100 Years Forward

I am profoundly confident in the abilities of humanity to address its problems. I believe that despite our cultural differences and contradictory priorities, it is within our collective ability to engineer a society that will serve both humanity and the millions of other species to which this planet is host. Roderick Nash’s “Island Civilization” is a compelling and insightful article, and in 1,000 years’ time from now I agree that the world (assuming it still exists) will look distinctly different from how it appears currently. In one hundred years time, however, I am less optimistic. In certain cases, conditions must deteriorate before society fully comprehends the necessity to make fundamental alterations to societal and commercial interaction. One hundred years may seem like a long time, but to the natural world in which we live, it is but a brief moment in its prodigious longevity.

To move toward a society in which sustainability is at the core of our moral value system, humanity will first need to identify a reason to change its existing systems that is both strong and convincing enough to appeal to the majority of society. As has been noted, environmentalism has become a matter of political ideology, not one of scientific observation or even common sense. For this reason alone, changing the social mentality across the political spectrum will provide a significant obstacle toward universal acceptance of sustainability, one that will likely require social pressure exerted over at least one generation.

A second fundamental challenge is the actual shift toward sustainability. If we are to make such radical changes, we will have to solve existing social problems before this massive undertaking. No government in the world has the power to address sustainability, along with a myriad of other problems, simultaneously, though progress in any one area is likely to have positive effects on another. Even the abilities of government (or some other change agent with a high degree of prevalence) will have to be strengthened to initiate such changes.

With this in mind, here is my vision:

In one hundred years time, the US energy infrastructure will be composed of a much higher percentage of renewable energy alternatives, such as wind, hydro, and electric power. The reliance on petroleum will have decreased after the implementation of federal policies discouraging their usage from both environmental and security-related considerations. Surprisingly to some, nuclear energy will play an important role in this sustainable future. This will be made possible by a breakthrough in scientific research to safely dispose of spent nuclear fuel, which will efficiently eliminate radioactive materials. Unlike the large nuclear plants of Europe, reactors in the United States will be much smaller in both size and scope.

Similar breakthroughs will occur in US tax policy. To prevent careless consumption of scarce resources such as water, a new policy will be implemented. This policy will designate a set price structure on usage of water, and will consider such factors as geographic location, family size, and the climate of the particular region. Water usage up to the point designated as appropriate (based on the aforementioned factors applied to each individual household), will be treated as a public utility, while every additional unit over the designated threshold will be taxed at a higher rate to discourage over usage.

Public transportation will be much more prevalent and efficient. The number of private vehicles bought in the United States may remain around current levels, but actual usage will fall due to the high reliability of public forms of transit. Public transportation will not be viewed as a commuter system for the poor segments of society, but rather for society in its entirety. The DC metro system’s escalators will function 100% of the time.

In the corporate sector, the adoption of corporate social responsibility will be conventional rather than atypical. Companies will seek profit as a motive along with sustainability within the community. The rise of “B Corporations,” or social enterprises where social value is as important as commercial value, will be such that social businesses outnumber profit-maximizing corporations.

Lastly, in 2111, the Chicago Bears will have won their 92^nd Super Bowl Championship, marking a sports dynasty that began in 2019, when the then thirty-year-old billionaire philanthropist Luke Tecson bought their franchise.