I wouldn’t have believed this if I hadn’t read it for myself. This is an actual study and press release from the University of York. I’m surprised they didn’t issue this press release IN ALL UPPER CASE. Those darn whippersnappers.
New rules of engagement for older people and climate change
A new study by researchers in the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) at the University of York calls for better engagement of older people on climate change issues.
The report, prepared in partnership with the Community Service Volunteers’ Retired and Senior Volunteer Programme (RSVP), urges the scrapping of stereotypes which suggest that older people are incapable of engagement, passive or disinterested in climate change.
Instead, the research team recommends new approaches to engage older people, which promote direct interaction and the use of trusted agents that are sensitive to the personal circumstances older people face. The report sets out a ten-point plan to engage older people more effectively on climate change issues and greener living.
Recent evidence from the older age sector highlight the inadequacies of current methods of information provision and community engagement on climate change
The report claims that a combination of climate change and an ageing population will have wide ranging socio-economic and environmental impacts. It acknowledges that older people may be physically, financially and emotionally less able to cope with the effects of climate-related weather events.
Lead author Dr Gary Haq, a human ecologist at SEI, said: “The engagement and participation of older people in climate change issues are important as older people can be seen as potential contributors to, and casualties of, climate change as well as potential campaigners to tackle the problem.”
‘Baby boomers’ (aged 50-64) currently have the highest carbon footprint in the UK compared with other age groups. They represent the first generation of the consumer society entering old age. As they will move to older groups they will replace low carbon footprint habits and values with relatively high consumption.
Dr Haq said: “Recent evidence from the older age sector highlight the inadequacies of current methods of information provision and community engagement on climate change. It is critical to implementing policies to tackle climate change and to address the needs of an ageing population.”
Dave Brown, co-author and member of RSVP, said: “While older people are concerned about climate change, they do not feel they will be directly affected. Nor do they feel they can personally take action to stop it. The older generation represent a missing voice and a missed opportunity.”
Notes to editors:
- The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) is a global science policy research institute headquartered in Stockholm and with its UK office based in the Environment Department at the University of York. Its mission is to bridge the gap between science and policy to achieve change for a sustainable future.
- More about the University of York’s Environment Department can be found on www.york.ac.uk/environment/
- According to the Government’s Actuary Department, by 2050 people aged over 50 will represent 30 per cent of the UK population compared to 2006.
- SEI’s updated calculations show that baby boomers (aged 50-64) have one of the highest carbon footprints (13.5 tonnes/CO2) in the UK compared other age groups Seniors (aged 65-70) have a carbon footprint of 12. 5 tonnes/CO2 while Elders (aged 70+) have a footprint of equal to the UK average of 12 tonnes.
- As the ‘baby boomers’ move into the older groups they will replace low carbon footprint habits and values with relatively high consumption habits. This “replacement effect” is crucially important and identifies the need for a much clearer targeted effort on climate change and consumption aimed at this demographic group.
- The ten-point plan for engagement of older people in climate change issues:
-
- Abandon old stereotypes
- Get to know your target audience
- Use trusted brands
- Use peer to peer communication
- Use positive messages
- Use the right “frames”
- Show real life examples
- Develop an inclusive dialogue
- Maximise participation
- Ensure the setting is right for change
- The full report can be found on the SEI web site: www.sei-international.org
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The trouble with us baby boomers is that we’ve heard it all before, several times usually. We are all going to “freeze in the next iceage”, “fry because of global warming”, “die from Hong Kong or bird or swine flu”, “the y2k bug will end civilisation”, etc etc etc.
Yes, well I’ll believe it when I see it. Until then leave me alone to get on with living.
you have to realise that think tanks and institutions produce this kind of report on virtually every policy issue.
almost everything consumed in the media is a product of this kind of research-generated public manipulation campaign.
none of your beliefs are left to chance 😉
Robert of Ottawa says:
August 26, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Sounds like the greenshirts will be opening up re-education camps soon. And they get government our money to do this to us?
we have those in california already.
we call them “schools”
PARDON???
tonyb
“Baby boomers’ (aged 50-64) currently have the highest carbon footprint in the UK compared with other age groups.”
Utter complete rubbish, where do they get their information from. they must make it up!
I am one of these and I remember as a child houses with no central heating, scraping ice off the inside of the windows, toilets outside that froze in the winter, no motor car to take us to school, or anywhere else, we walked or rode our bikes.
So Dr Haq what was your childhood carbon footprint like?
Oh great educate me again on this global warming? I’ve seen the global cooling scare , I lived through the late 1940’s wonderful years, the 50’s and 60’s frost up the sides of the glasshouses and the field crops crunching with ice, thank him up where ever it warmed up in the 70’s and 80’s, now we’re slowly cooling down again, hm, I wonder if being old means I can remember the cycles of nature?
