Ecclesiastes 1:4 says, One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.  There have been many, many generations to pass away since Solomon's time, but the earth indeed remains.  That doesn't mean that each generation doesn't have a responsibility to be good stewards of the earth, since that was God's plan from the beginning.  Neither does it mean we are to worship the earth.  It is God's creation for each generation to use, so we need to insure that we live in a way that the next generation has the best world we can leave them.  We may look back on certain time periods as being the greatest, but we need to work so that the next generation can be the greatest.  When we feel that the future is only going to get worse, so why bother, we are not living up to God's calling.  God did not task Adam and Eve to have dominion over the world and then for every generation after them to not be concerned about it.  We still have the same task today.  Verse five says, The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.  The world, and even the universe, continues to function as it was created to do.  Solomon, with all his wisdom, wealth, and power could not change that.  We need to remember today that no matter how bad the world may get, God still controls the universe.  After God pronounced His creation as good, nothing changed, except for man.  Though pronounced as very good, mankind alone was given free will.  Even though our free will has led to all the evil in the world, the world continues to function by God's law set in place at creation.  If we begin to feel that we have all the answers and the ability to do anything, then just try to stop the world from turning.