(11) Environmental for Future Generations
By Seo Yong-seok
The early 1970s can be described as the years of self realization. It was during these years that the world community became aware of their responsibilities towards future generations. For the very first time, people became aware of the toll the modern technology was taking on nature and its resources. They began to realize the dire consequences it could have on the ecology and the climate.
Gradually, this awareness became widespread as more people became aware of the finite natural resources and the vulnerability of the Mother Earth. People started thinking about the future of the coming generations. People began to ponder about the earth’s future, and what legacy would we leave for future generations if we continued the so called “progress” at the current pace. They talked about our responsibilities towards future generations, and privileges that these generations would be able to enjoy.
While talking about mankind, we refer to the existence of humans as of today and in the future. Hence, it is our duty to ensure that future generations enjoy the right to a healthy environment. Therefore, it becomes obligatory for us to conserve our environment and safeguard it for all living beings and things in the present era as well as for the forthcoming generations.
This duty towards future generation is described in the theory of intergenerational justice. The theory articulates that "all members of each generation of human beings, as a species, inherit a natural and cultural patrimony from past generations, both as beneficiaries and as custodians under the duty to pass on this heritage to future generations." It implies that each generation plays a dual role, as a beneficiary to the legacy and as a custodian of this legacy to be passed on to the future generations. Therefore, it becomes obligatory for each generation to use this legacy in a way that it is passed on to the future generations in the same condition as it was received from the previous generations.
Who are the future generation then? This would no doubt include the unborn children and children that will be born in the coming year, and it also includes all who will be living on the earth after hundreds of years…… As our environmental legacy along with its problems will be passed on to them. Since these heirs would inherit our environment after hundreds of years, it is quite likely that we may not give them due importance.
Our Duties towards Future Generations
The power to allow or disallow the forthcoming generations from benefitting and using the natural and cultural resources vests within the present generation. The 20th century experienced the mindless slaughter of the natural resources. Recent generations have used the natural resources such as water, air and soil as dumping ground and took a heavy toll on these resources. As a result, future generations will be penalized with polluted and inferior quality of water and air, causing serious harm to the planet, animals and to the health of the human beings. This greed and short sightedness of the present generations to find a short cut in disposing their wastes has created an enormous burden and risk for future generations.
There’s another major impact on the environment in the distant future. We are on the verge of population explosion. While the population has reached a record high, the resources to meet the increasing population have not increased in the same ratio. On the contrary, we are destroying the limited resources at a rapid speed, and very soon we would have used up all the non renewable resources totally. Increase in human activity is also posing a serious threat to renewable resources like fresh water, fish stocks, and forests and before long, these will become non renewable! As the result of anthropogenic climate change, the Northern Hemisphere is likely to get warmer with an improvement in fertility, but most of the world less fertile and less habitable. Besides, the production of nuclear energy could threaten the very existence of thousands of future generations as nuclear emissions release in the atmosphere or through improper nuclear waste disposal. Millions have been rendered homeless as a result of the disastrous effects the recent generations caused on the environment. Unless we take concrete preventive steps in this direction, the incidences and the impact of these disasters would only multiply and would seriously affect the lifestyle and standard of living of future generations.
The life of future generations could be severely affected by the present generation through population explosion, creating a biosphere imbalance, using up all the natural resources, harming the environment through nuclear waste storage and more. Future generations are at receiving end, and unless we protect them, they will have to face dire consequences because of our activity. Since future generations have no say in the choices we make, and there is no one to represent their case in the present generation, nor they can put forward their case or affect the present generation in any way, and therefore their interests are overlooked at the time of political and socioeconomic planning.
International Community’s Drive to Protect Future Generations
Fortunately, in the last 40 years or so, there has been an awakening in the international community and they have realized their duties towards future generations. It is this increasing awareness that has broached the subject of intergenerational justice under the spectrum of international environmental ethics.
