GLOBAL QUESTIONS ARE YOUR MORTAL ENEMY. AND WORST FOR MILLENIALS

Two great things happened for me this past week.

First: the Boston University magazine, “Focus”, arrived from the B.U. School of Theology.

Entitled “Living in the Storm, this issue, in the words of the Dean, responds to devastating questions concerning the “United States, global relationships and planetary health.” (Mary Elizabeth Moore, Dean, B.U. School of Theology.)

These are “What I am doing for planetary health” life stories, told by theology graduates. “What am I doing” to answer devastating, big questions that challenge all of us.

The blog site you're reading is "Growing Green." The B.U. life stories are right on target with what I write about here: the United States, global relationships and planetary health.

I’ll be posting more about the featured B.U. grads in coming weeks. One of them is my personal friend. My hope is that the stories (such as that of a T.V. journalist, a professor, and an agronomist will) build your courage about the future of your family and your nation. It certainly boosted my morale to learn how people work to build the future.

Second great thing that happened this week: a granddaughter turned 13. Her family partied last night and we had a lot of fun. The party with her age-mates comes next week. Three generations celebrating a new 13-year-old. She's a millennial. Will the world be green and beautiful when she's 80 years old? Will it be habitable for human beings when 160-to-200 years from now?

A thoughtful moment at t the Party: the new13-year-old and her 15-year-old brother.  

(An aside: this kid's a budding artist. After years of playing with commercial figures she’s now producing her own. Here’s a sample drawing. Maybe this isn't an aside. It raises a question: can the youthful creativity of the millennial generation succeed in saving human life on spaceship earth?)

Last evening, in a lull at the party, I put the B.U. magazine's devastating questions back to back with my granddaughter’s transition to teenager.  

Generations 1 and 3: 

Will the world be this green when the kids reach their 70s?

I wondered: what will the world be like in 80 years when she and others her age are in their 90’s? What about the sea level? Higher, almost certainly. What about global population size? Will there be food and clean water? About the annual mean air temperature readings—will they be higher? Will Mount Rainier still have glaciers? Questions like these are unavoidable. Will the world support human life two centuries hence?

Just now, I’m gratified that people are carving out careers that give hope for the world’s future. In coming weeks I’ll be writing about personal stories of B.U. graduates that inspire me and, I hope, will inspire you. Real people with hopeful answers to devastating questions. 

Return weekly to meet living examples of people growing green.

(Darrell Reeck, author, is a graduate of Boston University Graduate School.)