How Can Future Generations Be Included in Democratic Environmental Governance? Results from Role-Playing Workshops on Green Transformation in Poland.

The climate crisis has unleashed a series of doubts about what kind of future awaits us as a society. At the same time, the implementation of climate and environmental policies faces resistance and causes conflicts between groups, institutions, and governments domestically as well as in international relations. Nevertheless, because social adaptation and acceptance are complex and long-lasting processes, it is important to consider the fairness of the climate-neutral transition for both current and future generations. Considering this issue within the broader context of multi-generational opportunities and challenges could shift how we view the urgency and legitimacy of the proposed policies, as well as the emotions and motivations of different age groups across current and future generations. Although the role of future generations in the green transformation has been noted (Jones et al. 2018), there is a lack of research on the procedural use of the category of future generations. Future generations are often invoked in political discourse, media coverage, and scientific studies, but the question arises whether the term “future generation” may be more than a rhetorical figure. It would be valuable to allow future generations to speak for themselves in order to protect their interests and to negotiate with previous generations the shape of policies that will subsequently affect them later. If we believe in representative justice for different social groups that can participate in the democratic process of consulting on and influencing policies, it makes sense to give future generations a voice as well. But how can we give unborn yet generations a voice so they can speak for themselves? In my study, I employed the Imaginary Future Generations (IFG) method (see Hara et al. 2019), which involves creating imaginary groups representing future generations that negotiate with current-generation representatives about visions of the future and related decision-making processes. The purpose of this method is to bridge the gap between the need for intergenerational justice and the need to ensure acceptance and understanding within contemporary societies. This would allow us to go beyond the limitations of participatory methods, which represent the interests of people currently alive, and enable proxy-future generations to become one of the stakeholders in the deliberation proces. In my paper, I’ll show the results of the application of the IFG method in deliberation about green transformation policies (Energy transformation, housing policies, change in transport preferences, change in eating habits) in Poland, comparing visions of the future and the needs and goals expressed by the current and future generations. Data collection involves a series of four workshops conducted for a total of 60 people, divided into contemporary and future groups (according to IFG method), conducted in parallel with older people (60+) and young adults (18-25) in order to compare the results. The analysis of the collected material includes content analysis of oral statements and completed worksheets by all participants. This innovative approach to expanding participatory democracy for those who will be born after us promotes inclusivity and the potential for depolarization despite future constraints and fears.