Future Generations

How can we consider people who cannot yet take part in our decisions?

Our decisions can leave conditions, burdens and possibilities long after we are gone. Responsibility toward future generations includes examining what we are passing on and which losses may be difficult to reverse. We cannot know every future preference, but we can preserve room for others to live, choose and respond. This asks more than good intentions: decisions need evidence, long-term attention and ways to revise course. Future people cannot participate now, so those with present power need to consider their interests.

A question to sit with (optional): What would we want explained if we had to inherit the consequences of this decision?