The World We Made

It shows how the world could look in 2050, if we play our cards right. It’s upbeat, dynamic – a world that works well for the vast majority of people.

Alex is a history teacher at Ashton Vale Community College, about to move schools, and challenged by the students to leave them with a parting gift: an account of how the world has changed since Alex became a teacher in the early 2020s.

Hence ‘The World We Made’. Part history, part personal memoir, Alex’s story charts the key events, technology breakthroughs and lifestyle revolutions that make the world what it is in 2050. ≥ A world in which 90% of our energy comes from renewable sources, and 30% of our electricity from solar power ≥ A world in which standard IT devices are computing at the same rate as the human brain, and everyone loves their robots ≥ A world in which nanotechnology, 3D printing and biomimicry have transformed manufacturing ≥ A world in which personal genomics allow everyone to manage their own health, live longer and healthier, and die when they want to ≥ A world in which there are still rich and poor, but the rich are poorer but happier, and the poor are richer in so many ways For the last 40 years, Jonathon Porritt has tried every conceivable way of persuading people to share his excitement at the prospect of a genuinely sustainable world – as Chair of the Green Party, Director of Friends of the Earth, author, broadcaster, Chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission, and now, since 1996 as Founder Director of Forum for the Future.

Finally, he discovered Alex McKay, providing a unique opportunity to connect that world in 2050 with what we can do today to help make it a reality.

All royalties will go to support the work of Forum for the Future, one of the world’s leading non-profits working towards a sustainable future.

‘The World We Made’ is also available as an iBook for iPad www.phaidon.com

Jonathon Porritt

This is Alex McKay’s story.

Jonathon Porritt

A LE X Mc K AY’S S T f r om ORY 205 0

Contents

Agriculture, Food and Water

p.22 p.86 p.104 p.155 p.160 p.168

Water – A Matter of Life and Death The Great Famine Water For All Fisheries Bounce Back Feeding the World Incredible Edible Cities

Biodiversity and the Natural World

p.74 p.151 p.189 p.226 p.247

Restoring the Web of Life Nature’s Balance Sheet Putting the World to Rights The Law Steps Up Reefs: Back from the Brink

Climate Change

p.48 p.136 p.239 p.266

The Houston Concord on Climate Change Fixing the Climate Climate Challenges The Great Turning

Economics and Finance

p.54 p.133 p.205 p.222

Companies, Cooperatives and Capitalism Of Men and Money Work, Wealth and Wellbeing Taming Our Capital Markets

Energy

p.15 p.37 p.58 p.116 p.196

Solar Revolutions The End of the Age of Oil Nuclear Power’s Last Gasp A World Without Coal The Energy Internet

Health and Education

Politics and Security

Society and Cities

Technology and Manufacturing

Travel and Transport

p.42 p.79 p.174 p.178 p.229 p.262

It’s All in Our Genes Education Unlimited The Wonders of Modern Medicine Malaria Defeated Older and Wiser Miracle Cures?

p.32 Enough! p.95 Security in a Cyber World p.100 Containing the Biotech Genie p.244 Democracy By Demand

p.62 p.111 p.126 p.183 p.216

Spiritual Militancy Diffusing the Population Time Bomb Urban Makeovers China Shows the Way Slumdog Billionaires

p.28 p.67 p.123 p.192 p.210

Internet Wars The Material World Minds and Machines Redesigning the Building Blocks of Life Manufacturing Reborn

p.91 p.144 p.200 p.234 p.255

Putting Nature to Work Electric Motion Still Flying High!

Travelling Differently Shipping Cleans Up

Anyone outside Asia who’s interested in urban farming still looks to Detroit as the role model. It’s a bit of a cliché now, but Detroit’s 100 year journey – from industrial powerhouse at the heart of America’s car-loving culture to one of the world’s most dangerous urban wastelands (with more than a third of the city’s land completely abandoned), and on to become ‘Green City of the Decade’ in the 2020s – remains extraordinarily inspirational.

10

Incredible Edible Cities 30.07.2050

As part of the response to the city’s chronic financial problems, the Detroit Living Blueprint was endorsed in 2015, with plans to create up to 100 square kilometres of productive agriculture. Some of it was very small-scale stuff, like our own community farm. But some of it was truly high-tech: precision agriculture using nano-sensors, smart metering, GPS tracking and computerassisted drip irrigation – the ‘more crop per drop’ approach helped achieve yields in Detroit that traditional US farmers are still very envious of.

17.02.2050

It’s All in Our Genes

The field of genetics has proved the biggest disruptive force in modern healthcare.

It seems odd now, but I do remember feeling a bit nervous about having my genome sequenced in 2021. After all, I was only 21 years old, and not exactly worried about my health.

But I’d just come back from a year studying at Tsinghua University in China, where it was rapidly becoming something that Chinese students signed up to almost as a matter of course. It was cheap, and there was already a real buzz of excitement about digital health and personal genomics. If I hadn’t done it then, I would have certainly done it later. By now, more than 90 per cent of people in my age group have had their genomes sequenced, and it will be 100 per cent for our children’s generation. The benefits have been enormous in terms of early diagnosis, the development of new drugs and targeted treatments tailored to the individual. And it’s had an equally big impact on lifestyles and diet.

