Are older generation primarily responsible for unsustainable lifestyle, other probs?

[GLC1968]

this came up on fb today and i thought it was apropos. Viewing generations discretely makes as much sense as viewing humans as disconnected from our environment.

*like*

[Crankin]

Every generation thinks the one after it is more rebellious, selfish, blah, blah, blah. I don't know. I enjoy my kid's company (31 and 28) and their values aren't so different from mine. Sure, they've had vastly different experiences, but still. I prefer them to some of my so called friends who just seem old. More like my grandparents!
I sort of agree with the growing population of humans issue; I can't quote evidence, though. I get upset when I see someone having 3 or 4 kids, even when they can clearly afford them. Of course, it's my personal bias, because I could have never handled 3 or 4 kids in my house.

[nuliajuk]

I think a lot of people who moan about "baby boomers" have no clue what a baby boomer actually is. They don't realize that the generation spans 20 years, which means that the youngest "boomers" could be the children of the oldest. They will even point to quite elderly people to make their point, not realizing that a person well past 70 is NOT a baby boomer.
And of course, they'll go on and on about how lucky we are, how we had everything handed to us on a silver plate, etc, etc. Well, in terms of financial luck, the baby boomers were not the luckiest generation. That title belongs to people born between 1932 and 1940, for several reasons:
- They were a relatively small cohort, because people had fewer children during the great depression. Smaller class sizes in school, less competition to get into good universities if they wanted to do that.
- Although they lived through the depression and the second world war, they weren't old enough to have to deal with the problems directly, their parents did.
- When they became old enough to work in the 1950s, employers were desperate for workers. It was very easy to get and keep a job.
The whole notion of moving to the suburbs, having two cars, and driving everywhere came about in the 1950s. The boomers were children then, it was their parents who embraced this lifestyle.

[Owlie]

Nuliajuk, I was going to say that. The problem wasn't so much the boomers. The car-dependent suburbs (and the shift in infrastructure to accommodate it), consumer culture, etc. are products of the boomers' parents more than the boomers themselves.

[Sylvia]

I thought I'd post this link. Its a bit of a one sided take, but the point it's trying to make is both the older and younger generations have had differing ways of conserving and being "green" even if it wasn't called that.

[ACG]

Sylvia, I love this article. Already sent it to my boomer cohorts.

I could rant, but I have a question. There are so many countries that don't think 'green', have the green rules that many 1st world countries have. What about them?


I'm 52, my adult childrena are 29 and 23.
My mother (born in 1935) didn't have a dryer until about 15 years ago. I don't use my dryer that often. I use a clothes line, because it saves money.My father (born 1929) grew up in a house with no indoor plumbing, because they didn't have the money.

In my first marriage, we had one car for the first 8 years, because we didn't have the money. I walked everywhere with an infant.
Now I have a little more money, but habits are hard to change. I love paper bags, I had plastic bags. We have a water filter and re-fill our own water bottles. I save my change in a glass jar. I have a vegetable garden. I re-use containers.

[aponi]

I thought the young kids were not buying cars because for whatever reason they have no desire for independence. Maybe it's that their parents are helicopter parents and they just don't mind. I don't get it. I work with someone who has two kids in college. They call her at least once a day. I was more independent at 14 than these kids are in their early 20's.

[Crankin]

Yeah, me, too. But my kids only called a couple of times a week. Sometimes we IM'd. When DS 2 was deployed (6 times, 4 in "dangerous" places), he generally called once a week, unless he was off doing his secret intelligence stuff. One of my adult sons and his wife live about 30 minutes away. We speak every week, sometimes 10 days go by, and how often we see each other depends on the time of year. Sometimes 3-4 weeks go by and we don't see them, but then it starts feeling a little weird. We are both very busy, but he makes an effort and we enjoy spending time with them. And they only have one car , by choice. My other son and DIL live in CA, and we talk every couple of weeks, but usually there's email and FB messages in between. They both call DH to talk about stuff that is more in his area of expertise, sometimes when he is at work.
One of my close friends in AZ talks to her adult kids incessently (they are the same age as my kids). I mean, I am just as close to my kids, but I don't feel the need to do that.

[shootingstar]

I had understood that at least some kids living in big cities (that tend to have higher rental costs or home ownership costs) and if they have graduated from university/college with debt, they simply can't afford a car at this point in life. They need their money....for technology, laptop/mobile devices, paying for Internet use, as well as living expenses etc. Regardless of whether or not they live on their own or with a parent.

Well some parents have better relationships with adult children than other parent-adult child relationships.

I really don't want to hear at work a parent on the job, talking with their adult, just-graduated-from-university child (who is still living with parent), about various chores/where are you? Etc. And yes, I do blame some boomer parents being way too involved in child's life. Let the adult child figure it out, make mistakes, etc. Sustainability means sustaining a healthy relationship among family members too with lots of room for people to grow.

[PamNY]

I really don't want to hear at work a parent on the job, talking with their adult, just-graduated-from-university child (who is still living with parent), about various chores/where are you? Etc. And yes, I do blame some boomer parents being way too involved in child's life. Let the adult child figure it out, make mistakes, etc. Sustainability means sustaining a healthy relationship among family members too with lots of room for people to grow.

Hmmm....I'm trying to figure out a way to argue that "sustainability" means minding your own business and not eavesdropping.

[salsabike]

I think that talking about any generation as if it's monolithic in character, whether it's X, Y, boomer, or any other label, has VERY limited real meaning.

[lph]

I really don't want to hear at work a parent on the job, talking with their adult, just-graduated-from-university child (who is still living with parent), about various chores/where are you? Etc.

Do you know this person and his or her adult child well?

[shootingstar]

I do know the person and she talks about her adult children enough. Other employees are like me..we have tolerated this.

We work in open office ..so conversations float far.

Am only referring more to (healthy) sustainability of family relationships in general. On a personal level, I don't see anything wrong if adult child returns to live with parent for a limited time --provided child contributes often/daily to household funds/chores, etc. This isn't a boomer vs. younger gneration comment. But more on family dynamics that is unique from family to family.