Gen Y is taking the lead, one niche at a time

A few weeks ago Ryan Paugh at Brazen Careerist asked if Gen Y really wants to change the world because we seem to have an aversion to long term commitments and more public forms of activism that previous generations embraced.   I would counter that there are plenty of Millennials doing their part, but main stream media is so addicted to bad news, it gives sparse time to those individuals.  Additionally, since we’re such an individual-focused generation, we’ll have a harder time finding a single person who can represent us all.  We’re more likely to find heroes in our our niches.

Here are some recent news items about Millennials that had a very short tail in the media world.

• Canadian 11th grader Daniel Burd isolated the two bacterium that can break down plastic and determined who to expedite the process  from 1000 years to 3 months.  Puts scientists with PhDs to shame!
• 26-year old Danica Patrick became the first woman to win an Indy car race.  It’s a major sports milestone for women who don’t have the same professional sports options as men.
• University of Kentucky engineering students continue their work on solar-powered cars for an annual contest.  The professor who advises them hopes the students will be able to use their findings and experiences to shake up big industry.

Sure, the above Gen Yers are likely to be relatively ambitious to be doing the unthinkable and seemingly impossible.  

But imagine what our generation could do collectively if called to action. In 1961, JFK called on the American brain trust to get man to the moon within a decade and we did.  

Imagine if the next President called on us to develop clean energy, whether ocean water-powered cars or solar-powered heating and air conditioning units.  What could Gen X experience, combined with Gen Y optimism accomplish?