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Those Millennials. This young generation, the oldest of which is 28, has had more influence on their parents, and more sheer buying power, than any other generation in American history. Why? They were born during the technological revolution, and they were raised with a mouse in one hand and a cell phone in the other. How many Boomer parents wouldn’t buy a television or a computer without the advice of their children today?

With this early sense of empowerment has come a strong feeling of engagement, says Chuck Underwood, generational researcher, author and speaker, and this week’s guest of The Real Story. The Millennials are more plugged into “the grand experiment called America”, and are looking to be actively engaged politically.

They are also expecting a greener, more environmentally conscious world, and are willing to do their part—as voters and consumers—to see that happen. This group, Chuck says, will make a difference through the sheer power of influence.

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Chuck Underwood, author and speaker on the subject of generational research, talked to The Real Story this week about the Millennials, our youngest generation (born 1982 and onwards). As workers, the leading edge of this generation throws away the compartmentalized work-life balance that Gen X lives by, and instead integrates their work activities and their social lives—which means that their work days may last till bedtime with long breaks during the day.

As enthusiasts for green living, no group is more environmentally friendly—and they find staunch allies in their Boomer parents, who famously gave us the first Earth Day back in 1970. Chuck opines that tomorrow’s America, with the leadership of the Boomers and a Millennial workforce, will see an explosion of new green products and services coming to market, to market.

Genghis Khan may seem an odd match for San Jose’s Tech Museum—but, in fact, the great 13th Century Mongolian warlord was quite the innovator. Passports, the pony express, printed money, hamburgers and trousers are all attributed to the great Khan, whose reign and achievements are documented in Genghis Khan: The Exhibition.

The exhibition features more than 200 artifacts from Genghis’ reign, including rare jewelry, pottery, musical instruments, weaponry and clothing—even a mummified noble woman. Visitors can explore a life-size ger, the traditional Mongolian dwelling, and a re-creation of the walled capital city of Karakorum. The exhibition includes daily performances of Mongolian folk arts.

Some 500,000 visitors have already toured the exhibition, which opened at The Tech last May and has just been extended through October 24.

“This exhibition has attracted so many diverse groups precisely because its content speaks to so many different interests, such as the fascinating culture of the Mongolian people, the innovative technology of the time, and the two distinctly different faces of Genghis Khan himself,” said Peter Friess, president of The Tech Museum.

Join the thundering horde and enjoy your encounter with the Khan of Khans.

Photo courtesy of The Tech Museum.

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It is always a pleasure when The Real Story gets to talk to generational researcher and author Chuck Underwood… his insights into how America looks through the eyes of its five living generations are worthy of discussion. Chuck is talking about the youngest generation, the Millennials, the leading edge of which is now 18 to 28 years of age. These young adults could not be less like their older siblings, Gen X, especially in their entrance into adulthood. Where Gen X was anxious to escape from their parents’ homes and create homes and families of their own, the Millennials are content to stay at home with their Boomer parents for a long time to come.

Why? They are entering adulthood with no perceptible employment market, and they owe plenty on college loans and credit card debt. They are not interested in taking the leap, so to speak, into adulthood, and since they consider their parents to be their friends, they are in no hurry to break up that nurturing relationship. They know that time is on their side, and that the economy is not offering the opportunities that other generations have seen in their post college days. So they are sitting on the sidelines, content to consider their parents’ homes as their own for the next few years.

The Millennial Generation doesn’t consume brands; it creates them. Or at least it creates the network to communicate about brands that speak to them through social media. Advertisers will be hard-pressed to convince this group to support a product or brand that doesn’t live up to the Millennial view of the world, which is very green and very tech friendly. This generation has money to spend, if only because they are putting off many of the traditional steps toward autonomy, like purchasing their first home.

Instead, this group is more likely to work on paying off their college loans by moving back in their parents; staying open to job opportunities by accruing little debt and maximum flexibility. This generation may like their Boomer parents and have much of the enthusiasm and positive outlook of that generation, but they are completely dissimilar when it comes to taking on the mantle of adulthood: the term “prolonged adolescence” is aimed at them, and it seems to fit. Says generational researcher and author Chuck Underwood, with the Millennial Generation having the potential to live to be a hundred years old, putting off adulthood seems rational…after all, they’ll have seventy or eighty years to work on their adult behavior.

There may be something missing at your local dry cleaners: Perchloroethylene . . . or PERC, as it is commonly called. This solvent used for cleaning fabrics since the 1930’s was identified as a toxic air contaminant in California in 1991. As a result, cleaners (with some exceptions) in the Golden State are no longer allowed to use PERC.

The process to eliminate PERC has been long and lenient. PERC has been slated for phase-out since 2007, under regulations of the California Air Resources Board. The deadline to replace PERC-based operations using machines built before 1995 was this past July 1st, and exceptions are being made due to the economy. Newer machines that use PERC will be allowed until 2023—more than a generation since PERC was deemed toxic.

Word from the trenches: workers at the dry cleaners like the new “eco-friendly” machines because there are no fumes. However, it’s often more work, as heavily soiled items need to be treated twice.

Has your dry cleaner made the switch? What do you think of their post-PERC cleaning? Let us know!