Bernie:
human ecology worth examining
What a good idea!. Some people, specially the greens, think ecology only refers to a beautiful lawn with flowers, it is really about EVERTHING FEEDS OF EVERYTHING and its equilibrium. Evidently there a lack of a ROBUST population of big predators in Sweden.
Lee Kington : August 26, 2010 at 12:43 pm
You are exactly right. That describes the same older generation I know and now I find I’m one of them.
Many of the younger people I come in contact today are totally wasteful, talk about consumption! Use it, toss it, they will just drive down to WalMart or Home Depot to just buy more of what was just tossed a week or month ago and it was perfectly reusable sometimes needing a bit cleaning or maintenance. I’ve seen this happen over and over again as I shake my head, a throw-away generation. What would young people do without superstores I wonder? And guess what many call themselves, environmentalists, they have no idea.
Bet my spare-parts drawers out-number yours. ☺
Use something from them all the time.
No driving. No spending. No impact, however, sometimes improvising required.
Dr, Haq:
I think you and RSVP have picked the wrong generation. If he has done this by polls, he has been misled, he needs to get personal and go visit their homes and observe their habits, you will find you have it backwards.
Oh, and being unable to handle the climate, Dr. Haq, it is your generation or younger that is having trouble with the climate. I’ve been here long enough to know there has been no change in climate, bit warm in the 1990’s, but you are just a youngster how would you know?
“As the ‘baby boomers’ move into the older groups they will replace low carbon footprint habits and values with relatively high consumption habits. ”
Bullsh…. . Whoever wrote those words is obviously not retired and living on a limited budget.
Not that I am but my parents and in-laws are. While they may fly more often than they did when they were younger so do I. My parents don’t commute to work everyday and they eat less and their house is smaller. Their, so-called, footprint is half what it used to be.
@ShrNfr
‘Yeah, and I forgot that my wife who is older than I am still works at MIT processing Voyager data’
Hold on. She’s still processing the data from Voyager? O_0
Life long educated voters,
are not AGW idea toters,
they see the hype, ignore the tripe,
resist the change, out side the range,
of natural variability, and civility.
BS detectors, tuned to see,
hurry do it now! scams to be,
rational decisions are only made,
after long careful plans are laid,
openly discussed, not overly fussed,
data plainly in sight, not hidden over night.
CO2 I breath out, garden plants doth sprout,
tenderly planted is the seed, that me it will feed,
as I gather unto my garden more compost still,
like this BS study, digested before under I’ll till,
by some stupid ruddy, with lack of sense or skill.
honing propaganda, for grand papa,
the fool sets the stage, to teach the sage,
the undigested crap, delivered like a rap,
the talking points, (Haq anoints) are steeped in joints,
cause the smoke he’s blowing, we are already knowing.
wrote a poem, hit send,
is it in the rubbish bin?
or is it just round the bend,
like the life I’m in?
[reply] I found it in the spam, and put it back on show, you can see it anyway, but I thought you’d like to know. 😉 RT-mod
After reading this I shal get out my T-shirt:”Old age and treachery will over come youth and enthusiasm” It even applies here…
Typical bullshit from the politically correct. I can imagine the amount of it (BS) that was talked during all the meetings these prats would have had that led up to this crap being published.
Fox has those guys locked up already. And they’re afraid of subversive reasons to cut health care & social security.
Severian says:
August 26, 2010 at 10:30 am
Wow…guess the political re-education camps will need wheelchair access ramps.
As long as they have shovels in the Climate-Gulag to keep those ramps free of snow.
Beyond parody, but totally out there in green la la land
What’s a carbon date, and how can I get one?!
The life of a student is full of stresses and strains; exams, mocks, essays and lectures all mean that it can be hard to find time for romance.
Speed Dating
So there’s really only one way to find your perfect partner – go on a date with your carbon ‘sole’mate!
What is Carbon Speed Dating?
Carbon Speed Dating works just like any speed dating event, but with a tiny twist….you get matched up for your dates according to your carbon footprint. You get to have a great time, meet some new people, and hopefully find somebody you want to reduce your carbon footprint with at the end of the day!
The idea with these events is to engage students who wouldn’t normally get involved in green stuff. Finding out your carbon footprint and sharing it with someone else can be a great conversation starter – and just imagine the low-carbon date opportunities if you find your carbon solemate! Candle-lit veggie dinner dates, a [Can Film Festival] romantic movie, a long walk or cycle ride for two….
This struck a chord, didn’t it? This is nothing more then marketing 101, I had that course about 40 years ago. The authors forget one important thing. By the time we reach our “senior years” what ever that is, we are way to smart for this crap or to far gone of be of value. We have either abandoned all religion as foolishness or are so committed to one of them we are not about to change. Then there is a whole group of us who have never grown up, refuse to do so and only become more obstinate, not less, especially when it comes to suffering fools of any strip, unless they are willing to buy the beer. You know, that often golden to dark brown liquid just full of carbon dioxide.
