The Tyranny of Now
In today’s world, the focus tends to be on now, with our horizons seldom stretching beyond a few years. Business thinks about the current quarter. Politicians think about the current election cycle. Individuals, depending on their circumstances, might be concerned only as far as their next pay-cheque or perhaps their upcoming retirement.
Some do, of course, have longer time horizons. We plan for our future; people try to ensure that their children, and perhaps their grandchildren, have as many opportunities as possible to lead a fulfilling life. But even these individual efforts usually relate only to one’s own family and to one or two generations hence. What about the rest of society and what about multiple generations hence?
Our Bequest to the Future
A new term is emerging in public discourse today: “The Good Ancestor”. Although he did not originate the term, the writer/philosopher Roman Krznaric has written a book with that title – The Good Ancestor – A Radical Prescription For Long-Term Thinking. Dr. Krznaric was interviewed on the CBC Radio program ‘Ideas”. Much of what follows is inspired by that discussion.
Never before in history has one generation had so much power over future generations. Certainly, in the past there have been times when the actions of one generation have, for good or ill, affected life in their society, perhaps for a few decades. But these effects were localized in both geography and time.
Our potential today is much more far-reaching. The way we live today is affecting the climate and eco-systems of the entire planet, creating effects that will endure for generations to come. In 200 years, when our descendants look back at the history of our time, of their ancestors, will they be pleased with what they see? Will they see that in the early twenty-first century, their ancestors recognized the negative effects their culture was having on the earth’s ecology and took immediate steps to correct their path, thus ensuring a bright future? Or will they see that their ancestors ignored the warnings issued by scientists, and by nature itself, and continued on their foolhardy short-sighted path? Our descendants in 200 years will be reaping the benefits of, or paying the price for, our actions now. And they will be judging us accordingly.
For hundreds of years, a tenet of the philosophy of the Iroquois people was the Seventh Generation Principle – that the decisions we make today should result in a sustainable world seven generations into the future. Today, we seldom consider past the current generation; even less often do we consider more than one or two generations ahead.
Colonizing The Future
We currently treat the future as a dumping ground, colonizing it as if no-one lives there. This is similar to the Europeans colonizing the Americas and Australia as if no-one lived there. But people did live there and they paid a heavy price for the colonization of their land. The people who live in the future will pay the price for our colonization of their era.
How are we colonizing the future? Most obviously with our carbon emissions which will remain in the atmosphere for hundreds, or possibly thousands, of years. The resulting climate change will lead to extreme weather events, food and water insecurity, and sea-level rise devastating coastal cities. Other bequests to the future will include loss of biodiversity and a legacy of nuclear waste lasting thousands of years. All these results of our current actions will impose limitations on the freedom of future generations.
There are about 8 billion people alive today. In the past 50,000 years about 100 billion people were born and died. Over the next 50,000 years, it is estimated there will be about 7 trillion people being born, living and dying on Planet Earth. These people will have no political say in what we do now. It is up to us to speak and act in their interest.
Time And Community
How do we become a Good Ancestor? There are two interlaced processes: we must expand our time horizon and expand our sense of community to include future generations.
Krznaric encourages us to conduct a thought experiment: Think of a young child you care about – your own child or someone else’s. Now imagine that child on their ninetieth birthday, celebrating with family. What will the world be like then? Now imagine someone putting a new-born baby in that person’s lap – his or her first great grandchild. That baby will live into the late twenty-second century. What will the world be like then? What will that child need to flourish? The answers to these questions will be determined by our actions today.
How can we predict the needs of people 200 years from now? Their needs will be much like ours – they will need clean air to breathe, clean water to drink and a stable climate to facilitate the growth of food and a sustainable economy. If we can learn to fall in love with nature, then we will take care of the place that will take care of our descendants.
Positive Initiatives
How do we become a good ancestor with 7-Generation thinking and give voice to people not yet born? There are some positive initiatives already underway:
- In Japan, there is a grass-roots political movement, like a Citizens’ Assembly, called “Future Design”. It invites the population to city planning meetings. There, they are split into two groups – one group represents today’s population; the other group represents the population in 2060. The latter group generates the most transformative ideas.
- Wales now has a Future Generations Commissioner and there is a campaign to institute such a position for the entire UK.
Could we, here in Mission, create a citizens’ group with a similar aim? A group to envision this community in 50 years. What will it be like if we continue with Business As Usual? What do we want it to look like and how do we make that happen? What are the dangers facing us and how can we mitigate them? How do we want our descendants to look back on us, their ancestors?
A New Mature Civilization
All civilizations are born, live and die. Ours won’t last forever. Evidence tells us we are exceeding planetary limits so we need to invent a new civilization that is more mature and that will shift from the obsession with economic growth and material consumption to a focus on thriving in balance – not using resources faster than they can be regenerated and not creating more waste than can be naturally absorbed. If we succeed at that, we will be on the way to being the Good Ancestors future generations deserve.