Our obligations to the future generations

The world is in the manner in which it is today because of the policies, decisions and actions that have been taken either in the past or presently. Should the past generations have taken measures to completely ruin the world and its environment then the present generations would not have a pleasant world to live in. Similarly, the actions, decisions and policies that are being taken and adopted by the present generation will have a great impact on the future generations. Therefore, the present generation has a lot of moral obligation to the future generations, and it has to ensure that all actions it takes will make the world a better place to live in not just for itself, but also for the future generations. It beats all logic for someone to argue that there is no need to protect the world simply because none of the members of the current generation will be a live a hundred years from now. We are living in the world today because our forefathers preserved it for us and we therefore have no alternative but to reciprocate the same to the future generation so that they can also have a chance of living in a world that is relatively pleasant for them (Page, p. 15).

Our obligations to the future generations

Even though the current generation is likely to experience some of the adverse effects resulting from environmental degradation, most of these effects will affect future generations. Currently, there is a lot of debate around the world concerning the phenomenon of global warming, which is associated to climate change. Although there are some parts of the world that have already started suffering from the effects of global warming and climate change especially in sub Saharan Africa, more severe effects are feared to take place in future and they will substantially affect the future generations. It is therefore very essential for the current policy makers to ensure that the effects of these two phenomenons are reduced. This can be done by implementing policies aimed at ensuring that emissions of green house gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, sulfur dioxide and ethane are reduced. By doing so, the current policy makers will save the future generations from the adverse effects that are feared to result from climate change and global warming (Mintzer, p. 32).

If the current generation continues to be unethical in the manner in which it deals with issues of global warming then the future generations will suffer immensely. Global warming will lead to increased global temperatures, which will in turn have great impacts in future. One of the effects that have been predicted to occur in the future by scientists all over the world is rise of the sea level. As global warming continues to take place, more water that have been previously existed in the solid state will melt down and will find its way into the global oceans thus leading to a rise in their water levels. It is important to bear in mind that currently, there are millions of people living along the sea shore all over the world. Such populations are increasing every now and then as population increases. Rise of sea level will imply that these populations will have to be displaced from the sea shores, which will be occupied by water. The current population has a lot of obligation to the future generations and has to ensure that whatever they are doing currently will not displace people from where they have lived for thousands of years (Beckerman and Pasek, p. 36).

The effects of rise in the sea level have been predicted that they will not stop at displacement of people living along sea shore around the world and thus become climate refugees. There is a great possibility of conflict taking place since the millions of the displaced people will have to look for alternative areas to settle, the new areas will not be idle land since there are people already settled on them. This therefore implies that for the future climate refugees to get a place to settle, they will have to also displace people already settled there. A conflict will therefore have to arise between the climate refugees and people living on higher grounds who will not have been displaced by the rising waters. It is therefore more than important for the current generation to realize that it owes a lot of moral obligation to the future generations and thus act in an ethical manner, which will ensure that such conflicts are avoided as much as possible (Spash, p. 49).

Scientists have also predicted that the effects of global warming and climate change will have a great effect on the spatial distribution of various diseases especially the tropical ones such as malaria. The bacterium responsible for causing most of the tropical diseases can only survive in warm regions and hence such diseases are rarely found in the mid latitudes and in the extra tropics. However, as global warming continues, these regions will become favorable for such bacterium and thus start spreading diseases which in the past were only found within the tropics. Scientist have predicted that this will be the case since global warming will increase temperatures of both the mid latitudes and extra tropics thus making it possible for the bacterium causing these diseases to survive in these regions and thus transmit several diseases. By the current generation failing to be ethical in its obligations to the future generations, more people who would otherwise not be vulnerable to the traditionally tropical diseases will become victims of these diseases leading to massive suffering of several future populations. Furthermore, due to these diseases, the future generations will be compelled to employ more resources in order to prevent and treat such diseases, thus leaving them with limited resources to employ in development programs that are capable of improving their livelihoods. As a result their lives will be more miserable than the ones being lived by the current generation. In order to avoid such, the current generation has to be ethical and make decisions and policies that are not only beneficial to them but also to the future generations so that they can suffer less from such diseases (Amstutz, p. 55).

If the current generation continues with the excessive emissions of greenhouse gases, the future generations will suffer substantially from various calamities related to climate change. Weather disasters such as cyclones and heat waves will become more severe and frequent thus making more people in future to suffer from them. It is true that most of these calamities are already being experienced in some part of the world such as the United States and Europe but it is feared that their severity and frequency will increase dramatically in future as global warming and climate change continues to take place. These calamities will make millions of people to suffer greatly in future through loss of lives and their property. Disasters such as tropical cyclones are even known to cause major damages on the infrastructure and as their intensity increases in future, these damages will only become more severe and will take place more frequently. When infrastructure is damaged, a lot of ill effects to the economy of a nation are usually expected since the level of productivity decreases substantially and the cost of production increases dramatically. Therefore, the current generation has a lot of obligation to take ethical measures in order to protect the future generations from the effects of such calamities (McMichael and World Health Organization, p.  61).    

Virtually all nations around the world depend on agriculture either directly or indirectly to feed their populations. However, as a result of global warming and climate change, the food productivity is being put in jeopardy since output levels are decreasing at an alarming rate. The nations that are greatly affected are those that depend on rain fed agriculture, most of these nations include the developing and the least developed nations of the world. It has been predicted that in future, rainfall will become less and less reliable as a source of water to be utilized in agriculture. This will have a lot of implications on the populations that are dependent on rainfall for food productivity. As a result, agricultural output will decrease substantially making millions of people around the world to do without food and hence a lot of deaths due to starvation will happen to the future generations. It is therefore the duty and responsibility of the current generation to ensure that their current activities do not have a negative impact on the future generations by jeopardizing food productivity in future (Page, p. 77).  

