54 The Good Ancestor: Following the Intergenerational Golden Rule

GrowthBusters

How often do you think about the effect of your actions today on the wellbeing of future generations? What do we owe our children’s children? Are we capable of responsibly delivering on that debt? Philosopher Roman Krznaric explored these questions in the book, The Good Ancestor: A Radical Prescription for Long-Term Thinking. Krznaric thinks we do, and we can: “...humankind has always had the innate ability to plan for posterity and take action that will resonate for decades, centuries, even millennia to come. If we want to be good ancestors and be remembered well by the generations who follow us, now is the time to recover and enrich this imaginative skill.”

Long-term thinking and the rights of future generations (not to mention, compassion toward them) are a recurring theme in the GrowthBusters podcast, so we just had to read the book and schedule a conversation with its author. This fascination discussion touches on ecological economics, rights of children, short-termism, and much more.

LINKS:

How to Get Started with Family Cloth (Yup, Reusable Toilet Paper is a Real Thing)https://redandhoney.com/how-to-get-started-with-family-cloth-and-why-you-might-actually-love-it/

Why You Shouldn't Use 'Family Cloth' Reusable Toilet Paperhttps://www.thelist.com/196323/why-you-shouldnt-use-family-cloth-reusable-toilet-paper/

The Good Ancestor website https://www.romankrznaric.com/good-ancestor

A Resolution for 2021: Be a Better Ancestor (review of The Good Ancestor) https://grist.org/climate/a-resolution-for-2021-be-a-better-ancestor/

Doughnut Economics https://www.kateraworth.com/

Flipping Economics on Its Head: Kate Raworth – episode 219 of Conversation Earthhttp://www.conversationearth.org/flipping-economics-head-kate-raworth-219/

Thriving Economy: Not Rocket Science – episode 220 of Conversation Earthhttp://www.conversationearth.org/thriving-economy-not-rocket-science-kate-raworth-220/

Shrinking Your Travel Footprint – episode 52 of the GrowthBusters podcast http://www.growthbusters.org/shrinking-your-travel-footprint/

Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Erika Arias is researching the childfree/environment connection and is about to enter grad school.

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