Listening to the Voices of Young and Future Generations

Abstract

When conquering the North American continent in the seventeenth century, few European colonizers recognized that the native populations they encountered were organized in state-like groups, ruled by ethical and moral values. One of these ethical principles remains visionary even today: the Seventh Generation principle of the Iroquois peoples, which states that any action or decision should take into account its consequences for up to seven generations to come. Colonizers likely did not understand this then, and, it seems, we do not understand it now. Judging by our current course of development, we are, as a species, incapable of preserving the ecological well-being of one or two generations down the road, let alone seven.¹