Future generations living on this planet are at the mercy of the choices we make today. By the time today’s children reach old age, they are projected to experience four times as many extreme weather events – assuming that the world manages to keep global warming to 1.5°C. The latest Interconnected Disaster Risks report argues that our mindset must shift from short-term to long‑term thinking. Here is why this change in our ways of thinking matters:
We shape the world for trillions yet to come
Future generations, extending to the estimated 6.75 trillion people to be born over the next 50,000 years, will inherit the results of today’s decisions. But our current focus on the present often sacrifices long‑term resilience and opportunities. Our societies tend to focus on the here and now when it comes to decision-making. This shortsightedness is called presentism. The future, on the other hand, is a more distant concept to us, which frequently leads to disregard of the potential impacts on those who come after us.
Presentism traps us in risky systems
When immediate desires are prioritized over the needs of the future, we frequently create problems and destroy opportunities for the next generations. The destruction of nature and the erosion of traditional knowledge, for example, endangers both biological and cultural diversity, creating a world with fewer resources and decreased resilience. Other shallow fixes, such as relying on nuclear power without sustainable waste solutions, can create burdens lasting hundreds of millennia.
The risks we face today demand immediate, future-sighted responses
To tackle the major challenges of our time, such as climate change and biodiversity loss, we need to act now by embracing long-term thinking. By recognizing our place within the broader narrative of humanity, we can better understand our duty to safeguard the future and our responsibility towards next generations. This mindset is not new and is in fact deeply rooted in various Indigenous traditions. For example, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy in the north-eastern region of North America lives by the Seventh-Generation principle, which urges individuals to consider how their decisions will affect the next seven generations.
Including the interests of future generations in decision-making can ensure long-term impacts
Future planning must not only prioritize solutions, such as sustainable energy transitions, but also include the interests of the future generations in decision-making, as they will face the consequences of today's choices. One approach to this is seen in Finland, where the Committee for the Future has been established to discuss future problems and opportunities. This committee ensures that today’s choices are made with long-term impacts in mind. Similarly, future-oriented committees are taking hold globally in places such as Chile, Iceland and the Philippines to safeguard the well-being of those who will inherit the world we shape.
Fair future resilience for future risks is possible
To facilitate a deep change towards a better and fairer future for people yet to be born, we need to create new assumptions and goals within our systems to build new structures and eventually result in new desired outcomes. This means representing youth and future generations in political decisions and policies, setting low discount rates to support investments in sustainable and renewable energy systems and using our imagination and innovation skills to think about the future beyond what we know to exist today. It also includes being better stewards of our rich knowledge systems and resources and to let our generations function as a bridge between past ancestors and the next ones.
