Are you being a good ancestor? Are WE being good ancestors? What the hell is a good ancestor and do I have to buy them a present? Public philosopher Roman Krznaric thinks these are the most important questions we should ask ourselves (well, certainly the first two) if we’re to escape the ‘tyranny of the now’, the hideous short-termism dominating our lives and knackering the planet in the process.

His new book (‘The Good Ancestor: How to think long term in a short term world‘) explains how our brains are perfectly capable of serious long-term thinking, despite our apparent crapness at it, and sets out key principles for public decision making fit for the next century, not just the next news cycle. Shockingly, none of those prinicples includes reacting in fury to something on twitter you didn’t know you cared about 30 seconds previously. Who knew?

Check out the wonderful empathy museum, founded by Roman, and Neal Agarwal’s equally magestic animation of just how deep the deep sea is, as mentioned by Dave in the show.

Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Ecoguff read out by Arabella.

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