Obligation to Posterity?

摘要

Here's a conundrum for you: If the answer to this question-do we have a moral duty to leave a world as intact as our own to future generations?-turns out to be yes, then future generations may be doomed. If it turns out to be no, however, there may be a chance for future generations to have a beautiful and functional Earth, even an Earth recognizably similar to our own. Certain changes that we've already set in motion, of course, will have to play themselves out. Fifty years from now, the world will inevitably be somewhat altered. Shorelines will have shrunk some-or a lot, in fact, if the best current advice isn't heeded. Vegetation will have moved around: temperate forests are already edging pole-ward in either direction, and the tropics may dry out for a spell.