“Middle Americans came together and created a just and sustainable clean energy world. It was brilliant!”
(The Year 2035) – America’s second revolution began twenty years ago, in 2015, with a series of events historians call The Middle American Movement, or MAM. The movement was led mostly by women, of all ages, nationalities, and political leanings, and brought about sweeping social and political upheaval, along with the successful transference away from fossil fuels. This, it turned out, was the key to everything. Once we created a world run on clean energy, everything changed for the better.
The opening shot of the Second American Revolution can be traced to a small neighborhood’s show of solidarity for a Midwestern family. Armed guards showed up one unusually warm day in early summer, intending to evict the popular family from their long time home. The children had posted on Facebook and Twitter that they were not going to answer the door, that they would rather die than be forced out, and that they would kill themselves if guards forced their way in. When the hired guards arrived, friends and neighbors were waiting, many of them also armed. There was a stand off, but no shots were fired. Police came. A taco truck rolled up. A neighbor brought out margaritas. The standoff ended peacefully, and the guards went on their way.
Since the guards were also underpaid and marginalized former middle Americans, they went home that night to think things over. They realized they were all being pitted against one another, but by who? And why? What the hell was going on? The new right wing government was filling the streets with weapons and calling it freedom.
People came together by the thousands to come together to protect each other from their own government. More and more felt an awakening, realizing that we were all in this together, and that justice must prevail. What was initially a fight against the banks evolved into a cohesive effort to join together as a people end the corporate rule of our government.
In this simple and peaceful revolution, Middle Americans learned how to create a new and sustainable world. The very idea of “home” grew to be about planet Earth itself. A highly educated generation of humanity rose to a more highly evolved consciousness, one with an aim to foster compassion, community and cooperation. Climate change was addressed by massive new investments in clean energy, and an aggressive tree and vegetation planting program. Local community farms sprung up everywhere, even in high-rises, which turned out to be perfect greenhouses. Big oil’s enslavement of the American people came to an end.
Born of MAM was a new feminine paradigm of leadership, in which Earth’s needs came first.
Massive reforestation of the planet occurred. America and much of the developed world was intentionally greened up like a Chia Pet. Humans finally got it that they could plant their way to a better climate. Rooftops turned green all over the world. Lush carbon sinks were planted, replacing acres of concrete in big cities, where carbon numbers were the highest.
The global solutions were mostly local. Locally grown food, and a share economy became commonplace. People began to trade more things, to shop at second hand stores, and work from home. In cities, neighbors come together to build vegetable farms, 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 not genetically modified. People eventually figured out it was probably not such a good idea to eat grains that were engineered to blow up inside an insect’s stomach. Most people stopped eating meat and dairy, and became healthier and lived longer as a bonus.
Electromagnetic energy emerged. Energy became totally wireless, infinitely tappable. Fossil fuel reserves were left safely in the ground — our nature’s saving account — to be available in case of a planetary emergency.
Huge storms, droughts and rising oceans are still happening, but the carbon numbers are dropping, and things are starting to settle down. As we aim for 300 – 350 ppm, the oil spills, pollution and environmental contamination from fracking of yesteryears are finally behind us. The whole world is a healthier place now that the official government objective is to make the world work for 100% of the people, without environmental harm.
Most remarkable was how it fed our leisure pursuits. Since we no longer had to earn our daily energy supply, we had time for more fun and less drudgery. By 2035, a high unemployment rate is something we brag about – 38% and climbing, and soon, no one will have to “work” unless they want to. Once energy was basically free, we could “give up the specious notion that we had to earn a living”. Humans figured out how to sustain themselves in a supportive sharing economy. A new society has emerged. The Koch Brothers and other executives who lied about climate change were imprisoned.
Today we all pitch in to educate our children through cooperative schools. We let them grow and explore more naturally, knowing the new world needs more creative thinkers, not just the kind of fact memorization and obedient worker mentality the old system was designed to produce.
There’s a renaissance of thought underway, a homespun enlightenment of mind and spirit. More people have time to read and write and think. Creating a good life and raising happy families was apparently what human beings were always meant to do. And to dabble, of course, in sport, art, science, cooking, whatever made us happy. We humans have become great dabblers and the world is better for it.
Another big change was to religion. It evolved into something truly universal, as humanity came to understand that the only true divine intelligence was nature herself. At a time when nature was hurting greatly, we came together and learned how to design a new world in accordance to her rules. Everything else fell into place. What money there is left in the world (now that everything is digitally transferred) carries the slogan “In Nature We Trust.” It was something we could all agree on, at long last. Nature was in charge.
We thank Nature our species discovered clean energy in time, and that what emerged was a more compassionate and functional human tribe. We thank Nature we humans discovered our potential on this utterly miraculous United Spaceship Planet Earth, before it was to late.
We thank Nature that Buckminster Fuller’s ideas won out in the end.
If, like many people, you find yourself feeling guilty about your oversized impact on C02 emissions, there is an easy way to begin to make amends, and maybe even sleep a little better at night.
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 