Price and Compare Vehicles: [Mr. Adler is an environmental policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington.] [From The Wall Street Journal [Eastern Edition], 1993 Apr 14, p. A14:3.] On Friday [16 April], children from around the world will meet in Orlando, Fla., for the first annual Kids World Council, a meeting designed to promote children's involvement in environmental politics. Nickelodeon, a cable channel aimed at children, has run a series of advertisements entitled "Plant It for the Planet!" to promote the council, which it intends to cover. One of the Nickelodeon advertisements talks about the dangers posed by aerosols, refrigerators and those "little white cups" made from polystyrene. All these products, the ad warns, contain chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and are therefore bad for the environment. There is only one problem. Like so much of the environmental "information" that is being directed at children these days, the ad is wrong. In fact, those little white cups have been manufactured without the use of CFCs for more than three years. Aerosol cans, pictured in the ad with a skull and crossbones, have not contained CFCs since 1978. That is when the use of CFCs in aerosols was banned by Congress. Nickelodeon's attempt to raise environmental consciousness is actually promoting environmental ignorance. Nickelodeon is not the only one. The error about CFCs in aerosol cans can be found nearly everywhere one looks. It is contained in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' children's book "ABC's for a Better Planet," as well as the popular cartoon television series "G.I. Joe." The fallacy hit prime time this year when it was spouted by a character on CBS's award-winning series "Northern Exposure." Indeed, if one examines any sampling of green materials for children, one finds that they are filled with similar errors, or half-truths. The March 29 issue of Newsweek included a "Just for Kids" pull-out section titled "Saving the Earth." In listing the "10 Biggest Challenges" facing the planet, the supplement revives scares of declining agricultural production and resource depletion. The Newsweek supplement ignores the fact that non-U.S. grain production has been outpacing population increases for the last three decades. Moreover, the prospect of running out of important resources, from precious minerals to oil, is no longer imminent. Proven oil reserves are greater than at any point in history. Should these reserves begin to dwindle, oil prices will again increase, restoring the price competitiveness of other energy sources. Despite what Newsweek claims, there is little prospect of running out. If that were not bad enough, the pullout includes an "Ask Al Gore" section where kids ask the vice president about environmental problems. One child asks if ozone depletion will turn the earth into a desert. Rather than clarify this child's misunderstanding of the risks posed by ozone depletion and point out that, even if the direst predictions are true, it will mean an ultraviolet-B radiation increase equivalent to moving from Washington to Richmond, Va. (100 miles south), Mr. Gore merely reiterates the need to act now to save the ozone layer. When asked, "What are we going to do about burning fossil fuels?" Mr. Gore responds by saying "fossil fuels, such as oil" need to be displaced by "alternative fuels, like clean-burning natural gas." Yet natural gas is a fossil fuel, too. The Environmental Protection Agency has also gotten into the act. The EPA produces "a student's first sourcebook" on acid rain that is anything but fair-minded. It completely ignores, for example, the conclusions of the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program -- a half-billion-dollar, 10-year government study -- which found that significant environmental damage cannot be attributed to acid rain. EPA's list of environmental materials for classroom use lists publications from every imaginable activist group, ranging form the Environmental Action Coalition to Zero Population Growth. Thirty states have formal programs of environmental education, and more are on the way. But they won't do much to improve the situation -- if the "proposed plan of action" developed by the New Jersey Environmental Education Commission offers any indication. One of this program's mandates is to "develop" the "values" needed to protect the environment. What are these values? Well, they include the fact that "environmental issues have a moral and spiritual dimension" and that the "diversity of culture" should be considered in environmental policies. Does this sound like education, or indoctrination? Too often environmental education merely proselytizes and promotes pet causes. Newsweek tells children to buy rain-forest nuts and not to purchase products in plastic bottles. