What kind of future we can leave for our children?

What kind of future we can leave for our children? This question was asked by a participant of renewable energy seminar. 

  Because of the Industrial Revolution, we have enjoyed the most affluent life in history. Our lives are full of abundant food, clothes. We can build beautiful houses. We can go to anywhere to enjoy our holiday. We can connect with anyone through internet. Yes, we have a significant advance in almost all of our life fields. However, environment pollution and disruption of ecosystem have progressed at the same time. The air, river, soil, ocean is contaminated by toxic chemical substances, suffocating gas and dust, radioactive, and so on. We have great amount of food, but we are worried about if these food are made from polluted soil or made of polluted water. 

  On the other hand, the other creatures on the earth have been endangered since we have destroyed ecosystem, which support all of the livings on the earth. We cut the trees, built dams, reclaimed lakes and sea to land. We destroyed the living environment of other creatures, we forgot this environment also balanced our living environment.

  What kind of future we can leave for our children? In Our Common Future, which was published in 1987 by the United Nations, sustainable development was defined as a kind of development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". In spite of emphasis on the needs of next generation, this definition did not touch the inner factor of development distinctly. "Development" means a behavior converting a condition to much better. The inner factor under this behavior is the discontent against current condition. 

  When we have not enough food, clean water and sturdy house, we are too poor to go to hospital, we will do our best to improve our lives. It is a kind of development. The inner factor of our behavior is the discontent against our poor living environment. Nowadays when you are living in rich countries like Europe, U.S, or Japan, you can have comfortable living environment and high education. It seems that you already have no inner motive to improve your living, but it is not in reality. 

  When you enter electronics retail stores, you can find consumer electronics with a lot of functions you will not use in future. For example, a rice cooker with the function of speaking, or a refrigerator with the function of TV. When you enter closes stores, you will find the fashioned closes has been changed totally in only one month. The manufacturers are doing their best to create some new points to attract consumers' attention, such as some accessory functions we talked earlier, or the new styles we never seen before. We have never stopped developing, even we have already had a good living environment.

  Manufacturers' behavior is a kind of marketing strategy to sell much more products. Mass production lead to mass consumption at the same time. We may buy lots of goods that attracted us but we will not use them or just use several times. Our consumption will spur manufacturers to product much more, and there manufacturers will throw those products cannot attract consumers. Mass production, mass consumption, mass waste. It became the typical production and consumption model of modern society.  We have already been used to this model, but we seldom consider what we are expecting for? Much more convenient? Much more abundance? How far?  It seems that we will never be satisfied.

  It is no doubt that this model need a large amount of energy on earth. Coal, petroleum, nuclear, photovoltaics, wind, and so on. We have developed our energy industry with might and main, and our energy use mostly depends on the nature resources on earth. How far these resources can support our expanding demands? If the resources on earth are exhausted, what we can do?

  I am ashamed to say that I cannot answer this participant's question. I also don't think a famous professor or intellectual can answer this question. Because the answer is based on the thought and activities of everyone of us from now. All of us have to consider and act. It is our responsibility to children, to earth.