Society has taught its youth something which has produced anxiety in our younger generation. I had this discussion with several of my friends who have children because I don’t have any children of my own. In a word: yes. We have, as a society, abused their right to have a clean safe home to grow and live happily.
All the parents I know provide a way better home and life for their kids than many of the parents from my youth. Times were tough. Different. Childhood was a miserable experience for me, and yes, I had a good deal of anxiety then; to this day I have plenty of anxiety from that experience. But today’s youth are more aware these days, than I was 40 years ago. I think about the children who don’t have a good home, the ones who struggle in school like I did, the scary future is out there; I see it every day -society can’t hide it- anyone who denies the facts of an imminent environmental catastrophe are delusional. Sorry.
It’s no doubt the environment is changing due to anthropogenic activities. The simple science: if earth equals a sealed petri dish of ideal medium floating in cold space; and humanity equals the bacteria consuming the medium inside the petri dish, what does that equal? Well that depends on how we as a self-aware (we hope) bacteria, decide to consume the resources of the medium. Like Newton said, “for every action there is an equal reaction.” See, simple. But humans continue to harm their children’s future through the pollution they create. The sealed environment of the petri dish floating in space, is becoming clouded as a result of the life process of the bacteria living off of the medium.
Now, not all bacteria are bad, this is common knowledge, so as a thinking, and self-aware bacteria, could we not choose to be a good bacterium? Could humanity, our society do that for the children? I know it’s complicated, but we have no choice. As a childless and emerging grey beard, I don’t have a clue what it is like to have a child of my own, so please forgive me for my ignorance, but if I were a teen looking into the future in today’s times, I would be unsure of my prospects, forget about factoring in the effects of the internet and social media.
Children are smart, they understand, better than I did as a teen, just how scary the world really is. It’s all over the internet. Most of us are visual learners, we see and experience the changing environment, and the future is visibly obvious. Between industry, politics, economy, and the people who perpetuate human society there has been a lot of talk about the concern for the future of humanity, but one thing I have noticed is the only entities that are not at the table are the industries, and corporations. A future for humanity will not exist if we don’t behave like a society that acts as one, following a plan that includes a clean environment. We need to behave like intelligent, and beneficial bacteria; our daily existence must benefit the environment, and all life on Mother Earth.