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tell children to "write to your government leaders at every level -- city, county, state, and federal." A "Save the Earth Action Pack" distributed by the Turner Broadcasting System even tells children "to increase the amount of time and money" they give to environmental organizations and to urge "governments to support the work of these organizations." Were this done with any other political matter, parents would be up in arms -- and rightly so. Clearly, environmental lobbyists have decided that one way of advancing their political objectives is to reach the hearts and minds of children who will not only pester their parents but will themselves grow up to be activists and voters. Other would-be instructors of children are merely trying to act "responsibly," apparently without understanding that there may be more than one answer to any environmental question and that the "green" version of things can be extremely simplistic and misleading. Unfortunately, the creators of environmental books and toys rarely know much about the subject that they are promoting. Environmental education would do better simply teaching about scientific matters, including hydrology, ecosystems and the weather. As children get older, the pros and cons of various environmental policies can be discussed in a fair and balanced manner. Right now, the environmental science pushed to children is more political than factual. [From Letters, The Wall Street Journal [Eastern Edition], 1993 May 7, p. A15:1.] Jonathan H. Adler's April 14 editorial page article "The Greening of America's Youth" illuminates how children are being indoctrinated by environmental activists and their fellow travelers in the media and government regulatory agencies. While he exposes many of the tendentious "facts" parroted in environmental pamphlets and programs directed at children, I feel obliged to point out a small factual error made by Mr. Adler that bears on our industry. Those "little white cups" made of polystyrene foam have never been manufactured with CFCs. Mr. Adler has confused our product with polystyrene sandwich boxes (e.g. the erstwhile McDonald's hamburger cartons), which had been manufactured with CFCs prior to 1989. That confusion has bedeviled our industry ever since it became fashionable to demonize "styrofoam" products. I wish Mr. Adler luck in his efforts to enlighten the public about the disinformation campaign being directed at their children. But he will need more than mere facts to battle environmental true-believers. I have found that confronting these zealots with facts that contravene their assertions is a little like cutting off the Hydra's head; they drop the first argument in favor of other equally ill-supported claims. I have participated in a number of hearings to fight various proposed bans on polystyrene foam cups. It amazes me to watch the metamorphosis of the line of attack taken by the ban advocates. When polystyrene opponents realized that the CFC issue was no longer a potent weapon, they moved to debate to biodegradability. But a definitive study of the nation's landfills, conducted by [William Rathje of] the University of Arizona, proves that all the fulminations regarding biodegradability lead down a blind alley. In a landfill environment, even such apparently biodegradable materials as newspapers, food and yard waste will not bread down readily, absent air, sunlight and water. The study found further that polystyrene food packaging comprised only one quarter of 1% [by weight] of a typical landfill. By contrast, newspapers are glutting our landfills (comprising up to 18% in some communities). Where is the hue and cry to ban newspapers? There is none, of course, because the environmental propagandists prefer symbolic victory to substantive debate. What better symbol of wasteful American consumerism than a one- use disposable cup. The problem is that banning the product does not eliminate the need that the product filled. Paper cups have inevitably become the replacement of choice. At least they are made from a renewable resource, argue the environmentalists, while polystyrene foam cups are made of non-renewable petroleum products. Laying aside the issue of deforestation, this argument too, is unsupportable. Polystyrene production does not result in a net increase in petroleum consumption. The precursors to styrenes are made as a byproduct of other refining processes and in former times these byproducts had to be flared or otherwise disposed of. Furthermore, two recent independent studies comparing the manufacturing processes of paper cups versus foam cups reveal that paper cup production consumes more energy and releases many multiples more air and water emissions than does polystyrene foam cup production. Does this avalanche of data faze the ban-at-all-costs environmentalists? Of course not. They have shifted the debate once more by raising that all-purpose specter: cancer risk. Never mind that OSHA and EPA, relying on exhaustive research, have refused to classify styrene as even a possible carcinogen. Never mind that in a cup of coffee there are more naturally occurring styrenes in the java itself than can possibly migrate from the foam cup to the beverage. Mr. Adler has chosen for himself a truly Sisyphean task if he hopes that cogent analysis and scientific evidence can persuade the environmental propagandists to temper their indoctrination of our children. We know form hard experience that once a product or industry has been put on the environmental hit list, it is nearly impossible to disabuse the environmentalist of his antipathy. William Biggins Jr. President Foam Container Corp. Lenexa, Kan. * * * My five-year-old daughter is being bombarded with the kinds of half- truths and outright lies Mr. Adler cites. Clearly, Nickelodeon is the biggest offender, with the Disney Channel running a close second. The barrage of environmentalist propaganda, much of it in the form of public service announcements (PSAs) produced by environmental advocacy groups, is so pervasive on Nickelodeon that that channel is now completely off- limits to my daughter. Consistent with Mr. Adler's contention that our children are being consciously targeted with this propaganda, no one who watches Nick at Night, Nickelodeon's adult-oriented programming, would get any indication that this propagandizing goes on. The PSAs and the messages about global warming and recycling suddenly disappear once the evening programming begins. I encourage all parents who are concerned about what their children are seeing on television to question the validity of the messages being conveyed about the environment. Most of the information is not coming from scientific journals and legitimate research, but from special interest groups whose level of financial contributions depends on the perception [sic] that an environmental crisis exists. Roy E. Cordato Gaithersburg, Md. [Mr Cordato is correct in his observation that the green propaganda vanishes once the evening starts. -- O.P.] * * * It's also revealing to look at why environmentalists are typically so successful at winning children over to their ideas. Part of the reason, of course, is that few alternative voices exist for children to hear. Most of the industrial world feels contempt for industry as such, and has come to accept as gospel almost any environmentalist claim. Journalists often uncritically accept hypotheses of politically biased scientists who are living on government grants; teachers and parents in turn often uncritically accept the hype of the media; and children, who rely on adults to teach them the art of critical thinking, are often left defenseless in the face of alleged "facts" and "environmental emergencies." When adults feed children these daily doses of poisonous falsehoods (such as the idea that CFCs, which are heavier than air, rise to and destroy the ozone layer), children have little recourse to find an antidote or to even know that an antidote is needed. But children are highly susceptible to environmentalist ideas for another reason: Children, like environmentalists, typically don't hold production in much esteem. Rational adults know that to live they must produce -- that is, they know that they must refashion their environment to meet their needs. Children often don't fully grasp this connection because parents (properly) see to it that their needs are met for them. As a result, children often don't recognize how much of a sacrifice it is to close a factory for the sake of a snail darter. Given environmentalists' low esteem of human life, it's not surprising that they feel no qualms about filling children's minds with falsehoods and playing them like pawns in a political game those children don't understand. Erik Laughlin Chicago * * * Environmental activists cloak themselves with moral superiority and therefore excuse small lapses of fact for the greater good of inculcating the laudable value of spiritual connection between humans and the environment. They should be scolded for blatantly abusing their power as adults over children. The adult-child relationship is the definition of a power relationship. Children have almost no defenses against massive distortions perpetuated against them by powerful adults. Misleading children with made-up facts and imposing simplistic answers break trust, destroy respect and backfire. Laura Childs Martisius Denver [The following is not part of the items above.] On Nickelodeon Nickelodeon is part of MTV Networks. MTV Networks are composed of MTV, MTV Europe, Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite, VH-1, and fifty-percent of CTV (The Comedy Network). MTV Networks is, in turn, a part of Viacom Networks. Viacom Networks are composed of All News Channel, Lifetime (33.3%), MTV Networks, Showtime Networks Inc. Showtime Networks Inc. are composed of Flix, The Movie Channel, SET Pay Per View, and Showtime. All of these Networks are subsidiaries of Viacom Inc. (New York, NY), which also owns 5 network affiliated TV stations, 14 radio stations, Viacom Pictures, Viacom Entertainment, and Viacom Cable. Sumner M. Redstone, born in Boston on 27 May 1923, owns 75% of MTV and its parent, Viacom International, which he acquired in a takeover. He also owns Nickelodoeon. Mr Redstone, a lawyer, is the foremost purveyor of popular culture to TV viewers aged 2 to 24, not only in America, but in every continent in the world except Antarctica. MTV is seen not only in the United States, but (in local versions) in Europe, Australia, Latin America, Russia, Hong Kong, China, Korea, Taiwan, and Japan; all told, 210 million viewers in 71 countries. Nickelodeon will follow MTV into these markets. Geraldine Laybourne is President of the Nickelodeon subsidiary. Nickelodeon, created in 1979, now reaches 58.5 million households counting 2- to 15-year-olds among its primary viewers. Total revenues from Nickelodeon for 1992, according to one estimate, are $205 million, which is 38.5% of MTV Networks' revenue of $533 million for that year.
