Territorializing the Future

The trees in this forest are extremely straight. They are oaks that are perfect for ship building. That is the reason why some 300 000 trees were planted in this forest 190 years ago. They were meant for the Swedish navy. In 1975, about 144 years later- -the Swedish marines were informed that their trees were ready for harvesting. However, time had run ahead of them, and of course, nowadays, war ships are built of metal. These trees have been turned into a living cultural heritage. However, these trees are very good to think with, to think about the long-term with. I would like to point out three aspects of this.

First of all, it can tell us about the extremely long time- -between cause and effect in certain actions, here with a time span on up to nearly 200 years. Secondly, that we need to imagine different types of futures. And thirdly, that the future might not at all turn out as we expect it to. Instead, we need to expect the unexpected.