There are many problems facing us as a species. Some, like racism, have to do with how we treat each other now. Others, like climate change or fossil fuel use, are problems we can predict for the future.
The most immediate problems that we see are the problems facing us right now. For instance, do I need a haircut? Am I dressed appropriately for today’s weather? Is my stomach growling? Which bills are due this week?
We do some planning for the future. For example, when possible we create retirement accounts so that we have enough money to last us into our old age.
However, we aren’t all that good at looking far ahead. Most people do not save enough money for a comfortable retirement. Some of that, no doubt, has to do with the lack of extra income to put toward retirement. But some of it comes from our inability to imagine the future.
As difficult as it might be for an individual — rarely do we actually have our lives mapped out in advance — but it becomes almost impossible in aggregate. Our society has a difficult time sacrificing our present for a better future.
As an example, let’s consider fossil fuel use. We’ve known for decades that the supply of fossil fuels is limited. There is only so much oil and coal in the ground. However, this stored energy has allowed us to build our modern day society, from the grandiose, like the ability to travel around the world quickly, to the mundane like having a light to read during the night time.
However, knowing that we have a limited supply of fossil fuels, fuels that power our present-day life, we continue to increase our usage year after year. It is only recently, after decades, that we have started to develop renewable fuel technologies. Even now, decades later, they still only make up a tiny fraction of our overall energy usage. We have concentrated instead on more efficient ways of extracting these fossil fuels, rather than transitioning to alternate sources.
Why is it so hard to plan, collectively, for the future? Individually, we might be able to sacrifice present-day luxuries for a better future. Why not as a species?
Or is the question itself the wrong one to ask? Should we not be making decisions for the future? As airplane safety teaches us, it is important to secure our own oxygen mask before assisting others. If we don’t survive in the present day, preparing for the future won’t matter.
To summarize, how much of our thought and energy should be thinking about future generations? What do we owe the future?
Related questions: What are our responsibilities to others? How do you set priorities? What is the greatest problem facing humanity? What is your five year prediction? Ten? What are you saving for?
In its simplest sense and in two words, we owe future generations a future. And let’s be honest, just a handful generations from now our future as a species is in question.
If we cared — I mean really cared about future generations — we would invest heavily in sustainable energy sources, primarily solar, wind, and ocean tide technologies. We’d be putting up wind turbines and solar panels everywhere; we would be investing more in tidal energy research and technologies. We would also invest in passive energy collection technologies. For example, we would design new buildings and homes to collect heat when needed and hold on to cooler air when that was what was desired.
If we cared — I mean really cared about future generations — we would take action to re-sequester CO2. We would be planting more trees in urban areas and reforesting where possible. We would be restoring wetlands and topsoil— two significant sinks for carbon.
If we cared — yes, really cared for future generations — we would dramatically change our urban transit systems, finding ways to cut our CO2 emissions, and ending the production of single use items. For example, no more plastic water bottles and no more pre-packaged, microwavable meals.
If we really cared about future generations, we would be investing in local economies. Local economies could more easily become sustainable because they would have to use their assets wisely, while also having to live with their wastes. And, externalities — handing off our wasteful ways for other populations to deal with or dumping our problems into society as a whole — would be penalized.
If we really cared, we would do all we could to become and we would teach our children to be stewards of the earth. And that would mean we would go beyond promoting sustainability. We would build societies that were generative — better, stronger, and more accountable to the future than simply maintaining what we’ve already got.