selfish

Honestly, the idealist in me thinks we're gonna have future generations who have a whole new mentality where it's about being as least selfish as possible. They figure out what's best for communities at all level as a whole and embrace solutions for them. They'll look back at the past and think it's all one massive tragedy of the commons. They'll say shit like . . .

Beef was a staple food source? That's insane! Resource per calorie it's so inefficient!

You guys used up helium for party balloons and not for industrial purposes where it's needed? The heck's wrong with you?

You shipped waste from North America to Asia to be recycled instead of doing it locally? Where's the sense in that.

I could literally go on with this list for a while, but you get the idea. I think they'll look at our squandering with the same sense of pity and disappointment that we look back at people in the past for their misguided behavior. Then they'll make their own mistakes for their future generations to look back on in pity and disappointment and little by little, through hard lessons, we make a better world.