[pct-l] Responsibility to Future Generations

[Bighummel@aol.com]

In previous discussions on the list in regards to wilderness ethics and 
preservation, I have spoken out on the basis of not only my appreciation and 
interests but those of my unborn future generations.  I recently came across 
this and found it summing up my thoughts rather clearly.  The second 
paragraph is an indication of the value of "stepping aside" from society on 
the PCT.  

IMHO,

Greg "Strider" Hummel

"Only by thinking in long term periods going far beyond our own lifetimes, 
and even further beyond the time of our active professional lives, we can 
fulfill the responsibility we have for the coming generations. Only if we 
enter a level of imagination above our day-to-day decisions in research and 
science, in technology and industry, in society and in politics, and being 
aware of its necessity we will really have the chance to survive."

"Our daily work in a world which is becoming increasingly complicated is 
shaped of dynamic processes. It prevents us from stepping aside and view the 
long-term problems from a distance for an orientation along long-term 
visions."

"We are beginning to understand that one person, one enterprise, one 
administration and one government alone can hardly solve this problem, even 
once the problems have been recognized.. Society as a whole is addressed and 
called upon, if a success to solve the current global problems should be 
earnestly reached. These problems include restructuring agricultural 
processes and the power industry, population growth in the Third World, 
environmental pollution, forest depreciation and unemployment."

"Our society is more or less aware that we are part of a common fate. 
However, we are learning with increasing intensity every day that effective 
solutions cannot be reached by decisions taken in the framework of limited 
political time-cycles. Measures directed at safeguarding our grandchildren’s 
life demand renunciation and massive additional engagement from ourselves, 
the ones who are appreciating the world’s amenities today. It is difficult to 
convey this to our today’s’ societies living on day-to-day premises."

Ludwig Bölkow
Director and Founder of the Ludwig Bölkow Foundation and LB Systemtechnik, 
Germany
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