The links between what was traditionally a literary festival and the Well-being of Future Generations Act may not at first be obvious, and for any newcomers to the Act or any of the passing curious, may seem a little strange. But in the same way that Hay is so much more than a literature festival, the world of sustainable development is about all aspects of our lives, how we live them, and how public services can contribute to all aspects of our well-being.
One of the unique aspects of the Well-being of Future Generations Act is its inclusion of cultural well-being and its importance in our lives. Our goal of a ‘Wales of vibrant culture’ and a ‘thriving Welsh language’ are an integral part of the Wales we want. What we’re really talking about here are our lives, what we enjoy, and why we enjoy them. Ask anyone whether attending the Hay festival is good for the well-being and I’m sure you’ll know what the answer will be.
Organisations such as Hay get it; they get why books, the arts and culture are important to people’s lives, the holistic impact it can have over the long-term and get on with it. And that’s why this Act places a legal duty on public bodies to do. To think about how their decisions impact on the well-being of people here in Wales. Literature and culture respond to our thoughts, fears and ideas as a society. Perhaps that’s why there’s such an up and coming market of ‘cli-fi’- climate fiction.
And the Booker-prize winning author Margaret Atwood, who spoke at Hay earlier this week, also made clear during her speech to the British Library, that climate change will bring a dystopian future reminiscent of one of her speculative fictions, with women bearing the brunt of brutal repression, hunger and war.
“This isn’t climate change – it’s everything change,” she told the British Library audience this week. “Women will be directly and adversely affected by climate change.”
The relationship between our environment and our national culture is something which has permeated all aspects of Welsh and Welsh language literature, and the Hay Festival is the perfect chance to celebrate cultural well-being here in Wales. When it comes to those with the power to make decisions that affect the lives of others, there’s a bit of saying.
“If you’ve not got a seat at the table, it’s because you’re on the menu”.
And so, for all those who may have seen pictures on Twitter or throughout the festival, that’s why we’ve bought along a wooden chair decorated in ribbons – to pull up a seat at the table for our future generations.
The ribbons are scrawled with the dreams, aspirations and visions for the future by many of our own future generations in Wales. Words included ‘teulu’, ‘a happy life’, ‘to go on an adventure’ and ‘for there to be world peace and no homeless people.’
If I asked some of you do write down the same, would your answers be as hopeful? Or would they inevitably slightly more cynical? We think we know the world so much better, and think we know what’s best. But when we look at the statistics for younger generations; their prosperity, their likelihood of buying a house, the climate they’ll be living in, we don’t have the best track record when it comes to taking decisions today that will benefit their well-being.
But it’s harder to write them off as irrelevant or unimportant, when a physical manifestation of their hopes, dreams and aspirations right in front of you. Perhaps we need to take this chair around to every committee, council or public services board meeting! Whilst this chair might be symbolic, of course here in Wales, we have something that is anything but symbolic. The Well-being of Future Generations Act.
Where as a nation we have said, not just in some aspirational policy document but in law that our systems must think about the long-term, we must prevent problems from occurring, we must work together and involve people. Yesterday at Hay, we brought along this chair to represent that seat at the table for future generations symbolically. It’s time now for our public-sector leaders to do this in reality.