The Right to Feed off Today’s Sustainability

April’s issue explores the right of future generations to live off a sustainable world that is not compromised by present actions and policies.

Future generations are those who will succeed the currently living generations of humans. The Iroquois Confederacy’s Great Law of Peace, the oldest constitution in the world, is based on the Seventh Generation Principle whereby the decisions leaders should take into account seven generations into the future. Today’s dominant policies, however, disregard this rationale and are leading to the destruction of nature and all means for the procurement of nutritious food. In other words, current practices are eroding the human rights of those who are not yet here, including their right to food.

A truly sustainable approach would be to ensure the needs and rights of the present are met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own. But do future generations have rights despite not being alive? Should we consider giving future generations a standing and allow “representatives” to take legal action on their behalf?

Read Future Generations: The Right to Feed Off Today’s Sustainability