Back in 1972 at Stockholm, the United Nations Conference was held to discuss the Human Environment. The first principle of the Stockholm Declaration is talks about the grave responsibility of the humans to preserve and better the environment for both the present as well as future generations. Later in 1987, in the Brundtland Report Our Common Future, the World Commission on the Environment and Development adopted to the concept of “sustainable development”. It simply means that the developmental steps be taken in a way so as not to harm the interests of future generations.
Later, at the Rio Earth Summit held in Brazil after a period of almost 5 years, the international community voiced serious concern on the quality of life future generations would have. The Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention of Climate Change, and the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development supported the idea of acknowledging our duties towards future generations. This stand was further fortified by adding that the development needs must be met keeping in view the environmental and the developmental needs of both the future as well as the present generations, and keeping a healthy balance between development and preserving the environment.
The Rio Declaration has penned down the manner in which the state parties need to work keeping in view the interests of future generations. It states that the effort of the parties in protecting the climate system in the interests of both the present and future generations must be done according to the individual state’s capacities, and must shoulder segregated responsibilities as per their capabilities. These declarations give us an insight in to the seriousness of the international community to protect the coming generations. The Rio Summit had been a crucial one in charting out a detailed program that set standards for global sustainable development to ensure appropriate quality life for future generations. It was an indication of the present generation feels one with the mankind and is willing to take steps to safeguard the interests of future generations and gift them a quality life.
Moreover, the 1993 the World Conference on Human Rights adopted the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action which also supported the idea of the duties of the present generations toward future generations. In the 29th session of the UNESCO's General Conference, held in Paris in November 1997, a Declaration on the Duties of the Present Generations towards Future Generations was adopted. Although this was not in the legal format, it did have a moral and ethical binding, as the declaration had been a result of several years of debates and discussions amongst the experts and talks with the member states.
The debate on providing intergenerational justice to future generations has gained momentum in the last 40 years. The focus had been around how the current policies would affect future generations. However, as we witnessed the environmental extremities in the recent years, it is now clear that the implications of mindless use of natural resources may be felt in the nearer future than what was perceived. The pace at which the resources are degraded and destroyed with noticeable climate change, we could well be talking about intergenerational justice to our direct descendants.
Time for Action
We, in the present generation are forewarned about the imminent damage we have been inflicting on our environment and our own health. But the cumulative effects of activities that are changing the climate and depleting natural resources. Future generations will have to bear the dire consequences by the environmental devastation. Such damage poses long-lasting threats that affect the health and wellbeing of future generations. As Edith Brown Weiss notes “we have a right to use and enjoy the system but no right to destroy its robustness and integrity for those who come after us.”
It is about time that we gave thoughtful consideration to protect future generations. While the current administrative and legal system either ignorant or weigh down the interests of the coming generations through practices such as discounting and cost-benefit analysis. There’s no provision in our culture to do something for future generations. We cannot afford only to protect our own interests, but we must learn how to speak for future generations. It is about time that we rise and speak for the interests of future generations, so that they are able to live on a healthy planet.
Environment info Ozone layer
Ozone (O3) is a gas composed of three oxygen atoms. It is not usually emitted directly into the air, but at ground-level is created by a chemical reaction between oxides of nitrogen and volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of sunlight. Ozone has the same chemical structure whether it occurs miles above the earth or at ground-level and can be “good” or “bad,” depending on its location in the atmosphere.
In the earth’s lower atmosphere, groundlevel ozone is considered “bad.” Motor vehicle exhaust and industrial emissions, gasoline vapors, and chemical solvents as well as natural sources emit nitrogen and VOC that help form ozone.
Groundlevel ozone is the primary constituent of smog. Sunlight and hot weather cause ground-level ozone to form in harmful concentrations in the air. As a result, it is known as a summertime air pollutant. Many urban areas tend to have high levels of “bad” ozone, but even rural areas are also subject to increased ozone levels because wind carries ozone and pollutants that form it hundreds of miles away from their original sources.
Seo Yong-seok studied political science for his Ph.D. at the University of Hawaii and is currently a research fellow at the Research Center of Social Integration at the Korea Institute of Public Administration. Seo has participated in a number of academic papers, including “From the Parallel to the Border.”