A story of what could be, inspired by Buckminster Fuller.
“Middle Americans held their own economy hostage, then came together and created a clean energy world. It was brilliant!”
2035 – America’s second revolution was painful, but worth it. It began about twenty years ago, in 2015, with a series of events that today’s historians call The Middle American Movement (MAM), which is also a play on the fact that this was a movement led mostly by women; females of all ages, nationalities, and political leanings came together and led with common sense, compassion and a global sense of community.
There was wide sweeping social and political upheaval, which resulted in the successful transference away from fossil fuels and the long-awaited creation of a clean energy world. Bucky started calling for this in the early 1940’s, just as World War II was starting.
A clean energy world held magic for humanity. Because carbon levels dropped and everything green flourished, United Spaceship Planet Earth became a healthier and more relaxed place. We gave up the specious notion that everyone had to “earn a living”, and came to understand that we could thrive if we only paid a little more attention to nature, and her needs. This was another part of the new feminine paradigm of leadership that came to pass in the early 2020s.
The opening of the Second American Revolution is traced to a small neighborhood’s show of solidarity for a popular Midwestern family. The family was losing their home. Armed guards showed up at the door one unusually warm evening in early summer. The family had posted on Facebook and Twitter that they were not going to answer the door, that they would rather die than be forced out of their home of 20 years, and would kill themselves if guards forced their way in.
When bank guards arrived, friends and neighbors were waiting, many of them also armed. After a long standoff on a warm summer evening which eventually involved a group of neighbors showing up with fresh margaritas and grilled burritos. Faced with the burritos, the guards, who were also marginalized middle Americans, sympathized with the family, relaxed and enjoyed dinner and a margarita and they all went home to think things over.
Not a single shot was ever fired. There was a celebration in the street that warm night and the next, and became the “not-a-shot” heard round the world.
Americans everywhere, all recruited through the new digital democracy of social media, took to the streets to protect their neighbors like it was their job.
The line “we’d rather die than lose our home” ended up symbolizing much more than a fight against the banks. It was also overthrowing corporate rule of the American government, focused on big oil’s environmental degradation and our complicit government. People knew development of solar, wind and other technologies was being sabotaged by the fossil fuel industry. They struck in protest.
The very idea of “home” grew to be about planet Earth itself. Herself. A highly educated generation of humanity rose to a more highly evolved conscience, through which they placed Earth’s needs first.
In this simple peaceful revolution, Middle Americans learned how to create a new and sustainable world. We traded for things, shopped at second hand stores, stayed close to home and learned how to grow our own food, create our own energy, and share our resources. In cities, neighbors come together to build high rise greenhouses, and even floating community gardens. Cooperative farms popped up all over the country. Seeds became more valuable than money for awhile, especially ones that were clean and not genetically modified. (People finally figured out it was not such a good idea to eat grains that were engineered to blow up inside an insect’s stomach.)
Wind, solar, geothermal and wireless electromagnetic energy are now everywhere. The fossil fuel reserves are in safely in the ground, our nature’s saving account, in case of planetary emergency, just where Buckminster Fuller always said we should put them.
The whole world has been intentionally greened up like a Chia Pet. Lush green carbon sinks installed in all the big cities help immensely. Even China is all greened up these days. Huge storms, droughts and rising oceans are still happening, but the carbon numbers are dropping and things are starting to settle down. as we drop to a record low 250 ppm. Oil spills and water contamination from fracking are gone for good. The world is a much healthier place now that women’s ideas about governance and nurturance are now in place.
The most remarkable result of this revolution is how many people never had to go back to their meaningless jobs. Our high unemployment rate is now something we brag about – 38% and climbing, and soon, no one will have to “work” unless they really want to, otherwise it is no longer necessary to “earn a living” since energy is now free, and we have learned how to sustain ourselves even without money.
Creating a good life and raising happy families is what humans were always meant to do. In the new world, we all pitch in to educate our children through cooperative schools. We can turn out creative thinkers, not just non-thinking robots like we used to do.
Now people have more time to read and write and think, and there’s a renaissance of thought underway, a homespun enlightenment of mind and spirit.
Thank Nature we woke up in time! Oh, that was the other big change: Religion evolved when it dawned on humanity that God is Nature and Nature is God. In every area of life, once we learned to play by Nature’s rules, everything fell in place and Nature supported us.
“In Nature we Trust!” was the proclamation that officially acknowledged the revolutionary Middle American Movement. That’s exactly how it’s written on the new one dollar bill. Right under President Chelsea’s picture. Life is sure good in 2035!
We live in dysfunctional times, and realizing this, President Obama is finding new ways to get things done for America and for the planet, and in doing so, creating a new model of leadership.
Here is one attempt:
Catastrophic environmental events brought on by climate change will take a heavy toll on the human psyche, and just the emotional stress of knowing can be devastating. Looking to Bucky’s wisdom for some new light to share on this problem, here’s what I found, all from the forward of his seminal 1981 book, Critical Path:
I got nods all around, especially from the women, but my husband didn’t talk to me the rest of the night. Later he asked “Why do you always have to be such a downer? Why do you insist on hijacking every conversation?”
BUCKYIDEAS 