Earth Overshoot Day was August 2, the earliest Earth Overshoot Day ever. This is the day when humanity’s consumption of natural resources officially passes the planet’s ability to replenish then in one year.
If humanity lived sustainably on Earth, then Earth Overshoot Day would be at midnight December 31, meaning we would not have consumed more than the finite resources the planet provides for us. This is why the metaphor of Earth as a spaceship is the highest and best way to think about any aspect of climate change, sustainability, energy use and anything relative to the only place we have to live.
It was about 10 years ago that I started to write about electric cars in this space with this and this column. It was clear to me then that, ultimately, they would become mainstream and become a significant percentage of cars driven in the developed countries of the world. In early 2008, I forecast that 2010-2015 would be the dawn of the age of the electric car and of course it was.
During the writing of “This Spaceship Earth”, my co-author Tim Rumage introduced me, a non-sailor, to the concept of what a quartermaster does. We had been trying to come up with a way to take a snapshot in time of the health of the planet. As we wrote in the book:
“The Quartermaster supervises, stores, and distributes supplies and provisions. The Quartermaster is also the one responsible for making sure equipment, materials and systems are available and functioning. This not about what is preferred or desired, but what is. Therefore, in the world of the Quartermaster, if a 16 oz. glass has 8 ounces of liquid, the glass is neither half full nor half empty – it simply has 8 ounces of liquid”
David Houle, a futurist, thinker, and speaker, explains how technology, specifically cell phone ubiquity, has radically altered the notion of place in modern society. Part of TEDxSarasota’s inaugural conference held on 12/12/12 with the theme “Creativity Matters” at the Historic Asolo Theatre in Sarasota, Florida.
The title of this column is an obvious lift from James Carville’s famous line about the 1992 election: “It’s the economy, stupid”. That is probably the most quoted campaign statement from TV talking heads of all time, certainly since he uttered it 25 years ago.
In this past year [or two] of politics and elections, much has been made about what is going on with national elections. The pundits have looked at what has happened largely through the lens of traditional political thinking. The rise of populism and nationalism. The global elite class leaving the eviscerated middle class and lower classes behind in the rush to embrace globalism. Well, okay, that is certainly true to some degree. But these lenses of traditional political thinking do not fully explain the realities of what has and is happening.
In a recent column here titled “The Next 20 Years: 2017-2037” I wrote: “There will be more change in the next 20 years than any 20-50 year period in history. In fact, future historians may well look back on this time as a historical transit as significant as the beginning of the Industrial Revolution or […]
Sea level rise is about to become the phenomenon that will awaken humanity. Awaken humanity to the absolute, no debate reality that we are the single largest cause of climate change.Climate change is not about “saving the planet” but about “saving ourselves from ourselves”. The planet will go on for another several billion years. Humanity might not make it out of this millennium.
In recent weeks I have taken a look back on forecasts I have made in the past about Media, Technology, Energy and Climate Change. This week I take a look back at some economic forecasts made, particularly those that are still very relevant. I am one of the few, if only futurists that posts the […]