How to be a good ancestor

Our descendants own the future, but the decisions and actions we make now will tremendously impact generations to come, says philosopher Roman Krznaric. From a global campaign to grant legal personhood to nature to a groundbreaking lawsuit by a coalition of young activists, Krznaric shares examples of ways we can become good ancestors -- or, as he calls them, "Time Rebels" -- and join a movement redefining lifespans, pursuing intergenerational justice and practicing deep love for the planet.

It's time for humankind
to recognize a disturbing truth:

we have colonized the future.

In wealthy countries, especially,

we treat it like a distant
colonial outpost

where we can freely dump ecological damage

and technological risk
as if there was nobody there.

The tragedy is that tomorrow's
generations aren't here

to challenge this pillaging
of their inheritance.

They can't leap in front
of the king's horse like a suffragette

or stage a sit-in
like a civil rights activist

or go on a Salt March to defy their
colonial oppressors like Mahatma Gandhi.

They're granted no political
rights or representation;

they have no influence in the marketplace.

The great silent majority
of future generations

is rendered powerless.

It could be hard to grasp
the scale of this injustice,

so look at it this way:

There are 7.7 billion people alive today.

That's just a tiny fraction
of the estimated 100 billion people

who have lived and died
over the past 50,000 years.

But both of these are vastly outnumbered
by the nearly seven trillion people

who will be born
over the next 50,000 years,

assuming current birth rates stabilize.

In the next two centuries alone,
tens of billions of people will be born,

amongst them, all your grandchildren,

and their grandchildren

and the friends and communities
on whom they'll depend.

How will all these future
generations look back on us

and the legacy we're leaving for them?

We've clearly inherited
extraordinary legacies

from our common ancestors:

the gift of the agricultural revolution,

medical discoveries
and the cities we still live in.

But we've certainly inherited
destructive legacies too.

Legacies of slavery
and colonialism and racism

creating deep inequities
that must now be repaired.

Legacies of economies

that are structurally
addicted to fossil fuels

and endless growth
that must now be transformed.

So how can we become the good ancestors
that future generations deserve?

Well, over the past decade,

a global movement has started to emerge

of people committed
to decolonizing the future

and extending our time horizons
towards a longer now.

This movement is still fragmented
and as yet has no name.

I think of its pioneers as time rebels.

They can be found at work in Japan's
visionary Future Design movement,

which aims to overcome the short-term
cycles that dominate politics

by drawing on the principle
of seventh generation decision making

practiced by many
Native Americans communities.

Future Design gathers together residents

to draw up and discuss plans
for the towns and cities where they live.

Half the group are told
they're residents from the present day.

The other half are given
ceremonial robes to wear

and told to imagine themselves
as residents from the year 2060.

Well, it turns out
that the residents from 2060

systematically advocate
far more transformative city plans,

from healthcare investments
to climate change action.

And this innovative form
of future citizens assembly

is now spreading throughout Japan

from small towns like Yahaba
to major cities like Kyoto.

What if Future Design was adopted
by towns and cities worldwide

to revitalize democratic decision making

and extend their vision
far beyond the now?

Now, time rebels have also
taken to courts of law

to secure the rights of future people.

The organization Our Children's Trust

has filed a landmark case
against the US Government

on behalf of 21 young people

campaigning for the legal right
to a safe climate and healthy atmosphere

for both current and future generations.

Their David versus Goliath struggle

has already inspired
groundbreaking lawsuits worldwide

from Colombia and Pakistan
to Uganda and the Netherlands.

And this wave of activism
is growing alongside the movement

to grant legal personhood to nature,

from the Whanganui River
in Aotearoa, New Zealand

to the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers in India.

Time rebels are taking
action at the ballot box too.

In 2019, teenagers across Europe

began lobbying their parents
and grandparents

to give them their votes in the European
parliamentary elections of that year.

The hashtag #givethekidsyourvote
went viral on social media

and was spread by climate
campaigners as far as Australia.

My partner and I heard about it

and decided to give our votes
in the last UK general election

to our 11-year-old twins.

So we all sat around the kitchen table
and debated the party manifestos,

and they then each told us
where to put the X on the ballot sheet.

And in case you're wondering,

no, they didn't simply mirror
their parents' political opinions.

So the time rebellion has begun.

The rebels are rising
to decolonize the future

founding a global movement
for long-term thinking

and intergenerational justice

that may turn out to be

one of the most powerful
political movements of this century.

They're helping us escape
the short-term cycles

that digital distraction
and consumer culture trap us in,

with the lure of the Buy Now button

and 24/7 news.

They inspire us to extend
our time horizons

from seconds and minutes
to decades and far beyond.

The artist Katie Paterson's
project, Future Library,

will be a century in the making.

Every year, a famous writer donates a book

which will remain
completely unread until 2114

when the whole collection
will be printed on paper

made from a forest of trees
planted for this very purpose.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault
sets its vision even further,

housing millions of seeds

in an indestructible
rock bunker in the Arctic Circle

that's designed to last 1,000 years.

But how can we really think and plan
on the scale of millennia?

Well, the answer is perhaps
the ultimate secret to being a time rebel,

and it comes from the biomimicry
designer Janine Benyus,

who suggests we learn from nature's
3.8 billion years of evolution.

How is it that other species
have learned to survive and thrive

for 10,000 generations or more?

Well, it's by taking care of the place
that would take care of their offspring,

by living within the ecosystem
in which they're embedded,

by knowing not to foul the nest,

which is what humans have been doing
with devastating effects

at an ever-increasing pace and scale
over the past century.

So a profound starting point
for time rebels everywhere

is to focus not simply on lengthening time

but on regenerating place.

We must restore and repair
and care for the planetary home

that will take care of our offspring.

For our children,

and our children's children,

and all those yet to come,

we must fall in love
with rivers and mountains,

with ice sheets and savannas,

and reconnect with the long
and life-giving cycles of nature.

Let us all become time rebels

and be inspired by
the beautiful Mohawk blessing

spoken when a child is born:

"Thank you, Earth.

You know the way."