Living on the Edge

Living on the Edge !!

Thinking about how humans are going to live in cities in the next 50 years, one has the humility to look back 50 years or beyond to extrapolate than coming out with utopian ideas from the 50^th floor skyscraper.  The question is: did we learn enough from history, epics or mythological stories that we heard as children?  Did we implement values or lessons learnt in our daily life?  If not there is no tangible benefit to the information explosion caused through inter-connectivity of humans across the world. In the coming years, hope we would become a better creature and take decisions based on collective wisdom for collaborative living than destructive rat-race.

World as One Society by the larger interaction among people across borders are causing panic among those in power who prefer status-quo but creating ray of hope for many marginalized, exploited and voiceless millions.  There would be struggle between both the sides and the same can cause conflicts among stake holders and even war (act of armed conflicts, violent and unhealthy to the whole society). But this could eventually lead to lasting peace by bringing back the natural balance.    

The role of education, beyond attaining any employable knowledge stream to becoming more evolved humans, would become a norm in the future.  Signs of world classrooms, learning at one’s own pace and choosing from a wide variety of subjects are already present in today’s world.  Schools and Universities would become center for friendly interaction, exhibiting craftsmanship, performing arts centers and promoting sports.   

Industries exploiting natural resources would give way to agriculture based societies.  Organic farming, based on biodiversity principles would quench the hunger of every human on earth.  Food safety principles and anger against GM crops are going lead us into a better palette with tastier cuisine.  From market oriented profiteering food distribution mechanisms, we will start building effective public distribution system of essential food grains as our world is already producing more than double the required quantity of food materials.  There would be no more factory farming of live stock animals and more people would become vegetarians or even vegan based on their enlightened decision making. Industries such as leather/fashion/cosmetics, fertilizer, arms/defense, automobile, pharmaceuticals, retail/whole-sale and futures trading (stock/commodities) would find drastic changes in the way they operative today.       

A major shift in oil based economy to alternative energy sources, due to Climate concerns and the dwindling natural resource can be swiftly done with a conscious effort, or the same would lead to major conflicts among nations.  Increased awareness and changes in government policies can lead to such a change in a very peaceful manner.  Learning from the various live examples of working in cooperation between different societies and doing business with Coop organizations dealing in fair-trade would lead to the elimination of unethical profiteering.

After decades of experiments with synthetic chemicals for pharmaceutical industry and various other products for the creation of consumers, a retrospective move to holistic / integrated healthcare system will impact every facets of human daily regime.  Struggles for clean air, pure drinking water, nutritious food, ample clothing and safe shelter are still the driving force for humans. Greedy human activities (blind consumerism) will have to be curtailed for ensuring living space for everyone around us and to ensure a happier society.  

It is not that we don’t have working models for all the above issues and their solutions. It is simply our unwillingness to see the big picture and changing own lifestyle. One Planet Living, Masdar City, LEED Certified buildings, ISO 14000, Earth-Check, Freecycle.org, Amul, Mumbai Dabbawala, micro-financing – look around us and we will find beacons of hope. The question is whether we are willing to leave our comfort zones or are going to be forced to do so.  Conflicts are mainly caused by corruption, terrorism, mafia and illegitimate political systems. There are peaceful and non-violent movements that can give birth to better societies or go through the painful caesarian sections to find solutions.   Hope there would be a more pro-active, for the people, refined political practice across the world in the coming years and our children would thank us for leaving a better place for their healthy, happy and prosperous life.

(The image is from Green City Tech Masterplan for Hanoi )

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