Does engaging young people in the climate change fight amount to fascism?

A new campaign by the British power company NPower has caused an international controversy and The Element’s Agency president, Don Millar, was asked to share his view in Canada’s National Post.

NPower has created a microsite calledClimateCopsto teach kids about how to combat climate change through energy savings. Because the games on the site encourage kids to nag their parents about energy use, some people are actually arguing its a form of totalitarianism.

“Didn’t Hitler try to do something like that?” asked Scott McDougall, the president of TerraChoice.

Say what you will about an energy firm’s real motivation to promote efficiency, but fascism is a total stretch. Thankfully Don was on board to add the voice of reason to thearticle:

“The paradigm has completely shifted because of the climate-change debate,” said Don Millar, president of the Element Agency, a Vancouver environmental communications firm.

NPower’s campaign impresses Mr. Millar, who implied that it was about time that the issue of conservation moved from penny-saving to planet-saving. He also liked the playful aspect, which he did not see as being shrill. “You don’t have this whiny, hectoring eat-your-peas approach,” he observed. “Kids want to be smarter than their parents, and they love catching them doing things they don’t want to do.”

You can read to the whole articlehere.And let us know what you think. Is this evidence of eco-fascism orreductio ad Hitlerum?

By Stefan Deeran atThe Element Agencyin New York