Environment tops kids' list of concerns

The environment is the most important issue on the minds of the world's children, according to Linda Schaffer, director of the documentary Nickellennium.

December 13, 1999
Web posted at: 2:25 p.m. EST (1925 GMT)

By Environmental News Network staff

The most important issue that kids around the world are concerned about for the future is the environment and animal rights, says the creator of a new documentary.

Linda Schaffer, producer and director of the film Nickellennium, spent the last year visiting with 10,000 kids from 28 countries and asking them what they think life will be like in the next millennium. Despite differences in culture, language and background, the children had the same issues on their minds. "Without question, across every border, saving the environment is their number one concern. They understand the environmental cost of unchecked consumerism and are fiercely willing to do what's necessary to protect the Earth and the life on it, even if it means going without," she said.

Excerpts from the interviews bear this out:

• Riveesh Mohan, 7, of India said, "I'll become a scientist by making an invention that will take all the pollution up to the sun. I will call that invention 'pollution sucker.' It will be a kind of vacuum, like the vacuum cleans dirt, this vacuum will clean pollution. After I make my invention my country will look very clean."

• Canadian Meghan McAndrew, 12, said, "In 2030, gorillas and dolphins are my roommates. We don't own them. They're just part of us. They are part of the family. They're gonna teach us how important it is not to pollute and how important it is to respect other animals and that every animal and every human being is equal."

• Emma Dennis-Edwards, 11, from England, said, "I'm really, really scared that when I have children, and that will be in a few years time, there won't be any real flowers that come from the ground. I'll be really, really upset if my children can't go to the park and see flowers and grass."

The kids that Schaffer interviewed were "optimistic about the future but also concerned. And rightly so. They've inherited a very troubled world. They do have a lot to take on, but they seem up to the task. And eager to roll up their sleeves and get to work."

Over the last year, Schaffer interviewed 10,000 kids in 28 countries to make Nickellennium.

After spending so much time with so many kids, Schaffer felt very positive about the destiny of the Earth in the hands of the world's future adults. "The are committed to fixing the world they've inherited, to blend the best of the past with the immeasurable possibilities of the future. They are innocent but not naïve. If the kids of the Nickellennium are any indication of what the future could be, today's adults should quickly move out to pasture and make room," she said.

The children's television network Nickelodeon produced Nickellennium, and it will air on New Year's Day 2000. Created from about 700 hours of film footage of Schaffer's many conversations with kids, Nickellennium is a "quilt" made up of several different pieces, said Chris Alexander of Nickelodeon. The presentation includes about five hours of original material including entire interviews with individual kids and pieces of interviews of several different kids all on the same topic. There are also segments where original music, written specifically for the show, is peppered with snippets of dialogue the kids, giving it a music video feel.

Nickellennium will be broadcast in nine languages in 122 countries worldwide commercial-free. In Australia, United Kingdom and United States, the five hours of footage will run for an entire 24 hours beginning at one minute past midnight, with the different parts repeating in varying configurations. In Latin America, the show will be on during the area's entire 18-hour broadcast day and will include special segments where kids from the region express their views on the future. In the Middle East, the program will run from 6 a.m.-6 p.m., and in Russia, Africa and Asia people can see a special 90-minute version of Nickellennium. Producers expect the show to be on in about 100 million homes across around the world.

Nickellennium activities will also be available online at the U.S. Nickelodeon web site, Australian Nickelodeon and Nickelodeon U.K.

Two companion books available. One is The Official Nickellennium Scrapbook, which is a journal of sorts. The creators intend for kids to use the book to write, draw, gather mementos and make predictions about the new millennium.

The other publication is The Future According to Kids, which includes more than 200 pages of kids' thoughts about the future and about issues like prejudice and greed, accompanied by many photographs of the children who were interviewed. The proceeds from this book will be donated to United Nations Children's Fund, better known as UNICEF.

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