Better legacy
Being a good ancestor in an age of short-term thinking
You don’t have to look far to hear about “legacy” these days — books, podcasts, motivational quotes. People are so driven to leave something behind. To have their name set in stone for generations to come.
But here’s the truth: most of us won’t be remembered by more than a handful of people, let alone generations. And if your decisions hinge on being remembered, you’re probably making the wrong ones. Crooked maniacs dominate the headlines — politicians playing power games, billionaires playing empire-building, all while the planet burns
But while chasing fame is folly, leaving a legacy of care isn’t. It’s not about being remembered — it’s about what you leave behind.
We should be asking ourselves questions like “Will my grandchildren thank me for this?”. What are you leaving behind that they’ll be grateful for?
What would change if every decision had to pass the ‘grandchildren test’?
I for one am grateful for the people who planted trees in public spaces in my hometown of Christchurch, New Zealand. I’m grateful for those who fought for the rights of nature. I’m grateful for the people who protect historic buildings. I’m grateful for National Parks. I’m grateful for companies reinvesting profits into environmental initiatives rather than maximising shareholder returns.
Once again, it all comes back to the question of whether we’re being good ancestors. If there’s one thing we should all aspire to, it should be this.
What would change if success was measured in centuries? This is a key question we should all be pondering.
All this talk of legacy and century-scale change might make you think these actions need to be enormous, but the reality is they don’t. Far from it. Baby steps are all that’s required.
Here’s the paradox: we matter more than we think and yet, in the cosmic sense, we don’t matter much at all.
Oliver Burkeman reminds us that in the grand scheme of things, nothing we do or fail to do matters much. That’s liberating — it means we can act without the pressure of perfection. Remember, bird by bird, baby.
Once we take that pressure off, we’re free to take tiny actions. And these tiny actions can balloon into enormous things.
So, just do something. It doesn’t need to be big. It just needs to be something. And those things don’t need to be solitary endeavours. Climate change, biodiversity loss, water scarcity, social inequalities — and all the grand challenges — are too big to tackle as one person. But they’re also too big to do nothing.
Talk to your neighbour. Talk to your friends. Talk to the weird guy down the road. It starts with a quick chat. You’ll be surprised how many people don’t know about these issues or bury everything they hear because it’s in the too-hard-basket. The more times they hear it, the more likely your words will sink in and the less overwhelming they’ll be.
Tiny things like a few words can have massive impacts and, most importantly, they’re impossible to predict. So don’t hold back as you never know where they’ll lead.
So remember, none of us will solve the world’s challenges alone. But together we can. Change takes collective action. And collective action starts with conversations.
And you know what? You just might be remembered for it! And if you’re not? Who cares! It’s not about you. It’s about your grandkids, and your grandkids’ grandkids.
Remember:
Start small. Plant a tree. Join a stream-care group. Have a conversation. Change starts with tiny steps, not huge leaps. You’ll probably never be remembered — and that’s OK. Because it’s not about you. It’s about them.
Join the Conversation
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Here are a few questions to get us started:
What would change if success was measured in centuries, not seasons?
Are we being good ancestors? What does that look like in your life?
What’s one decision you’ve made that your grandchildren would thank you for?
If you could leave one thing behind for future generations, what would it be?
What’s one example of short-term thinking that frustrates you and how would you flip it?
What’s one example of long-term thinking that inspires you?
If governments had to report on 50-year outcomes, what would change first?
Drop your ideas in the comments or join the subscriber chat. Let’s talk about what needs to change.
Look back to look forward. So often we use our familiar landscape as our baseline rather than the one that prevailed for 1000's of years. Aotearoa was 80% tree cover until 800 years ago. How do we get close to there?
Use reliable science to inform decisions on trees. In a switch from pasture to trees - of any sort:
We don't have major losses to ecosystems
We don't lose biodiversity when we replace plants that are cm tall with plants that are tens of metres tall; we create more habitat, especially for invertebrates, birds, fungi....
We increase soil quality; we change from compacted to permeable, with greater water-holding capacity and flood mitigation capability. All/any tree cover >2m tall will intercept and transpire more water than pasture cover, and it will smooth water yield curves - check Scion Dean Meason's work.
We reduce erosion potential by planting any tree types - read research from MWLR esp by Chris Phillips, Mike Marden et al.
All trees contain more fuel compared to pasture.
All ecosystems that lack diversity are more vulnerable to pests and pathogens.
a huge threat to all our forests are mammalian, particularly ungulate pests. Greater efforts to manage those are separately needed.
Trees. That is the only thing my thinking ( collapse aware) has led to and one that I am actively pursuing. Plant trees. Plant as many as possible and encourage others to do so. I chose not to have children, my legacy (to be so bold ) is to planet earth. To be a better guardian. Although I fear this is wishful thinking. What is going to grow and how will organic growth be affected when the planet sears past 2 degrees ( around 2030 they say) and burns into 3 + and beyond. If we could time travel to 2050, and be in the world of high temps, climate refugees, failed crops, broken economy, world wide death - what would those survivors wish they had done or put in place to ameliorate their life situation? My first thought was that your title should be ‘a bitter legacy’ but I am hoping for better. So Trees.