Idealist Fiction: 22nd Century America

In his piece “An Island Civilization”, Roderick Nash puts forth his vision of a world in 1,000 years. While such idealistic thought makes for interesting fiction, it is more practical to envision such a grand plan for a more manageable amount of time such as 100 years.

We can all agree that if we extrapolated the way the United States (U.S) lives over the next century, the results would be grim. Too many people, too many emissions, and not enough resources are just a few of the problems that would be faced in such a U.S. In order to ensure the future survival of not just the U.S but for the world at large, it is imperative that the U.S show strong leadership on restructuring their society towards a more sustainable one.

The main issue which needs to be addressed is how to deal with the growing problem of cities. Currently, cities in themselves are unsustainable as they have to draw in energy and food from other parts in order to power and feed both their population. To compensate this issue, cities are going to have to take a hard look at starting to supply their own needs.

In terms of energy, the main gripe that is put in place currently is that there is not enough space to place power stations to power a city. In 100 years this concern will be negligible as every building can be turned into a power station. The addition of solar panels in a variety of forms along with wind turbines on every building will allow for self sustainable energy production on a massive scale-much more than any one power station can provide. Not only will this power be 100% clean, but excess power can be sold back to the grid encouraging more investment in the city’s infrastructure due to this moneymaking opportunity. On a larger scale, local waterways -such as the Hudson River in New York, can be utilized as power sources through the inclusion of wave and tidal turbines.

With regards to food, cities should expand already existing projects at creating urban hydroponics facilities. These facilities would act as a main food supply for those living in cities. Not only would emissions be reduced by having food travel from the fields to the tables at a much lower rate than in the 21^st century, but integrating food supplies into the fabric of the city would be just another way to promote city sustainability. Also, by having individuals in the city get a better look into just how food comes from the fields to the farm, the hope is that the population of the 22^nd century would be more knowledgeable about how their actions fit into the larger world as opposed to individuals in the 21^st century.

While there are countless other issues such as general infrastructure, transportation, and cultural issues, the main focus of cities should be to push for food and energy. Without these two components, citizens in these cities could not survive. While these two issues might be the most politicized in the 21^st century- through the oil and corn lobby, finding ways at looking toward the future rather for selfish current needs is the key to ensure America’s survival.