Transcripts of Public-Disservice Spots Aired in April 1992
On Cable-TV Channel Nickelodeon
THESE TRANSCRIPTS WERE TYPED FROM RECORDINGS AND NOT COPIED FROM
ORIGINAL SCRIPTS. BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF MISHEARING AND THE DIFFICULTY
IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, THE COMPLETE ACCURACY
OF THESE TRANSCRIPTS CANNOT BE VOUCHED FOR.
SOPHISTICATED USE OF IMAGES, CUTTING, AND MONTAGE ARE AN INTEGRAL PART
OF THE FOLLOWING SHORT FILMS/VIDEOS. DUE TO THE DIFFICULTY OF PRESENTING
A STORYBOARD ON A TEXT DEVICE, ONLY RUDIMENTARY DESCRIPTIONS OF THE
VIDEO PORTION HAVE BEEN INCLUDED.
NOTE: UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE, THE TITLES ARE MY OWN.
* * *
THREE PUBLIC-SERVICE ADVERTISEMENTS ON THE EARTH SUMMIT AND GLOBAL
WARMING SELECTIVELY BROADCAST ON MTV/VH-1/NICKELODEON IN APRIL 1992
TITLE: ``Earth Summit: R.E.M. on Global Warming''
TYPE: Informational.
LENGTH: 0:30
VIDEO: ``R.E.M.''
VIDEO: The four members of the band. From the viewer's left to
right: One member standing, one sitting, the next two
standing. The one sitting brings seems to bring up his legs
in front of him and place his bare feet on a rest at the
height of his chest. (The feet belong to a person off-camera
since no human could contort his body to position his feet
in such a way.)
AUDIO: (Sitting member) Here are two tools you can use to fight
Global Warming. By walking instead of driving two miles
each day, you can eliminate seven hundred and thirty pounds
of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year.
VIDEO: (Montage)
AUDIO: (Sitting member) Plus, I think you save a few bucks.
AUDIO: (Announcer) Do your part and wipe out a ton of cee-oh-two at
home this year. Then, write the President.
AUDIO: (Tell him to go to the Earth Summit ...
(
VIDEO: (The following address is superposed over a picture of the
White House:
(Mr President / The White House / 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,
N.W. / (Washington, D.C. 20500
AUDIO: (Announcer) ... and sign a treaty that will stop Global
Warming.
AUDIO: (R.E.M. singing) The world is collapsing ...
AUDIO: (Sitting member) Take the cee-oh-two challenge and stop the
gas.
VIDEO: Four logos against a background of clouds: MTV (9 o'clock),
Nick at Nite (12 o'clock), VH-1 (3 o'clock), Earth Summit (6
o'clock)
* * *
TITLE: ''Earth Summit: Environmentalist kids urge Bush''
TYPE: Pseudo-documentary
LENGTH: 1:00
AUDIO: (Girl's voice) In June of this year, in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, there's going to be a major meeting of world leaders
to discuss global warming and plan for the future. Will
President Bush be there?
Hold on.
Get ready.
'Cause Nickelodeon presents ...
VIDEO: "ZAP!" [Description of sequence omitted.]
AUDIO: (Girl's voice) President Bush hasn't decided yet whether
he'll go to the Earth Summit. But kid environmentalists want
him to go.
[John Hegstrand, 13 years / Kids for Saving the Planet]: Our
lack of interest in the Earth Summit is unbelievable. We
feel this is our last chance to support the earth,
and our greatest chance to do it together.
[Heidi Meudt, 17 years / Save the Rainforests]: He must not
only attend the Earth Summit, but make things happen there.
[Candice Ray (a Negress), 12 years / The Natural Guard]: I'm
not trying to put pressure on him or anything, but I think
he should go because there are a lot of problems, but global
warming is on the top of the list.
