Do We Have a Moral Obligation to Future Generations?

Throughout history we have seen great civilizations rise and fall, this is the nature of the world.

People get into positions, some are powerful while others are humble, with the intention to leave their

mark on the planet. Most have done so in the hopes that what they were building would last until the

end of time. These memorials have taken shape in the form of academia, scriptures, empires,

monuments, music, taking extreme measures to care for the planet and other various displays of

workmanship. Some were created for the glory of the person creating them, while many were created

for the betterment of mankind and countless other things were created to help future generations that

had no impact on us and will never be heard about. This then poses the question, what moral obligation

do we have to save the planet for future generations?

The claims made about climate change and if humans are a major supporting factor is a big topic

right now. Scientific facts have been made that support climate change and even go so far as to prove that

CO2 emissions from humans is the main reason for the increase of temperature on Earth. Countering this

argument is that the temperature on Earth has always been in constant flux and that is just the way our

planet works. That with or without us here the planet would go through natural cycles of global warming

and global cooling. For the purposes of my essay, and to avoid debate, we will assume that climate

change is real as well as assume that humans are the major factor in the global warming changes

occurring on our planet.

If we are under the presumption that global warming is our biggest and worst threat that is

currently facing us then our next course of action must be to come up with ideas to mitigate that threat

before it destroys more of our resources than we can realistically survive without. The first problem that
would arise in such a large decision is whose way of life thean becomes the most important. Do we make

the decision to put into action drastic changes to our economy, livelihood and way of life to better

accommodate generations of people that do not yet exist and may not exist or do our

responsibilities fall to the current population with our duty being maintaining, enriching and further

enhancing their current way of life? Moral Obligation is defined as “an obligation arising out of

considerations of right and wrong. It is an obligation arising from ethical motives, or a mere conscientious

duty, unconnected with any legal obligation, perfect or imperfect, or with the receipt of benefit by the

promisor of a material or pecuniary nature.” This shows us that the obligation to look out for and take

considerations for each other is not something we do because we have to, we do it because it’s the right

thing to do. Yet even with an explanation this clear we are still no closer to an answer of who does our

responsibility fall to?