Society actually does want policies that benefit future generations

Posted on 19 January 2017

Rich societies like the UK are changing the planet – for the worse. Human life is taking a heavy toll on the Earth, its climate and its various ecosystems.

This generation is consuming the planet, but it is future generations – people living many centuries from now, as well as our children and grandchildren – who will bear the greatest costs. Professor Hilary Graham from the Department of Health Sciences and Professor Piran White from the Environment Department discuss this in their article for The Conversation.

Take climate change, for example. Current estimates suggest that the international safe threshold set by the Paris Agreement – of a maximum 2℃ increase in global temperature – will be breached by 2050. Without decisive action, temperatures are set to rise by at least 4℃ by 2100.

By 2050, a child born today will be in their 30s, and is likely to be a parent; in rich societies, many could anticipate being alive in 2100. They will be the ones living through this.

Representing the future

How future generations are represented in policy-making is one of the biggest questions of our time. We might expect that protecting future generations would be a central concern, but the standard approach to policy-making is to prioritise the interests of current generations.

Read the full article at https://theconversation.com/society-actually-does-want-policies-that-benefit-future-generations-69481.