Increased global warming and climate change have attributed significantly to the problem of desertification that is taking place currently. Going by the current trend of desertification, it is feared that more regions that have previously not been considered as deserts will in future be classified as deserts or semi deserts. Desertification will make the future generations to suffer greatly since it comes along with several challenges that make life almost unbearable. Water resources in such regions will become more limited, due to the great importance of water resources for people’s livelihood, its absence will cause a lot of suffering and deaths since people cannot do without it. For those communities that rely heavily on livestock and other forms of agriculture, they will suffer immensely since their livestock will die due to lack of pasture and water. At the same time, more conflicts are likely to arise as people scramble for the few left water and other natural resources. By becoming more ethical while making decisions and adopting various policies, the current generation have the obligation of considering the fate of the future generation by ensuring that the decisions they make as well as the policies they adopt will be beneficial now and in the future that is, they should be sustainable (Beckerman and Pasek, p. 83).

The current generation owes a lot to the future generations and they therefore have to conserve the environment as much as possible so that those who will come after us will live in an enjoyable world. Most of the lakes have registered substantial drop in their water levels in the recent past mainly due to deforestation that is taking place in most forests around the world. Most of the water catchments areas are found in the forests. Hence once a lot of deforestation takes place and the forests get depleted, less water will flow from the forests to the lakes. As a result, the water levels of the lakes will continue to drop over time and it is feared that some time in future most of the current enormous lakes will have dried up either wholly or partly. Lakes are a great source of livelihood for millions of people around the world and hence if they dry up for one reason or another, then the people who depend on them either directly or indirectly for their daily bread will be deprived off their source of livelihood. Just as it was in the case of desertification and decreased agricultural productivity, the drying of lakes will imply that all the fish and other food resources that are obtained from them will no longer be present and thus a food shortage will be created. It is the responsibility of the current generation to ensure that it does not ruin the lives of future generations. It can do this by ensuring that it uses the forest resources in a manner that is sustainable, which will ensure perpetual existence of these significant resources (Amstutz, p. 95).  

Global warming and climate change have brought about several differences in the manner in which rainfall is distributed both temporally and spatially. Nowadays, the distribution of rainfall has greatly changed. Most regions are receiving erratic forms of rainfall, whereby storms of very high intensity are being experienced within a short period of time. Despite the fact that in terms of measurement these volumes can be enough for agricultural use, the duration and the manner in which the erratic rain comes can hardly be used in agriculture since it only rains for a short period of time, which is not enough for crops and other plants to grow. Such rainfalls are very much unreliable and can therefore not be used to increase land productivity. Continued emissions of greenhouse gases will only worsen the spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall in future thus making it more and more unreliable for any meaningful use. The current generation has thus the duty of ensuring that it adopts measures that will lead to decreased emission of these gases and thus make rainfall more reliable currently and in the future so that those generations that will come after we are gone will not be adversely affected by the ill effects of unreliable rainfall (Mintzer, p. 122).  

Trees have a lot of value to mankind and they therefore have to be used in a manner that is sustainable if the benefits that are usually obtained from them will continue to be realized in the future. Most of the medicines that are used to cure various diseases are obtained from trees and other plants. If the current generation fails to conserve these trees and other natural plants, it will be very difficult for the future generations to obtain sound sources of medicinal products. As a result, the future generations will suffer greatly due to lack of capacity to cure various diseases simply because all the plants containing medicinal value will have been depleted completely. Furthermore, more and more diseases continue to emerge and the medicine to treat them might be in some of these plants but as at now such value have not been discovered. Hence depleting all these plants has the implication that new diseases in future will not have medicine to cure them and hence the future generations will have no alternative but to suffer due to lack of proper medicine to cure such diseases. It is therefore the obligation of the current generation to ensure that it does its best to conserve the environment so that the future generations will not suffer simply because the current one used the natural resources in an unsustainable manner (Amstutz, p. 127).  

The activities that are being carried out by the current generation are leading to massive pollution of the environment especially water and air pollution. These forms of pollution have a lot of adverse effects to the current generation but it is feared that they will have even worse effects to future generations. The water resources will continue to decrease, even though the same amount of water will continue to exist, a higher proportion of the water will be in polluted form and will thus not be safe for human or animal consumption. However, because people and animals cannot do without this all important resource, they will be compelled to consume the polluted water and thus expose themselves as well as their livestock to several diseases. Continued pollution will thus make the future generations less productive since they will be unhealthy. The same case will be applicable to air and other forms of pollution. They will make more people in future to suffer from several illnesses. The current generation has therefore a lot of responsibility to ensure that it causes less pollution to the environment so that it can conserve and preserve it for the future generations. This can only be possible through the implementation of policies that are aimed at protecting the environment and thus ensure that the world develops in a sustainable manner (Page, p. 139).  

Conclusion

It is quite evident that most of the activities the current generation is undertaking will have very adverse effects to the future generations. It is therefore very important for the current generation to realize that it owes the future generation a lot of obligations. Therefore, when using the available natural resources it is important for them to ensure that they do so in a manner that is sustainable. The current generation should ensure that they make decisions and adopts policies that are appropriate not only for the current needs but also for the requirements of the future generations. It should as much as possible ensure that factors that are responsible for causing climate change and global warming are reduced as much as possible. This will save the future generations from the adverse effects of climate change and global warming such as rise of sea level, expansion of tropical diseases, drought and natural calamities resulting from them. It is quite immoral for the current generation to live on this world as if there will be no other generations that will come after them and they therefore owe the future generations a lot of obligations.