The Good Ancestor

Over the summer, the killing of George Floyd and the rise of Black Lives Matter protests across the world saw a concurrent look into how we approach our past and the controversial figures who made it. In Bristol, slave trader Edward Colston’s statue was torn down from its plinth, while in Westminster Winston Churchill’s statue was affixed with the words ‘was a racist’ in spray paint. As we live in the world these divisive figures created, how can we ensure that we aren’t – in the words of Roman Krznaric – “colonising the future.” Future generations have no say in the decisions taken today that will affect them far more than they will affect us. How can we ensure that we are ‘good ancestors’ for the 6.75 trillion individuals who will likely be born over the next 50,000 years?

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How should we be dealing with the actions of our own ancestors? Can we judge the figures of the past on the morals of the present? How have the actions of those in the past affected the world we live in today?

What does it mean to be a ‘Good Ancestor’ in the 21st century?

What can we be doing now to ensure we leave a prospering planet for future generations, and

what is the most important thing that we as a generation ensure we tackle?

Is it even possible to focus on long-term issues in today’s political and commercial culture?