The first moral question

I am increasingly of a mind that the first moral question (and we need to stop feeling twitchy about using the word moral) is as follows: What can be sustainable?

This of course begs the question of what is meant by sustainable. In my view, leading entails morality and morality entails ecological thinking. One must think of modes that can survive ebbs and flows but that also recognize wanton destruction of future options is inherently unacceptable.

In the past, morality was about the stability of structure. That is equally unacceptable. What passes for sustainability is not the preservation of human cultures just because. If we are to preserve anything it must be the natural.

Preserving is more action than leadership. But preserving is also enabling of a sort. That point requires more careful thought.