Do it for the Children!

One statement that is reoccurring in environmental legislation and literature seems to always be along to lines of, "a better world for future generations" or "ensuring the future for our children and their children".  It is an alarming idea that someday the Earth may not a suitable place for future humans to live, and one that that has clearly not penetrated the hearts and minds of society.  Americans have grown numb to the notion that we are compromising not only the lives of future Americans, but future generations around the world.

I'm just as guilty as the next citizen in assuming my recycling and energy saving household rituals will somehow slow global warming, and I never find myself thinking that these practices will prove beneficial to future generations.  This is because I, like many Americans, seem to be occupied with remediating the immediate problem.  I don't want my life to be negatively impacted by climate change, so I make small adjustments to my habits and hope somehow that will do the trick.  I realized this after reading an article by Oren Lyons of the Onondoga Nation discussing the American Indian philosophy of making every decision "On behalf of the seventh generation to come".  This way of living seems much more sustainable than our current American lifestyle and has been lost at some point in our history.  Maybe we still think that we hold this philosophy true from the way we constantly throw around language about well-being of future generations, but the fact is we aren't putting it into practice, hence our current climate predicament today.

Michael Maniates is right in criticizing our leaders for selling us short.  They have little faith that the people can understand the scope of the climate crisis we face, so they dull the magnitude of the problem.  The result is citizens putting in what they think is an honest effort to "live green", when in reality we aren't doing nearly enough.

So instead of being "treated like children by environmental elites and political leaders", maybe we need to be reminded that we are, in fact, putting our children in jeopardy by living the way we are.  This is a harsh wake up call that nobody wants to hear, but as Maniates says, "it has been the knotty, vexing challenges, and leaders who speak frankly about them, that have fired our individual and communal imagination, creativity and commitment."  Maybe this realization will shift our values and encourage people to make more conscious decisions while keeping future generations in mind.