8802+Future+scenarios

=8802 Future Scenarios=

//Crisis & Conflict,// //Sustainability, Techno solutions// and a combinations of these are some scenarios providing a fram ework for likely habitat futures over the next century, or less.
 * FUTURE SCENARIOS **

The future involves humanity contunuing to consume resources as now or at an accelerated rate due to population increase, more destruction of the environment due to agriculture, industry, habitation, and pollution, continued migrations to urban cities for economic reasons, and climatic change marked by more floods, rising sea levels, and other natural disasters. After several decades of 'business as usual' the interlocked systems that maintain industrial societies or modern habitats would begin to fail. Climatic change would alter to environment radically, reducing habitable spaces; population would be so high and unmanagable, leaving billions to starve and be shelterless; fossil fuels would deplete resulting in serious energy crisis, because of energy crisis production of many goods would stop resulting in empty shelves and empty bellies. All the problems would then culminate wars and barbaric violence for survival, with no livestock for meat, no vegitables or grain for food, and no drinkable water, humans would probably turn to canibalism. The end result would inevitably involve a major "die-off" of human population turning human habitats into post-apocalyptic landscape. However, for this crisis & conflict scenario to play some prerequisites have to be met. The powers interesting in 'business as usual or blind consumerism have to prevail over the emerging ideas of sustainability. Presently, the dominant paradigm running the planet is //consumption and profit over ecology,// there is a broad base of political and business leadership unwilling to recognise climatic change and or the urgency to preserve the environment. Unless this changes, the environmental destruction will continue to increase at an accelerated rate making human habitats and the planet as a whole uninhabitable.
 * Crisis & Conflict **

This future scenario involves a return to pre-industrial societies and habitats. Faced with current economic failures and growing environmental problems, humanity or large portions of it might just withdraw from modern habitats and retreat to the countryside, villages or jungles and caves. The intension of such a move will be to allow the ecosystem to recover from the industrial and urban assault. However, this solution would not work for a large population of 7 billion people. The planet does not have enough farming land for 7 billion people, and even if it did such mass farming would further demage the ecosystem. As for hunting and gathering, there is barely anything in the forests today to gather and live by, and not enough animals to hunt. Therefore a return to pre-industrial habitats would result in failure, tribal wars, wars for food and land, and mass starvation.
 * Return to pre-Industrial habitats**

From space colonization and photovoltaic technology to nanotechnology, the science fiction scenario is a real posibility we could witness in the comming decades. The techno solution scenario plays out if human technology can achieve exponential growth or leaps in the coming few decades. Considering the past leaps or jumps of technology in the past decades, it is a viable possiblity for new technological miracles to change the direction of the world. Geo-engineering is one sphere where progress could result in solution reversing climatic change and repairing the damaged ecosystem. -A geo-engineering solution to our ailing environment would transform our habitats into more less polluted pleasant living spaces, as well as reverse the impending natural distasters due to climatic change. -Progress in other areas like nanotechnology could also reverse heavy reliance on natural resources for the production of goods. We could see technologies allowing us to effectively recycle all used materials after producing them with renewable energies at zero pollution or impact to the environment. Nanotechnology would also bring about the use of new less toxic and reusable building material for our habitats. -Technological breakthroughs in health and genetic engineering would also change the direction of human civilization. The improved quality of life in the modern era has increased human life expectancy but has also resulted in increased numbers of old citizens considered to be dependants. Advances in genetic engineering would transform high life expectancy to delayed aging and more years of youthfulness. In other words, aging would be delayed from 50 years of age to 80, making an 80 year old person as youthful as a 40 or 50 year old. -The production of G.M.O foods would also be transformed into something less suspicious but very useful like (GMO) Genetically Modified Organics. These crops would yield high quantity nutritious produce without destroying the soil or polluting the environment or yield. Technological development would also solve our reliance on fossil fuels through the introduction of zero emission or renewable energy vehicles, or even totally get rid of such vehicles by introducing displacement machines capable of instantly teleporting humans or goods from one location to another with zero pollution or resource consumption. In addition to the use or clean and renewable energies, technology would also revolutionarise the current nature of habitats where people daily travel from their homes to work places, by allowing people to work from home and virtual home-schooling without having to travel. -Techonological advanced allowing humans to inhabit space would transform our habitats by reducing population and resourse pressure on planet earth. The use of technology and innovation to build vertically and stretch human habitats upwards would prove to be a variable solution to current space shortage. Vertical space with all its vastness would be used not only as residential space but also for agriculture, industry and transportation. Another possibility is the use of technology to build down rather than up, this method would involve building cities under the ground and making use of inner earth space for habitation.
 * Techno solutions**

The fourth future scenario of sustainability is a very possible scenario. There is currently a growing interest in sustainable living, tranforming even urban habitats into sustainable living environments as well as preserving the ecological system. The major environmental problems we face today is because our current world paradigm is consumer capitalism based on the notion of limitless expansion on a finite planet. Our modern cultures have been evolving in that environment and within habits of taking from the environment without giving back. However, our population and consumption habits have grown way beyond our planet's capacity to sustain. - Sustainable planning, lifestyles, economics, production and technologies would allow humans to change human society from profit and consumption as operating systems to conservation and balance as mainstream ways of living rather than alternative lifestyles. For this to work, large populations of humanity would force the political and business leadership to adopt sustainability as a new paradigm of operation. Groups, grassroots organization and communities advocating sustainability would grow, educate the public and obtain power to influence political and economics through numbers. The result would be all businesses, governments and societal institutions advopting sustainability for their own survival. The transformation of all societal instutions would reshape the modern human habitats to safe, healthy, clean, eco-friendly, green living spaces.
 * Sustainability **

//**Combination scenario**:// the last and most likely scenario to play out would be a combination of parts of several scenarios. Firstly, an increase in ecological problems and more collapses in economic systems would force the majority of the world to understand the reality of the ecological crisis humanity is facing. With such clarity they would put pressure of their political and business leaders to implement reforms and new policies towards sustainability for survival. Governments would then put policies and rules as well as systems in favour of sustainability. The new systems would be aided by new technologies and innovations promoting sustainable lifestyle and clean energies. The end result will be a paradigm shift towards sustainable human habitats and restoration of the ecosystem.