<link>https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2011/04/26/new-material-for-hydrogen-storage-is-a-step-closer-to-green-transportation/</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 26 Apr 2011 16:32:56 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Anne Boysen]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[green consumption]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[hydrogen]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[nanotech]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.afterthemillennials.com/?p=330</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<p>Hydrogen is a longstanding green combustable fuel candidate, but has yet to overcome roadblocks such as efficiency and especially safety issues. A major problem is storage. Since hydrogen is a small molecule, it tends to diffuse through the liner material of its container. To make stronger, more...</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2011/04/26/new-material-for-hydrogen-storage-is-a-step-closer-to-green-transportation/">New material for hydrogen storage is a step closer to green transportation</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p>
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://afterthemillennials.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/oslo-hydrogen-station.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-332" title="oslo-hydrogen-station" src="http://afterthemillennials.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/oslo-hydrogen-station-300x135.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="135" /></a>Hydrogen is a longstanding green combustable fuel candidate, but has yet to overcome roadblocks such as efficiency and especially safety issues. A major problem is storage. Since hydrogen is a small molecule, it tends to diffuse through the liner material of its container. To make stronger, more lightweight materials, researchers have been looking for solutions in nanotechnology.</p>
<p>A research team at the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory claim that they have found just this type of material. Without getting too technical, they came up with a pliable nanocomposite of a polymer related to Plexiglas.</p>
<p>A safe hydrogen economy could really help reduce the volume carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere and with a byproduct as clean as water – because it is water. But I predict a long road ahead since the material first need to go through various rounds of testing and then probably a bunch of red tape. Then it has to become commercialized and come down in price. Then get investors. Then amass public funding for infrastructural changes – and this is only for <em>one</em> jurisdiction. Imagine what it would take to make the whole world comply. And I haven’t even mentioned potential resistance from the petroleum lobby.</p>
<p>But you have to hold on to hope. My home country, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/05/11/us-norway-hydrogen-idUSTRE54A42Z20090511?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews" target="_blank">Norway </a>has already opened a 560 kilometer (350 mile) “hydrogen highway”, which should give them more incentives to turn their “oil-based” economy into a more broad “energy-based” economy. I really think the Millennials and generations coming after them will have a whole new outlook on these types of challenges. I’m going out on a limb here because I don’t have supporting data, but I think that compared to older generations they are more hip to the idea that the environmental costs have to be figured into cost analyses.</p>
<p><em>Source: <a href="http://www.gizmag.com/new-material-designed-for-hydrogen-storage/18141/" target="_blank">GizMag</a></em></p>
<p><em>Image: <a href="http://www.greenoptimistic.com/2009/05/12/norway-hydrogen-highway/" target="_blank">Green optimist</a></em></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2011/04/26/new-material-for-hydrogen-storage-is-a-step-closer-to-green-transportation/">New material for hydrogen storage is a step closer to green transportation</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p>
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<title>Happy Earth Day!</title>
<link>https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2011/04/22/happy-earth-day/</link>
<pubDate>Fri, 22 Apr 2011 19:33:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Anne Boysen]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[green consumption]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.afterthemillennials.com/?p=306</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<p>An article in Treehugger takes issues with a NYT story which claims that green consumption is down due to the recession. The writer argues that the NYT writer takes a very narrow view in what constitute green consumption. She says the mentioned products affected by...</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2011/04/22/happy-earth-day/">Happy Earth Day!</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p>
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://afterthemillennials.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/earth-day.gif"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-307" title="earth day" src="http://afterthemillennials.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/earth-day-300x300.gif" alt="" width="300" height="300" /></a>An article in <a href="http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/04/ny-times-says-green-sales-down-but-misses-real-point.php">Treehugger</a> takes issues with a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/22/business/energy-environment/22green.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&hp">NYT story</a> which claims that green consumption is down due to the recession. The writer argues that the NYT writer takes a very narrow view in what constitute green consumption. She says the mentioned products affected by the economic downturn, e.g. Clorox’s Green Works, have long been accused of greenwashing, so abandoning them makes little difference.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Amazon has conducted a <a href="http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2011/04/19/amazons-purchasing-data-finds-us-consumers-going-green">study</a> which found an increased market performance for green products such as LED bulbs and the Energy Star brand.</p>
<p>So should we attribute these market changes to the economic recession or increased awareness of greenwashing? Or maybe a combination of the two?I bet paying extra for products from companies like P&G or Johnson & Johnson doesn’t feel as good as spending at the local farmers market, especially when credibility is in question and money is already tight.</p>
<p><em>Source: <a href="http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/04/ny-times-says-green-sales-down-but-misses-real-point.php" target="_blank">Treehugger</a></em></p>
<p><em>Image: <a href="http://weheartit.com/entry/3341738" target="_blank">We <3 it</a></em></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2011/04/22/happy-earth-day/">Happy Earth Day!</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p>
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