Discussion Forum
Our impacts on Earth are going to have profound, lasting effects on future generations of people. Today's students are going to live on a very different Earth than any previous generation. Thanks to technology and science, almost anyone with a computer or smart phone can access all the world's information at their fingertips. People can now travel to the far ends of the earth, live in almost any habitat, eat almost any type of food, and travel using a multitude of different vehicles. However, these advances have come with a heavy toll on the planet, which will have far-reaching, often catastrophic consequences. The pollution we release, the species we drive to extinction, the forests we cut down, the wilderness we pave over, and the climate we are changing are going to leave a profoundly different planet for the students, their children, and their grandchildren. Future generations are going to inherit many environmental problems-including a warmer climate that contains far fewer species and more pollution-that they had no hand in causing. In short, people who are just beginning their lives, or who aren't yet born, are going to be faced with problems they did not cause but that are going to cost them dearly. The only solution for continued human survival is to become a much more sustainable society-and we must do so quickly and comprehensively.
Answer the questions below and discuss.
Q1. Is the human species currently sustainable? What are we trying to sustain?
Q2. How do you feel about inheriting problems you did not cause?
Q3. Do you feel you owe anything to future generations of people?
Q4. Do we owe other species a planet Earth where they, too, can live?