|
|
|
Are you familiar with the American Indian philosophy of “The Seventh-Generation?” The present generation, which is making decisions for the tribe, needs to think of their impact seven generations down the line.
|
|
|
|
And To My Seventh-Generation Descendants I Leave...
By Edward C. Hartman, Author of The Population Fix
As a personal financial advisor I have read thousands of pages of estate planning documents leaving property to spouses, children, grandchildren, companions, and shirttail relatives. But I have yet to read a page which states, “And to my seventh-generation descendants I leave...one billion Americans!”
Sound far fetched? Consider this: America’s population has increased every year but one over the past 100 years. Or this: America’s population more than doubled during my grandparents’ lifetimes, more than doubled during my parents’ lifetimes, has more than doubled during my lifetime, and, barring some cataclysmic disaster, is on track to more than double during my children’s lifetimes. Double our current population of 300 million and you have 600 million. Double that and you have 1.2 billion.
Still dubious? Try this: Our Census Bureau estimates America’s population grew by 33 million during the past decade. Assume one generation equals 30 years. Thirty years equals three decades. Three times 33 million equals 99 million per generation. Let’s round 99 million to 100 million so we can multiply by seven generations, i. e., 700 million more people in seven generations. Add 700 million to our present 300 million and...You got it...one billion Americans!
That is what we are leaving to our seventh-generation descendants: An America joining India and China as nations with populations of one billion or more. Can you visualize what America will look like with one billion residents? Some science fiction writers have tried to portray an America with one billion residents and the pictures they paint are not pretty.
But let’s see if we can visualize just one year’s worth of population growth. Imagine 3.3 million people standing side by side, five feet apart, arms outstretched, hands touching--like a gigantic protest or demonstration. That line of people would stretch along Interstate 80 from San Francisco, CA, east through Reno, NV, Salt Lake City, UT, Cheyenne, WY, Omaha, NE, Des Moines, IA, to the suburbs of Chicago, IL, to Cleveland, OH, across the length of Pennsylvania, to the outskirts of New York City, then southwest on Interstate 95 through Philadelphia, PA to Baltimore, MD. And that would be just twelve months population growth in America!
Can you visualize that line of 3.3 million people? Can you visualize the line of cars that line of 3.3 million people will drive on our already crowded and deteriorating highways? Can you visualize the houses and apartments that will have to be built to house that line of 3.3 million people? Can you visualize the number of classrooms that will have to be constructed and the number of teachers that will have to be hired to educate the children--and some adults--in that line of 3.3 million people?
Can you visualize the number of hospital rooms and beds that will have to be made available--the number of doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals that will have to be made available--to provide health services for that line of 3.3 million people? Can you visualize the amount of food and water and energy that will be required to feed and serve that line of 3.3 million people?
Probably not. I know I can’t. I can get a pretty good visualization of 3.3 million people lined up clear across America--we’ve seen enough hand-holding demonstrations over the years to get some sense of what 30 or 300 or even 3,000 people lined up hand-to-hand might look like. Then, I can more or less imagine that line extending along the shoulders of various highways we have driven. So, yes, I can visualize that line of 3.3 million people across America.
But when I try to visualize all the cars they will drive, all the houses they will live in, all the schools they will attend, all the health care services they will require, and all the food, water, and energy they will use . . . No, that is more than I can visualize.
As it happens, that is also more than America has been able to keep up with for the past three decades. That is one reason why America’s highways and other infrastructure have been deteriorating. That is one reason why so many people can’t find “affordable housing.” That is one reason why the health care industry is in crisis. That is one reason why the quantity of American-grown food goes down while food imports and America’s population goes up. That is one reason why western states try to equitably divide more of various rivers’ water than normally flows in those rivers. That is one reason why small power problems have become multi-state, multi-day blackouts. Yet, 3.3 million additional people is just one year’s population growth in America!
When I think of the thousands of hours--and thousands of dollars--my clients have spent thinking about bequeathing their property to heirs, I wonder if they might better have spent some small fraction of that time--and that money--thinking about whether they really want to leave a nation of one billion or more people to their descendants.
Next time you think about your estate and your heirs, please take a little time to think about America’s addiction to population growth--to think about how many Americans you want to leave to your seventh-generation descendants.
Edward C. Hartman, author of The Population Fix and a native Californian, has observed the effects of rampant population growth on the nation's most populous state. A new role as a grandfather in 1996 led him to question the underlying causes of the state's failing fortunes and declining quality of life for its citizens and for future generations.
Edward C. Hartman spent 28 years in the telecommunications industry and runs his own financial services business. He lives with his wife in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has two children and four grandchildren. |
|
|
|
|
©2006 Edward C. Hartman. All Rights Reserved
|
|
|
