2 minute read
CRUCIAL ADAPTATIONS
BY VIVIAN WARBY
WE HAVE made incursions into territories not meant for us, this century will make that clear, says wellknown futurist Belinda Silbert.
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She believes adaptation to the environment, and not trying to adapt the environment to us, plus a mix of tech and sustainable energy, will be vital.
In her predictions on what alternative living conditions could look like given the climate change trajectory, Silbert believes while we are looking at terraforming on other planets, we will also begin to look at doing this on Earth.
Silbert talks of synthetic islands, genetically modified trees that can grow fast to provide much needed CO² in the air and also about floating homes.
Underground cities, such as Coober Pedy, are also on her list of possible future scenarios.
“There in the middle of nowhere and completely off the grid, using wind and solar power and technology, the residents have made a life. It is not a Luddite set up at all – they have all the tech they need including high speed internet via satellite.”
Old methods of building will again receive the spotlight as we go back to basics and see things through new eyes, tweaking them for a new world. In Africa, mud huts, for example, have worked for so many centuries, and “we should not ignore methods such as these that have been used effectively before.”
It will become clear that “we cannot build in places where we are not supposed to be – millions of people will be displaced by rising sea levels, earthquakes, and other disasters”.
To mitigate this Silbert predicts an increase in the building of synthetic islands such as in Dubai – but not for luxury living but out of necessity.
“Plastic waste can be used to form these islands and new forests can be planted - not natural but terraforming ones… We do not need to go to new planets to do this, we can do it right here in areas not at risk of rising sea levels and other natural disasters.
“Genetically modified seeds can also be used to plant tropical forests where trees – through GM – grow 100 times more rapidly than the ones we have. These trees won’t necessarily be fruit bearing but will be used to help restore the climate.”
She also foresees floating cities - with people not looking for real estate on earth but on ships. “While once the domain of the rich, it will become a more prevalent with boats having superior tech so that they can be adapted into submarine mode
“Cruise liners that are ideal incubators of the Covid virus can be adapted as permanent living spaces and huge cruise liners could become independent cities of their own: self sufficient with no risk of cross contamination.”
We are also likely to continue to see visionary architects teaming up with urban planners to come up with living solutions to looming climate change conditions.
