If I may return to the Burke quote that I discussed in my last post, his meaning was that the living have an obligation to carry forward the legacy of the dead, and to avoid making things worse for the following generation. If that is the yardstick, what is the Boomer record?
Ours was a revolutionary, individualistic generation. We broke a lot of barriers, created some great popular art, and made things better for groups of previously powerless people. We didn’t start any world wars. Thanks mostly to the Chinese, we lifted billions of people out of poverty. And yet, I fear that the biggest part of our legacy will be our failure to deal effectively with climate change. We are leaving an imperiled planet to our successors for no reason other than our short-term material self-interest. That won’t look too good in the history books.