Letter to posterity

Blog Jules Lejeune: Letter to posterity

At the Lejeune Branch Day 2023 on 30 March last, the documentary 'The Decade of Action' was screened in which politicians, corporate CEOs and scientists give their views on the role the private sector can play in reducing our impact on the climate. In the film, they are asked to write a letter to their great-grandchildren and read pieces from it. Inspired by this, participants at the Branch Day were also invited to write down their personal intentions regarding sustainability for future generations. Below is the letter Jules Lejeune wrote afterwards.

The Hague, 31 March 2023

Dear Descendant,

At the time of writing, you are not yet a seed or even a germ. At most an intention for later of my own children. I imagine you are reading this in the year 2050.

I personally hope to live to see the year 2050. If all goes well, you will be at the stage Luc, Max and Lisa are at right now, or at least you will have left adolescence behind and be in your twenties in the prime of your life.

Flashback

I am trying to imagine life in the upcoming 2050s. In the last century, those were the years of reconstruction, after half a century with two devastating world wars. They were years of unbridled growth and optimism, when former enemies in Europe decided to create what later came to be called the European Union.

From six members, it grew to as many as 28 member states in half a century, after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 broke the dichotomy between democratic Western Europe and socialist Eastern Europe. With the liberalisation of global trade, ever better connections by land, sea and air, and the rise of the internet, the world became increasingly interconnected.

Optimism

Writer Francis Fukuyama, in his 1989 book 'The End of History and the Last Man', stated, "What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of humanity's ideological evolution and the universalisation of Western liberal democracy as the definitive form of human government.”

New York Times journalist Thomas Friedman released 'The World is Flat: a Brief History of the Twenty-first Century', in which he describes how, under the influence of the internet and technological innovation, the world is increasingly evolving into a level playing field of trade and services. Professor Schwab's World Economic Forum (the annual Davos gathering of world leaders, economists and cultural and civil society organisations) talked about 'The Great Reset'.

Limits

But it was by no means all roses. Back in 1972, a group of scientists and entrepreneurs, united in the Club of Rome, warned of the consequences of unbridled growth in their report ‘The Limits to Growth: a global challenge’. Although the book ‘received a lot of attention at the time, it initially fell on deaf ears. On the contrary: the world population doubled from 4 to 8 billion people in the following half century, (fossil) resources were being depleted. The highly polluting effects of industrial activity on soil, water and air began to have increasingly noticeable effects on the climate. Despite increasing development and prosperity, scarcity and inequality increased worldwide.

Like most developed countries, our country the Netherlands is currently at the limits of its growth. In a fortnight's time, on 12 April 2023, it will be 'Dutch Overshoot Day'. Scientists have calculated that on that day, our country will have already used up its ration of raw materials for the whole year. Globally, that moment is sometime in July, but there are countries that are already at their takings in the first quarter.

Action

As so often, it takes time between recognising the problem and taking concrete action. It was only from the second decade of this century onwards that the urgency of the latent problem was translated into concrete action by global politics. With the Paris Climate Accord and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (both from 2015), and on a European scale with the 2019 Green Deal, ambitious targets were agreed internationally for 2030 and 2050 to limit climate change and resource depletion, make our products and processes 'circular' and provide more equal opportunities for the world's population. Many organisations are currently translating the set goals into concrete actions at their own levels.

Forward Thinking

2050 remains a magical year mark that has been used in many long-term visions in recent years, although the current urgency is pushing that horizon ever forward.

To imagine your future years, I have tried to recall how the present was viewed in my own younger years. Coincidentally, one of my childhood heroes, Wim de Bie, one half of the famous Dutch satirical duo Van Kooten and De Bie (aka 'Koot and Bie'), died this week. Last week, there was an extensive review of the oeuvre of this duo (who quit in the late 1990s) and it was always concluded that 'they were way ahead of their time'. Both men not only knew how to faultlessly assess and characterise their own zeitgeist, they also managed to project it onto the future time and again.

For instance, they linked the 1973 oil crisis to the report of the Club of Rome a year earlier, and in a sketch from that year, not only petrol was on ration, but also age. De Bie signed up for an extra 25 years in exchange for petrol coupons so that his dying year of 1998 could be shifted to ... 2023, and he could still live to see the new century. The gentlemen were the originators of the word 'doemdenken’ (‘doom and gloom') that typified the bleak zeitgeist of the early 1980s. Their ‘Tegenpartij' (‘Opposite Party') was the forerunner of the emerging populism of these days. And precisely in the week of his death, Lent and Ramadan coincide, a reference to another of the gentlemen's videos. In it, as the religious duo The Positivos, they advocate 'Chrislam', a merger between Christianity and Islam. The gentlemen thereby anticipate the rising tensions between the two religions in Europe since '9/11' in 2001.

Plot twists

If only we had the duo to give us a glimpse of 2050. There are those who claim that the future is "written in the stars". Coincidentally, a few weeks ago, the planets Jupiter, Venus and our own Earth almost aligned, but in reality, life rarely proceeds along straight lines. Especially after the past hectic years, it is difficult to get even a glimpse of the near future through the current cloud of points. Let alone of 2050.

We are often tempted to look at the future from the perspective of our own perceptions and pull through our own story. We then ignore unexpected plot twists such as the corona crisis that has made us all the more aware that climate change is a pandemic in delayed form. Or of Russia's bloody invasion of Ukraine that not only threw us back in time, but also made us face the fact once again that it is unwise to bet everything on one source of resources.

In this day and age, 'Artificial Intelligence' (AI) is the latest plot twist. Perhaps AI can help us untangle and help the data points towards the future. But AI is still powered by data that reflects human thinking and doing. And it is still the collective human actions that connect the past, present and future.

Responsibility

I have spent my working life since 1990 so far helping industry associations and their members work together towards common goals. 'The association is more than the sum of its members' and that formula has proven itself over the centuries, right from the Middle Ages.

Our Branch Day yesterday was on the theme 'From sustainable thinking to DOING', to highlight the role of associations as accelerators of sustainability. Speaker Michel Scholte, idealist, entrepreneur and two years earlier winner of the honorary title 'Minister of the New Economy' (who knows, maybe by your time he will be a real 'elderly statesman'), quoted the motto 'With great power comes great responsibility' from the comic book hero Spider Man. If you have the ability to influence and change things, you have responsibility for another.

In this respect, families, communities and associations have much in common. They have the ability to create norms and values and pass them on to the next generation, they have the ability to enforce behavioural change, and they have the ability to accelerate processes through collaboration.

If there is one word that characterises the impact of all three, it is the word 'RESPONSIBILITY'. As former Thinker of the Fatherland Daan Roovers put it some time ago, 'Just a matter of good ancestry'.

I wish that the responsibility taken will lead to 'your' 2050s being as optimistic and prosperous as those of 100 years ago.

With loving regards,

Your ancestor Jules