36 37 A practical guide for ancestors. Between the past and future of Responsibility, how to think beyond the present: a conversation with Roman Krznaric Federico Tosi, Sandro Di Domenico «This is really the essence of the problem of Responsibility: that there's this huge nation of future citizens who most of us are not thinking about. And that is a tragic injustice». Roman Krznaric, social philosopher, serves up reflections that strike with the precision of aphorisms, and his discourse aims to be that gentle gesture given to instil trust and set things in motion once more. Looking around, he sees little reason for optimism, but the problem lies precisely here: the surrounding context is no longer sufficient to comprehend the present. It is necessary to look beyond, to adopt an external perspective and a temporal outlook, both towards the past and the future. In this beyond, Krznaric leads us through unprecedented or historically overlooked examples, within a reflective framework that can be encapsulated by the question: how can I be a good ancestor? Talking about useful examples. Our conversation begins with the presentation of Ossigeno and the issue dedicated to Responsibility – a value to be rediscovered and reintroduced at the heart of the relationship between humankind and its environment, both natural and social, alongside Respect and Sharing. Krznaric expresses his enthusiasm for addressing the theme of the future through the lens of Responsibility and invites us to introduce the article informing the reader that, while the interview is taking place, the Romagna region of Italy, from which Ossigeno originates, is grappling with yet another flood in the last two years. A paradigmatic example to explain the condition we find ourselves in. To understand that, as Krznaric observes: «We've colonised the future. We use the future as a dumping ground where we discard or throw away, or abandon, ecological degradation and technological risks as if there were nobody there. And of course, there are people there. There are millions, billions of people who will inhabit the future, but the tragedy is that these future generations have no voice in our politics… If we're going to decolonise the future, I think what we need to do is think about ourselves as good ancestors. Therefore, the question is: how can we be good ancestors? I believe this is the great existential question of our time». In the case of Roman Krznaric our conversation, free of questions, has been geared towards eliciting as many insights as possible. In this narration we are going to simply highlight seven concepts, elevating them to chapters, all linked to an action, an attitude that can characterise the good ancestor and his sense of Responsibility, a subject that Krznaric introduces with two questions. The first one: what are the gifts that I'm going to pass on?, because «If you think about it, looking backwards, we are inheritors of gifts from the past. The cities we live in, the medical discoveries, the sewers under our feet. The roads that we walk on, the aqueducts of the Romans and also some economic forms». The second one: «Responsibility is about duty. What do we have a duty to pass on? And consequently, what do we have a duty to leave behind? We can leave behind colonialism. We can leave behind obsessions with economic growth, which is destroying the planet». Ethnosphere The first important sticking point lies in the cultural dynamics, which must share everyone's needs and influence behaviour. This is true in general, but it is even more fundamental for the youngest, the privileged recipients of Krznaric's reflections. They will be the ones who will inhabit the world, and they do have that virginity of thought which is essential to bring about change. «The biosphere provides the air that we breathe, and the ethnosphere provides the cultural air that we breathe. It's in the ideas, the assumptions, the worldviews. And what I try to do in my books is to introduce concepts that I hope can shape the way we think, for many years to come. They don't have to be attached to my name, but I think that the idea of being a good ancestor, for example, is a metaphor or a concept that might help us to shape our actions in the future, so that we don't just automatically click the buy now button, but we might instead look ourselves in the mirror every morning and ask: what can I do today to be a good ancestor? I think that’s the existential challenge: to make that a habit, and the good thing about humans is that we're good at habits. We can get used to everything, the worst and the best». School «The world we live in is one of beauty and horror, but also of opportunity. The opportunity to rethink our institutions. I can hear my children coming home from school now. They go to the local school, up the street. Everything is organised around the idea of individualism and competition. It's a nice school, but it's part of our culture where when they do exams, it's not like they come together as a group to solve a problem. We don't even think about that: why is that? We’re organising our education in a way that’s probably not the one we need, to solve the kind of problems that our species is facing. It's mad».
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