Why baby boomers' grandchildren will hate them [View all]

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For decades, Americans could remember previous generations with reverence. The Greatest Generation freed Europe and established the liberal world order. The Silent Generation helped them build post-World War II prosperity and battle international communism. And the baby boomers had their moments, mostly long past: marching for civil rights; speaking out against an endless war; revolutionizing the culture. But when their children and grandchildren look back at the boomer legacy, “reverence” is not the word that will come to mind.

A new Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll gauged how U.S. teenagers feel about climate change. Nearly all — 86 percent — believe in the near-unanimous conclusions of the scientific community. Fifty-seven percent of teens say climate change makes them feel afraid. Fifty-two percent feel angry. Forty-three percent feel helpless. Only 29 percent feel optimistic. Anger, fear, helplessness: These are the sorts of feelings so many of the nation’s recent leaders — and those who elected them — will increasingly elicit.

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Young Americans will face the challenge, because their parents and grandparents did not. They will do so with little time and a cash-strapped federal Treasury that the baby boomers fleeced to pay for tax cuts and retirement benefits. The Post poll found that about a quarter of today’s teens had engaged in some form of climate activism. Others have not done much, but they will likely demand more as the problem gets worse and their political power grows. Generational change will bring policy change.

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What is the point of politics — of life, even — if not to leave a positive legacy for future generations? Not every issue so clearly implicates such big questions, in part because not every issue offers such a clear distinction between right and wrong, responsible and irresponsible, reality and reality denial. But climate change, the greatest self-imposed long-term threat facing humanity, offers that clarity. Today’s youths will curse their forebears for failing to accept the truth.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/09/17/why-baby-boomers-grandchildren-will-hate-them/