It made me think a lot more about what I was eating, simply by identifying the conditions that I’m genetically susceptible to – in my case, obesity and Alzheimers. This made it all very personal when the debate about sugar exploded as a public health issue.

12

It's All in Our Genes 17.02.2050

Alex McKay: Genetic Risk Factors (September 2021) 0-1%

>1-10%

>10-25%

> 25-50%

Brain aneurysm

Lung cancer

Diabetes, type 2

Atrial fibrilation

You: 0.80% Avg. 0.64%

You: 8% Avg. 8%

You: 24% Avg. 25%

You: 27% Avg. 26%

Crohns disease

Colon cancer

Alzheimers disease

Obesity

You: 0.44% Avg. 0.58%

You: 5% Avg. 6%

You: 25% Avg. 9%

You: 38% Avg. 34%

Glaucoma

Psoriasis

Osteoarthritis

You: 0.7% Avg. 1.1%

You: 3.8% Avg. 4.0%

You: 41% Avg. 40%

Multiple sclerosis

Abdominal aneurysm

Heart attack

You: 0.17% Avg. 0.30%

You: 3.9% Avg. 3.1%

You: 46% Avg. 42%

Celiac disease

Melanoma

You: 0.01% Avg. 0.06%

You: 2.3% Avg. 3.7%

Stomach cancer You: 2.3% Avg. 2.4%

Deep vein thrombosis You: 2.4% Avg. 3.4%

Rheumatoid arthritis You: 1.5% Avg. 1.6%

Macular degeneration You: 1.2% Avg. 3.1%

> 50-100%

This is a conventional bulk carrier, commissioned around 15 years ago, with both the sky sail and the solar panel sails that are now standard kit. It also relies on a state-of-the-art Air Cavity System (ACS) which pumps air out of holes in the hull, providing a carpet of bubbles under the hull, and on the latest anti-drag, water-repelling polymer coating. It is, in effect, self-cleaning – much like the skin of a shark. The principal energy source for ocean-going carriers like this

16

Shipping Cleans Up 02.12.2050

are bio-based fuels (either gas or algae-based diesel), and the latest model is now capable of harvesting algae as it goes, to provide part of the fuel mix.

More often than not, it’s operated remotely, with no humans on board (hence the very small bridge for use only in emergencies), and is loaded and discharged fully automatically in port. Like all ocean-going vessels, it can be stripped down in its entirety, enabling closed-loop ship manufacturing over very long periods of time.

A 'slow travel' air cruiser over Incheon Bridge, South Korea

'Slow travel' was already a big thing around 2020, and more and more people felt perfectly comfortable taking days to get to special places rather than hours. By the mid 2020s, the air cruiser business was flourishing. Huge numbers of specially adapted airships have been widely used for freight transport for many years, and most airships today use a significant amount of integrated solar power.

But the bulk of air travel is still in planes – although there are fewer passenger-miles flown today than there were in 2025. And even that’s only possible because of significant advances in air traffic control systems. Right up until the early 2020s, air traffic control systems were so unbelievably inefficient in the way they regulated take-offs and landings that they were responsible for up to 10% of aviation’s total carbon footprint!

18

Still Flying High!

02.12.2050

It shows how the world could look in 2050, if we play our cards right. It’s upbeat, dynamic – a world that works well for the vast majority of people.

Alex is a history teacher at Ashton Vale Community College, about to move schools, and challenged by the students to leave them with a parting gift: an account of how the world has changed since Alex became a teacher in the early 2020s.

Hence ‘The World We Made’. Part history, part personal memoir, Alex’s story charts the key events, technology breakthroughs and lifestyle revolutions that make the world what it is in 2050. ≥ A world in which 90% of our energy comes from renewable sources, and 30% of our electricity from solar power ≥ A world in which standard IT devices are computing at the same rate as the human brain, and everyone loves their robots ≥ A world in which nanotechnology, 3D printing and biomimicry have transformed manufacturing ≥ A world in which personal genomics allow everyone to manage their own health, live longer and healthier, and die when they want to ≥ A world in which there are still rich and poor, but the rich are poorer but happier, and the poor are richer in so many ways For the last 40 years, Jonathon Porritt has tried every conceivable way of persuading people to share his excitement at the prospect of a genuinely sustainable world – as Chair of the Green Party, Director of Friends of the Earth, author, broadcaster, Chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission, and now, since 1996 as Founder Director of Forum for the Future.

Finally, he discovered Alex McKay, providing a unique opportunity to connect that world in 2050 with what we can do today to help make it a reality.

All royalties will go to support the work of Forum for the Future, one of the world’s leading non-profits working towards a sustainable future.

‘The World We Made’ is also available as an iBook for iPad www.phaidon.com

WWW.THEWORLDWEMADE.COM

Jonathon Porritt

This is Alex McKay’s story.

Jonathon Porritt

A LE X Mc K AY’S S T f r om ORY 205 0