I think I will put my bicycle on the back of my car an drive out to the county to ride it. I certainly don’t want to make my carbon foot print smaller. Some times us old people get spiteful too. Yes, and print this study to take with me. You know us old farts, we can’t leave home without sufficient butt wipe, now can we.
Dr. Heimlich, please report to emergency.
“lower, doctor- a lot lower – it just won’t come out!”
UK John says: “. . . toilets outside that froze in the winter. . .”
You had a toilet in your outhouse? LUXURY! For a time we didn’t even have a house on our outhouse.
“. . .no motor car to take us to school, or anywhere else, we walked or rode our bikes.”
My carbon footprint still says “Schwinn” on the chain guard. I’m sure Mr. Huq would approve of that, but if he thinks I’ve made that choice to “save the planet” he’s got another think coming. As others here have noted many of us Old Codgers were conservative in our use of materials (because we appreciated them) and “environmentally aware” long before Mr. Huq was born; but have declined to allow that to make us stupid. We learned the difference between our arse and the hole in the ground we used to squat it over.
“The Lord hath delivered [them] into our hands.” Huxley, answering “Soapy Sam” Bishop Wilberforce
1. Abandon old stereotypes. Ask the pimple-faced investigators if they know what “skeptic” really means.
2. Get to know your target audience. Appreciate the vicissitudes of pimples.
3. Use trusted brands. Ask if they realize how old [Moses] [Churchill] [name your own] was when they started their “real” work.
4. Use peer to peer communication. Put yourself in their shoes and ask them to put themselves in your shoes – with a little help from your experience, since after all, age knows youth but youth can only imagine age.
5. Use positive messages. Tell them your own past U-turns and tell them it’s ok to be wrong, say sorry, etc.
6. Use the right “frames”. eh, what’s that? please use the Crystal Standard of English, and please don’t frame us for the Stockholm Syndrome.
7. Show real life examples. Tell them about the Crusades, Tulipmania, and the South Sea Bubble.
8. Develop an inclusive dialogue. Ask them if they care about truth – scientific method – checking basic info, and find out where the cutting edge of their knowledge lies.
9. Maximise participation. Pop a few fizzy drinks to demonstrate the outgassing power of the oceans.
10. Ensure the setting is right for change. I bet there is a paper somewhere that shows, statistically, that those most resistant to new ideas are the very ones who by their position ie scientific positions of responsibility, should be the most open to change. Ask them where they want future generations to see them. Tell them things are changing in the favour of skeptics and they have now got far more openings to challenge the old guard and establish names for themselves as skeptics.
I can understand that this does appear quite silly, and one is likely to laugh at these ridiculous conclusions. But understand this: These people are deadly serious. They are studying ways of controlling the population with the same detached manner that pathologists dissect a specimen. The part they will never discuss openly is what to do with the “older people” once lulled into compliance. Some sort of “solution” is in store, I’m sure. After all, what use are “older people” really? They cost a lot more money to keep alive… Besides, didn’t they constantly tell you what to do and make you go to bed when you wanted to stay up all night and pull the wings off of flies? Look at how much air they breathe! If we are going to save this fragile planet, we must make some difficult decisions. We must all do our part to save the earth! Something must be done about the growing menace of “older people”!
And by the way, we have also decided to allow abortions up to the age of twelve. Better be a good boy!
As someone who missed being classified as a “boomer” by not that many years, I say these people should leave the older folks alone. They know how to not be wasteful, how to have small “carbon footprints” without specifically trying, and throughout their lives must surely have accumulated “carbon savings” greater than what people born these days will achieve.
After all, they were walking ten miles to school through snow three feet thick while my and younger generations were riding the school… Actually we just got a “snow day” and took off, but, well, you get the idea.
Addendum @ur momisugly Lee Kingston, Wayne, et al:
“Many of the younger people I come in contact today are totally wasteful, talk about consumption! Use it, toss it, they will just drive down to WalMart or Home Depot to just buy more of what was just tossed a week or month ago and it was perfectly reusable sometimes needing a bit cleaning or maintenance.”
We have developed a generation of what I call Anti-Materialist Hyper-Consumers. People who have never known a day of real want in their lives and have no reason to expect one in future, who, often as an overt act of demonstrating that they are not Materialists, do not care for, and often outright abuse, their things. Hence needing to replace them at ever accelerating rates (Warning! Incoming physicist joke: I call this “The Jerk Factor”).
It is the piles of plastic trash this generates that worries me more environmentally than some “Old Guy” who can finally, after nursing it along for a couple of decades, afford to replace that old Skoda with a Harley and/or Porsche.
Lucy in the Sky:-
8. Develop an inclusive dialogue. Ask them if they care about truth – scientific method – checking basic info, and find out where the cutting edge of their knowledge lies.
With Diamonds!