This is a generalization:
The next generation becomes acutely aware of what the prior generation thought was nothing and this is based on the comfort of the generation which is often dictated by situations and events of the time-this I know is true.
We can make generalizations based on these events and their results. I wonder if I am just seeing this in a few people an creating an explanation for it that I think fits, but I think I’m at least generally right here. I’ll give you an example:
Baby boomers and their adult children matured in a period of physical excess without perceived detrimental result. HIV was not a scare, birth control pills were taken by everyone, no one thought about or was aware of the environmental result of their lifestyles, food was still relatively wholesome…etc. You were having as much sex as you wanted and the worst thing you got was a prescription, eating as much as you wanted and the worst thing you got was a little chubby(manual laborers comprised a much greater percentage of the workforce), driving whichever car you wanted and could own a smog factory if you wanted and no one cared. This generation or this group of people from this period of time, very naturally, are amongst the most physically life/health/eco retarded that have ever lived-none of them are ready to give up anything for something they’ve never first handedly experienced the detrimental results of, and getting them to change would require a period of strong discomfort-enough to erase the conditioning of essentially their entire lives. On the other hand, because of their relatively great physical comfort, they are generally more forgiving, more understanding, kinder, and slower to anger than the young generation of today which is the exact opposite: literally bursting with anger and uncomfortable all the time.
What’s funny is how cyclical it is. Each generation gets a little bit more of the whole, but they always go back to the same equation: one is real uncomfortable, angry, and lives very physically efficient and frugal lives, and one is loving but relatively unaware of the results of their actions. The generation just prior to the baby boomers, the WWII veterans and the survivors of the great depression, generally don’t have a huge problem with squeezing here and there and looking at the world from a wholistic perspective that needs to be taken care of but because of their physical discomfort and much harder lives due to social circumstances, they often practiced tough love and were relatively intolerant for anything they considered to be in excess or just ‘bull****.’
These are the results of the physical circumstances of a generation. It’s a normal and very cyclical process that, after thousands and thousands of years, could theoretically result in a generation which is acutely aware of everything. We’re not going to convince everyone of everything now, I think this point in time is a long way away for us Earthlings, but it’s cool to see it happening. Convincing the slightly older population to change their physical lives is near impossible right now compared to convincing my generation and the next. But convincing my generation to be more tolerant of one another and turn the other cheek is quite the task compared with the baby boomers.
Let me just end this with a prediction: not only will the next generation not think that living environmentally sound is weird, but they will think that the generation just prior was borderline stupid or psychotic, in a sense, for not having thought about it. But they’ll be wrong. Every generation is going to put its focus into that which gives them the most comfort based on what’s happening in the world at the time, and each following generation should, very simply, use each prior generation for that which they have to offer-either their information/physical life acuity or their love.
