Vision of the Future

Posted by: Simple Living Works! on: June 6, 2013

• In: Others' resources | Personal
• 26 Comments

Why might this generation’s parents give the next generation permission not to have children?

I have a positive vision of the post-industrial future. About 2050, the Earth’s environment will begin to implode to such a degree that the human population will decline from nine billion then to one billion by 2100 – by reduced birth rate and by die-off. This dramatic change is based on widely accepted scientific projections.

I see little evidence that people who can alter this vision – large multi-national corporations and most U.S. politicians – will make the rapid and systemic changes needed. Sorry, though personal lifestyle choices by simple livers make our lives more enjoyable and less guilty, and provide role models, they are not sufficient to change the global future all by themselves. This blog will continue to offer action plans.

The Earth will eventually recover from the damage that humans have brought on it. In the meanwhile, most living species will either go extinct or suffer immensely. America’s grandchildren will most likely live out the second half of their lives during the Great Implosion.

We personally can’t stop it from happening. Despite what smiley faces say, humans have already passed the recovery point, and “American ingenuity” is not clever enough to devise techno-fixes that will save us. Geo-engineering will probably cause more destructive side-effects than benefits. (But somebody will make a ton of money on them, just as the “rain men” did during the Depression/Dust Bowl Days.)

We are making provision for our grandchildren’s generation. No, we are not survivalists!

Most folks would not see this vision as positive. I do. In the history of the Earth we are just a blip. We may not be the best thing the Earth has yet to see. And this complements my devout, progressive Christian faith and vision of a “new heaven and a new Earth.”

Two views of the way forward are:

Supply Shock: Economic Growth at the Crossroads and the Steady State Solution

America’s Climate Century: What Climate Change Means for America in the 21st Century and What Americans Can Do About It

For more, listen to The Common Good Podcast episode 29.

Peace, Gerald

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Tags: future of the Earth, grandchildren, new heaven and new Earth, vision