[Laura Kreitler, 12 years / Project Eco-School]: Since
America is one of the leading nations right now, its very
important for him to take a stand, because, hopefully, then
other nations will follow.
[Alexis Grey, 7 years / Children Light the Way]: He has to
start helping and then everybody will think its really cool
and they'll think its really popular.
V/O : Mr President, we are counting on you.
* * *
TITLE: ''Preserve Planet Earth''
TYPE: Rap video.
LENGTH: 0:30
AUDIO: All right
Stop
This crate (?) and wastin'.
Planet earth isn't ours for the takin'.
Look-it, there's a crack in the atmosphere.
I send out a cry,
But no one wants to hear.
Listen to us
We want to see the hungry fed
It really matters
So get your butt
Out of bed.
Stop,
Our population's growing much too fast,
'Cause it needs to be slowin'.
Preserve the planet,
Don't take it for granted.
Why can't we leave it
The way that we found it.
VIDEO: "Preserve Planet Earth" sponsored by your local Rotary
THREE PUBLIC SERVICE SPOTS BROADCAST ON NICKELODEON IN APRIL 1992
TITLE: ''Lite-Brite''
TYPE: Informational
LENGTH: 0:30
VIDEO: "YOU" [Description of sequence omitted]
AUDIO: Nickelodeon knows that taking care of the earth is a big
job. But you can help ...
just by being 'Lite Brite'.
When the lights are on, energy from the earth is being used
up.
So to help the earth save its energy, hit the switch when
you're switching rooms.
And, when you can, use daylight.
It doesn't cost anything, which will make your parents
happy.
And it doesn't use energy, which will make the earth happy.
AUDIO: For more ways you can help, keep watching the First Kids'
Network, Nickelodeon.
* * *
TITLE: "Say no to bags"
TYPE: Informational
LENGTH: 0:30
VIDEO: "YOU" [Description of sequence omitted]
AUDIO: Nickelodeon knows that taking care of the earth is a big
job. But you can help ...
just by saying `no' to bags.
The next time that you're in a store and you buy something
small, just say that you don't need a bag.
Especially if it's something you can carry in your pocket or
even your backpack.
Because, why take a bag if you really don't need it?
You won't waste the paper or make more garbage.
For more ways you can help, keep watching the First Kids'
Network, Nickelodeon.
* * *
TITLE: "Use your feet"
TYPE: Informational
LENGTH: 0:30
VIDEO: "YOU" [Description of sequence omitted]
AUDIO: Nickelodeon knows that taking care of the earth is a big
job. But you can help ...
just by using your feet.
Whenever we use our feet to get us where we gotta go, we're
helping the earth.
Because the cars adults drive are some of the world's
biggest polluters (cough, cough, cough).
So if you know your parents aren't going far, get them to
use their feet.
Like us.
It may take a few lessons.
But they'll catch on.
For more ways you can help, keep watching the First Kids'
Network, Nickelodeon.
* * *
TITLE: "Think small"
TYPE: Informational
LENGTH: 0:30
VIDEO: "YOU" [Description of sequence omitted]
AUDIO: Nickelodeon knows that taking care of the earth is a big
job. But you can help ...
just by thinking small.
Plastic rings keep soda six-packs together.
But did you know they can be harmful to fish and small
animals?
'Cause when we're done with them, there's still a chance
that they can get caught or tangled in them.
But you can prevent this just by snipping the rings before
you throw them out.
Then, you'll be doing something big for the little guy.
For more ways you can help, keep watching the First Kids'
Network, Nickelodeon.
* * *
TITLE: "Save Paper"
TYPE: Informational
LENGTH: 0:30
AUDIO: Nickelodeon knows that taking care of the earth is a big
job. But you can help ...
as a paper saver.
Wasting paper wastes trees and that wastes the earth.
So at school try using both sides of your note-book paper.
And save partially used paper for scrap.
At home use a cup that can be washed rather than a paper cup
you throw away.
Because why throw out a part of the earth when you really
don't have to?
For more ways you can help, keep watching the First Kids'
Network, Nickelodeon.
| Enewsletters
Stay on Top of All the Action: |
Return to 
