What...the...Hell?

[Hobbit]

The following is a link to a CHILDREN'S web site run by ABC Australia. Let me repeat that important part there, a CHILDREN'S web site that's supposed to teach kids about the environment and emissions. More specifically, this link is to a carbon emissions test. This one, however, has the SICKEST final score of any of these tests I've even heard of. I know stuff like 'tons of CO2 per year' or something similar would be lost on little kids, but this is just sick. It tells you at what age you used up 'your fair share' (I'd like to know how they decided how much is fair) of the planet at your current rate. But, it gets worse. It doesn't state it that way. Instead, it tells you at what age you should have died to ensure that you didn't kill the planet. It even depicts you as a pig and show the pig in your score bracket exploding (with quite a bit of gore splattered on the walls). Is this really what we should be telling little kids?

It gets worse. The thing's heavily weighted towards telling you you're a terrible person. I scored better than the average Aussie, and the test still told me I should have died when I was 10. I tried again while filling in numbers for my dad (approximate) who flies a lot for his job, and even when I assumed he saves half his paycheck (I don't know the Australian-US exchange rate, but they say on the site that every dollar spent is 1.6 kg of CO2), it says he should have died at age 3.

Is this really the message we want to be sending to CHILDREN? Isn't this a little gruesome and, well, wrong?

http://abcaustralia.com/science/planetslayer/greenhouse_calc.htm

[crin63]

The following is a link to a CHILDREN'S web site run by ABC Australia. Let me repeat that important part there, a CHILDREN'S web site that's supposed to teach kids about the environment and emissions. More specifically, this link is to a carbon emissions test. This one, however, has the SICKEST final score of any of these tests I've even heard of. I know stuff like 'tons of CO2 per year' or something similar would be lost on little kids, but this is just sick. It tells you at what age you used up 'your fair share' (I'd like to know how they decided how much is fair) of the planet at your current rate. But, it gets worse. It doesn't state it that way. Instead, it tells you at what age you should have died to ensure that you didn't kill the planet. It even depicts you as a pig and show the pig in your score bracket exploding (with quite a bit of gore splattered on the walls). Is this really what we should be telling little kids?

It gets worse. The thing's heavily weighted towards telling you you're a terrible person. I scored better than the average Aussie, and the test still told me I should have died when I was 10. I tried again while filling in numbers for my dad (approximate) who flies a lot for his job, and even when I assumed he saves half his paycheck (I don't know the Australian-US exchange rate, but they say on the site that every dollar spent is 1.6 kg of CO2), it says he should have died at age 3.

Is this really the message we want to be sending to CHILDREN? Isn't this a little gruesome and, well, wrong?

http://abcaustralia.com/science/planetslayer/greenhouse_calc.htm

I haven't watched the video yet but isn't that the logical conclusion to abortion and tree huggers beliefs. That human life has less value than a tree.

[Hagbard Celine]

Nah. Cultural objectivity man. Aussies aren't as skiddish and easily offended as us Americans are.

And it's true isn't it? We all live well beyond our means. The point is to make the kids aware of when they're being wasteful to promote a sustainable way of life.

[Hobbit]

Exactly, this is the logical conclusion to the enviro-whacko movement. Man is just another animal, and man is causing horrendous damage to the Earth. If killing a human will save 2 animals, it's worth it because humans are just another animal. I've even heard people, in all seriousness, that the best thing for the planet would be for a plague to wipe out 95%+ of the population. It made the plot of the book/video game Rainbow 6 (check it out, the game is good, but dated, and the book's awesome) all the scarier.

[Hobbit]

Nah. Cultural objectivity man. Aussies aren't as skiddish and easily offended as us Americans are.

And it's true isn't it? We all live well beyond our means. The point is to make the kids aware of when they're being wasteful to promote a sustainable way of life.

By telling them they should be dead? Are you serious?

[Hagbard Celine]

By telling them they should be dead? Are you serious?

*sigh* No Hobbit, of course not. The thing's not even real anyway. It's either some conservative propagandist having a laugh or it's an extremist group having a laugh, either way the thing can't be serious. If you click on "This is your lifestyle," you can play a game that will tell you "how much you suck." Give me a break. :rolleyes:

[Hobbit]

*sigh* No Hobbit, of course not. The thing's not even real anyway. It's either some conservative propagandist having a laugh or it's an extremist group having a laugh, either way the thing can't be serious. If you click on "This is your lifestyle," you can play a game that will tell you "how much you suck." Give me a break. :rolleyes:

Check the URL. If that's some 'conservative propagandist having a laugh,' then he's one of the most skilled hackers I've ever seen, seeing as how it's on the main server of ABC's Australia branch, a web site that has plenty of 'climate change' propaganda about how we're all going to drown or fry if we don't start living like hippies.

[diuretic]

It's official alright, it's part of the ABC online. Funny though, it looks like it's been going for about 5 years and I haven't heard a word about it, good or bad. It's described as "irreverent". Might be too, I didn't go through it. But look this is a country where our humour might be different from others. Where else could you buy a book for children entitled "The Day My Bum Went Psycho"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_My_Bum_Went_Psycho

"Bum" means buttocks here.

[hjmick]

It's official alright, it's part of the ABC online. Funny though, it looks like it's been going for about 5 years and I haven't heard a word about it, good or bad. It's described as "irreverent". Might be too, I didn't go through it. But look this is a country where our humour might be different from others. Where else could you buy a book for children entitled "The Day My Bum Went Psycho"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_My_Bum_Went_Psycho

"Bum" means buttocks here.

Says you. I am convinced that all Australian children own a bum (Americam definition).
:D

[diuretic]

Says you. I am convinced that all Australian children own a bum (Americam definition).
:D

I'm doing my best to be offended....nope, not working...:laugh2:

But having said that, I reckon I see quite a few bums (American definition) when I head out in the morning to the pub for an early morning beer breakfast:cheers2: