Imagining Intergenerational Climate Justice: Critical notes on Jan Terlouw’s Het hebzuchtgas

Generational tensions are often invoked in discussions about climate change, framing the crisis as a failure of older generations to safeguard the future of younger and upcoming ones. While this rhetoric can mobilize youth, it risks overshadowing deeper structural inequalities—such as economic, racial, and geopolitical disparities—that shape both accountability for and vulnerability to climate change. An intergenerational climate imaginary, built on solidarity and intersectionality, offers a more unifying and effective framework for addressing the crisis and fostering collective action. This article explores the possibilities and limitations of such an imaginary by analyzing Jan Terlouw’s children’s book Het hebzuchtgas. The story presents a vision of intergenerational collaboration, where younger and older characters work together to confront environmental collapse, emphasizing the value of long-term thinking over short-term profit motives. However, the narrative also exhibits significant shortcomings, including problematic colonial and heteronormative tropes and an underdeveloped portrayal of youth emotions. We argue that a robust intergenerational climate imaginary must integrate insights from intersectionality, decoloniality, queer theory, and affect studies to produce more inclusive and transformative narratives. Through a critical reading of Het hebzuchtgas, this article offers pathways for reimagining intergenerational solidarity in climate activism.