Guilt-tripping little kids about energy conservation.

[Perd Hapley]

Has anybody else heard or seen those ads where they try to make kids feel bad for wasting energy?  I hear 'em on the radio all the time now.  How do these jerks sleep at night?   

[Standing Wolf]

How do these jerks sleep at night?

Safe in the certainty they'll wake up one of these mornings in a workers' and peasants' socialist paradise.

[Gewehr98]

Hell, yes.

I berate my two unemployed, basement-dwelling WarCrack addicts constantly for having space heaters, workstations, and televisions on 24/7, when they're asleep, or at the local watering hole.

Money.

It grows on trees...

[Perd Hapley]

Exactly. 

But these ads aren't Dad telling you not to waste his money.  They actually try to embarrass kids by making them feel un-cool for wasting energy.  Which is dumb. 

'Course, kids probably don't pay much attention to it, so they probably aren't doing much harm. 

[Gewehr98]

They never pay attention to it.

I've tried to hand the utility bill to Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb, on several occasions.

In one ear, out the other...

[Mabs2]

Dude, I dunno how you put up with it.

[BrokenPaw]

Exactly. 

But these ads aren't Dad telling you not to waste his money.  They actually try to embarrass kids by making them feel un-cool for wasting energy.  Which is dumb. 

'Course, kids probably don't pay much attention to it, so they probably aren't doing much harm. 

In all fairness, I haven't heard the ads, so I don't know how heavy-handed they actually are.  I listen to XM, so the only ads that I ever hear are the "Are you too deep in debt to get out?  It's not your fault; it's the EEEEvil credit card companies who spent all that money on spinners for your Escalade".

That said:  It's a different thing to make kids (and adults, for that matter) feel guilty about wasting energy, and making them feel guilty about using energy.

All politics aside, energy is not cheap, and it's unlikely to get any cheaper in the near term.  Wasting it simply makes it likely to become more expensive.  Discouraging kids (and adults) from actually wasting it (like GW98's parasites seem to) is not in and of itself a bad thing.  Ads for kids have to be heavy-handed in order to get messages of any sort into their heads; does anyone remember the GI-Joe "Knowing is half the battle" PSAs?

Discouraging actual wastefulness is a good thing.  Is that what these ads are doing, or are they defining any use of energy other than "Flying Al Gore Around The Country" as a waste?

-BP

[K Frame]

Pull the breakers to the basement.

That will get their attention.

[mtnbkr]

Pull the breakers to the basement.

That will get their attention.

Unfortunately, if it's wired like my house, the outlets in the basement are on the same breakers as outlets in the rest of the house. 

Chris

[Gewehr98]

Yup. 

The builders thoughtfully wired many of the circuit breakers to cover all three levels of the house at the same time.

I even tried to enable Hibernate on their IBM worstations, but that motherboard/hard drive/video card combination doesn't like it.

Standby mode still runs the 500W power supply, which is what I really want to unload from the watt meter outside.   

I have to agree, I think folks should be made to feel guilty about wasting energy.

I haven't seen the ad, so I don't know if it's a guilt trip about using vs. wasting, but when you're looking at $200/month going straight to the utility company, a little discipline goes a long way. 

Heading outside?  Turn off the TV, computer, space heater, and lights.  It's not rocket science. 

[BlueStarLizzard]

are you talking about the energy hog commercials?

i think they're dorky. i will point out that most commercials aimed at kids trying to get them to buy into something "cool" are usually a major fail. they always come across like like they're trying so hard to be cool, but in the trying they can't ever pull it off.

the other reason i think the energy hog ones are stupid is because the kid is not wasting the energy. the parents are.  :rolleyes:

[Perd Hapley]

Yeah, the energy hog, and some other ones.  I don't know if they're on TV.  I only hear 'em on radio.

This crap can't be compared to PSA's about drug abuse or anything like that.  To try to shame kids into getting all worried about energy consumption is just asinine.  They're kids.  Leave them alone.  And this can't be compared to the time-honored practice of parents yelling at kids not to leave the lights on, or waste air-conditioning.  This is something else.

It's the over-all failure of the environmentalist movement.  If they wanted people to use less energy, they could just explain the cost-saving aspect of it.  Their getting all moralistic about it just turns people off. 

[K Frame]

Good. Kids deserve to be guilt tripped every bit as much as they deserve to get sold Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs on their Saturday morning cartoons.

[MicroBalrog]

Reason  #4,567,432 not to have cable/standard TV.

[digitalandanalog]

I am constantly telling my kids not to be wasteful.

They don't have the luxury of broadcast T.V. at my place. If they see those commercials, it is at their mother's house, and she has no concept of what the "off" position on a switch is for. Maybe she should watch a few commercials

I constantly hear about how high her electric bills are. Well duh, dummy. Stuff that is off doesn't cost. (Except for low draw, live components like receivers and what not.)

My kids are confused.

Daddy says to turn it off and mommy lets everything stay on.

If a little guilt makes for less waste, go for it. No one should feel good about wasteful behavior.

How many people here pick up their brass to reload or recycle?

I don't reload, but all my cases find their way into a recycle bucket. Steel or brass. Doesn't matter.

This should apply to all things in life that can reused.

[Balog]

I'm all about curbing wasteful behaviour. But are these .gov funded? I don't want the bloated whore that is the fed.gov telling my kids anything. I'll handle raising my kids myself, thank you very much.

Besides, when you get right down to it almost everything we do is "wasteful". Think how much electricity we'd save if no one ever watched tv! And all these people sucking up juice just to play videogames or argue on forums, well they're really hogs! 

