What We're About
Over the last half-century or so we Americans have created a way of life based on consumerism, on having more and more of everything material, without limit. That way of life isn’t particularly satisfying. In many ways it’s damaging, because it tends to exaggerate the worst aspects of our nature. And it’s utterly unsustainable. The world’s resources and the natural systems upon which we depend can’t support ever-expanding material appetites. The human enterprise will inevitably encounter limits, and those limits are approaching, faster than most people think. If we want our children to have a reasonable quality of life, we have to understand the dangers of a way of life based on consumerism, and develop some ideas about what we might do differently.
Our mission at For the Future is to encourage a process of reassessment and revisioning of our way of life at every level of American society. We define ourselves as a think-tank; we write, publish, make documentaries, lobby and organize, and use the Internet to develop innovative ideas and solutions. Our activities are intended to inform the public, and to stimulate dialog about how to handle the transition to a stable, sustainable way of life.
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