Tomorrow: Today, only Later

When I was young, my parents taught me not to waste time worrying about things I can’t really do anything about.  Focus on today, and take care of tomorrow, tomorrow.

As I grow older, I am learning that like all good advice, this should not be taken too literally.

We live today in a large, complex economy that delivers a tremendous diversity of choice to an enormous number of people as to how we want to construct our lives to live well, as we each define "living well".

In such a large economy, “today” sometimes extends out over many, many tomorrows.  Decisions made in the short term can have important consequences in the long run, not just for some distant posterity, but for ourselves, as well.

Moreover, our modern economy spans the Globe.  We have traveled to the ends of the Earth, and found that they close back in upon themselves.  We have left the Earth, and traveled into Space, where we have found that there is pretty much nothing out there for us, at least not within the limits of Space and Time that we can travel using technologies that are available to us today (or can reasonably be expected to become available over any number of nearby tomorrows).

So, our economy has to operate on a global scale, but also within global limits, at least until we can invent technologies that will allow us to cross the vast expanses of Space and Time that right now separate us from any other possibilities that might exist elsewhere in the Universe.

This raises questions that are to a large extent without historical precedent; questions we are confronting for the first time in history, about: sustainability in our supplies of Energy; the adverse impact our activities have on the Environment; and the sustainability of our prosperity and the proper working of our Economy, generally.

It is beyond my mandate to persuade others that these concerns are important challenges for today that cannot be put off until tomorrow.

But for those who agree with me that will be better if we do not wait, it is my mission to show the way to making a new choice that is better adapted to building sustainability and shared values into the connection between Enterprise and Investment.

This, in itself, won't solve all the issues surrounding sustainability, but it will enable us to more effectively pursue the many other innovations and adaptations that will.

Tim