Sustainability in 2050
June 16, 2010
Its Wednesday. I am hitting a lull in my week.
I have formulated a question for all of you readers:
Imagine it was the year 2050. . .
It is early morning and you just woke up (somewhere radical) . . .
You sit up and look out the window . . .
You live in the world’s most sustainable city of all time. . .
What do you see?
By 2050, what types of innovations in sustainability will there be? Shout out some crazy ideas folks! I need some inspiration!
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Talked to a former professor John Leffler on facebook this morning. He did not give the whimsical and crazy futuristic response that I was hoping for BUT he made a very valid point:
“My favorite concept (as highlighted on day 2 of ID3302) is: Don’t do anything! Keep it simple! If it takes lots of fuel/energy/VOCs/land/resources/machinery, first figure out if it really necessary to do it in the first place!”
>> John Leffler
So true. Why introduce more junk if its unnecessary?
I think that there will be more options for recycling our individually packaged products.
Currently, only areas that are considered to be “green” are really working to make recycling a daily part of life. If we were to make not just trash cans available to the public, but a recycling system that is easy to understand for even those people who are new to the the concept.
I visited Lugano, Switzerland two years ago, and at the corner of most streets, there were large metal dumpster-like devices. They had four openings on them, and they were labeled as to what waste goes in which bin. Making it EASY to do the right thing is the first step in educating the public!
Great idea for a post, good luck getting some ideas!
Sigh. Europe is so ahead of us in terms of sustainability!
A friend of mine, Leigh, and I were talking earlier and she said something quite interesting…
“Why can’t we find more ways to harness natural energy? Like the lightning storm that happened yesterday. Lightning is very powerful and possess a lot of energy that we have no way of capturing. Maybe that will happen in 2050″
>> Leigh McMillan
Hi there!
I agree a lot with what Mr. John Leffler said; I believe in “less is more” in architecture as well as in life in general! I’d say that in order to see a whole new world in 2050, we need some dramatic changes in the way we think, in the way we keep buying and (not) using things.
In my humble opinion, it’s not only a matter of finding alternative energy sources (such as wave and wind power or geothermal energy) – what we need is to treat those sources with respect that comes not only from fear of losing them but from an overall way of thinking.
That, of course, involves changes in our mentality as well as… our economic systems!
(I’d love to mention the economic system of the United Federation of Planets from Star Trek but I think I just got far too much utopistic…
)