What would the future be like if there were governmentally appointed people alive today who worked to protect the basic qualities of life for people who have not yet been born? Should the not-yet-existent people of the world be represented across time? Could a group of Guardians of the Future help to reverse some of our dire and dystopian practices that hurt the Earth and its people in the process? Britt digs into the idea on a visit to Norwich, England, where she meets the philosopher and Green Party politician who thought up the idea, Dr. Rupert Read.

Find the report that inspired this episode, Guardians of the Future, at http://www.greenhousethinktank.org/files/greenhouse/home/Guardians_inside_final.pdf, and leave your comments on what you think about this idea. Does it sound utterly naive? Or perhaps at least a bit more just?

A longer version of this episode aired on RADEQ radio in London, July 14, 2012.

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Dr. Rupert Read is an academic and a Green Party politician in England. He is currently Chair of the Green House think tank, East of England Green Part Co-ordinator and a Reader in Philosophy at the University of East Anglia.In his regular appearances in the local and national press, he speaks on sustainable transport, green economics and social justice.