[Perd Hapley]

I'm all about curbing wasteful behaviour. But are these .gov funded? I don't want the bloated whore that is the fed.gov telling my kids anything. I'll handle raising my kids myself, thank you very much.

Besides, when you get right down to it almost everything we do is "wasteful". Think how much electricity we'd save if no one ever watched tv! And all these people sucking up juice just to play videogames or argue on forums, well they're really hogs! 

And that's pretty much where I'm coming from.  I don't care if they're privately or govt.-funded, what kids do with their parents' energy is the parents business.  They're paying for it. 

After all, wasting energy is not exactly the same thing as being hooked on meth. 

[Gewehr98]

Balog and Fistful,

This might be before your time, but I distinctly remember watching a government commercial that began airing about 1971, portraying a Native American with a tear running down his face as he paddled his canoe down a polluted river.

It had a profound effect on many people, my parents included.

Government guilt-trip commercials harping about waste and pollution are nothing new, nor will they end any time soon based on a rant or two submitted to an internet discussion forum.  

I just wish I'd know when the commercial that sparked Fistful's and Balog's ire was on, so I could get Doorknob and D&@*head to watch it.

I see nothing wrong with a public service message touting a little responsibility being broadcast to kids glued to the boob tube's screen.

Obviously, if their parents don't give a rat's patootie...

(As happens in cases other than just energy conservation, I might add)

[Balog]

Balog,

This might be before your time, but I distinctly remember a government commercial airing about 1971, portraying a Native American with a tear running down his face as he paddled his canoe down a polluted river.

Government guilt-trip commercials harping about waste and pollution are nothing new, nor will they end any time soon based on a rant or two submitted to an internet discussion forum.  

I've heard of it. I'm not sure what your point is. The fed.gov does a lot of things I dislike, and I understand this isn't going to change it. But on a discussion forum, when someone brings the subject up, discussing my dislike for it seemed appropriate.

I don't care if they're privately or govt.-funded, what kids do with their parents' energy is the parents business.  They're paying for it.

And if a private entity wants to try to guilt trip kids, well it's their money too. In the end, it's the parents responsibility to monitor the stuff going into the kiddos heads as best as possible. Besides, don't you mostly listen to AM political radio? Not a lot of pre-teens tuning into Rush.

[Perd Hapley]

AM and FM.  Even NPR.    Yeah, I listen to talk radio, NPR, "community radio," college radio, and I can get by OK without a TV.  It's just how I was raised.   

Gewehr,

I guess what bothers me is that it's specifically aimed at kids.  And, yes, there's an underlying annoyance at the religious nature of the environmentalist movement.  As previously stated, they'd make a lot more head-way if they'd present it as "Hey, adults, here's a way you can save money."  Instead, they seem like self-righteous moralists, trying to make us all feel rotten. 

As for the straw man about whether an internet rant will change anything, keep in mind that your discussing your own domestic issues with energy savings isn't going to change that situation either. 

[Gewehr98]

Nor did anybody here ever hear me say my own problems at home would be fixed, either by a public-service message or a piddly-assed little internet forum.

However, if one has heartburn with a government-sponsored message warning kids not to waste energy, I would assume there is also heartburn generated by the anti-drug/anti-drinking messages targeted to that same adolescent audience, Nicht Wahr?

"This is your brain..."

Personally, I believe that if the aforementioned television ads extolling energy conservation reach the gray matter of even a fraction of the intended audience, it'll pay for itself and a whole bunch more, perhaps reducing the need for Uncle Sam to buttress the nation's energy infrastructure, as indicated by the current growth predictions.

Taxpayer dollars being saved by a government commercial. 

Dayum. Who would'a thunk it? 

And the conservationist angle?

It's just how I was raised. 

[Perd Hapley]

Nor did anybody here ever hear me say my own problems at home would be fixed, either by a public-service message or a piddly little internet forum.

Er.  Why, yes, that was the point.   :|   :|

However, if one has heartburn with a government-sponsored message warning kids not to waste energy, I would assume there is also heartburn generated by the anti-drug/anti-drinking messages targeted to that same adolescent audience, Nicht Wahr?

No.  As I've said a couple of times now, it's not the government funding I object to (if they are govt.-funded).  It's the message I object to, directed at that audience, by people who have no business bothering them about it. 

And the conservationist angle?

It's just how I was raised. 

Same here.  Dad had a subscription to Mother Earth News.  Heats with wood.  Pre-heating tank for the water heater, above the stove.  Another one outside, for solar pre-heating in the summertime.  Used to grow quite a bit of his own food, which we canned.  We cleaned up the trash on the side of the road.  And so on, and so forth. 

And if it makes you happy, I use CFLs, where appropriate. 

[MicroBalrog]

However, if one has heartburn with a government-sponsored message warning kids not to waste energy, I would assume there is also heartburn generated by the anti-drug/anti-drinking messages targeted to that same adolescent audience, Nicht Wahr?

Quite.

[Jamisjockey]

Safe in the certainty they'll wake up one of these mornings in a workers' and peasants' socialist paradise.

StandingWolf for the win!


Try watching Sprout or one of the other kids networks.  One of the things lately is the eco-rangers....its pretty benign with its message that recycling and turning off lights is good.  My kids don't get it yet, though, they are more than happy to leave every light on.

[HankB]

I became a conservationist when I got my first car, a 1973 Pontiac.

It had one of the early smogger motors that barely ran, so, following the step-by-step instructions laid out in the Emission Control Bypass Manual, I retuned the engine. Got a 25% improvement in fuel economy, improved drivability, and probably 50 extra horsepower.

That's called having your cake and eating it too.