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Teenagers get a pretty bad rep these days: lazy, money-obsessed, toting guns in their local McDonald's... But in reality young people are greenies at heart, and worried about what state the planet will be in as they grow older. So says a new survey from Greenpeace and virtual world Habbo, which found that teenagers think of global warming as a more serious threat to society than drugs, violence or war; nearly three quarters see it as a serious problem.
The survey also shows that teens worry about what governments are doing to stop climate change. Although they see it as a more pressing issue than terrorism, they think governments are taking it less seriously.
The research was conducted by Habbo,
a virtual world for teenagers, in collaboration with Greenpeace. The survey was actually carried out
within the game itself, which meant that 50,000 children from 18
countries could be questioned relatively easily, giving a truly global
opinion.
Many of the teens were worried about America's emissions, with 39 per cent saying that it was responsible for the majority of the planet's carbon emissions. There is good news to come from the survey, though, with well over half of those surveyed believing that global warming can be stopped if we make changes to how we live. Hopefully this will push them further to shrink their carbon footprint.
"Today’s teenagers are tomorrow’s decision makers. They are 'Generation C' -- the generation that has to beat climate change," says Gerd Leipold, Greenpeace international executive director.
"It will be up to them to create a revolution in non-polluting, renewable energy to prevent global warming from affecting the lives of billions of people and threatening the survival of countless species of animals and plants."
Worryingly, though, nearly 40 per cent of children didn't know what causes global warming, showing that more probably needs to be done to educate children when it comes to environmental science.
"The response from the teens to this survey conducted in Habbo is phenomenal and really highlights the concern felt around the world," says Timo Soininen, CEO of Sulake, who own Habbo.
"Giving teens a voice on this matter is essential and we need to find practical ways to work together and engage our youth to help combat this problem."
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