Earth: 2100
September 10, 2012 § 2 Comments
Upon the completion of my time machine, I would travel to the illustrious year 2100. At first glance, one might be wondering why I would pick such a “bleh” year to travel to.
You might ask, “Pranav, why wouldn’t you pick some year so far in the past that mammals have yet to leave their mark? Or why not choose some year that is so far into the future that humans are no longer the dominant species?
To this I would respond: “Curiosity”.
Simply put I am curious. Curious about the achievements of our generation. Curious as to what the consequences of the decisions we make today will be at that point in the future. Curious if there will be a civilization.
Alright, so that last one might sound extremely pessimistic and defeatist. When I was younger I watched a television program on ABC that frightened me (see link).
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Earth2100/
This 1-hour television program painted a doomsday scenario for humans living in the year 2100. Basically, the creators of the program decided to take every possible environmental catastrophe that could happen in the future and fuse it with Murphy’s Law. Basically every problem related to global warming that could go wrong did go wrong. The program itself was depressing. Disappearance of oil and gas had led to riots in the Southwest (the area where the narrator was originally from) and as a result the family had to relocate to the Northeast, specifically New York City. The program ends with the sea levels becoming too high and lower Manhattan being flooded despite the levies, a quite sobering ending for a young child watching. Now I don’t entirely believe that every single one of these instances will occur, but any one occurring would seriously alter the future.
Travelling to the year 2100 and simply noting how many of these instances had actually occurred would shed light on my generation because it is our generation that will make (or not make) the technological advancements and policy breakthroughs that will decide the future. In contrast, travelling to some year so far displaced from our current civilization would lend little significance to our generation.
Call me self-centered but I truly believe these next 10-15 years are among the most important 10-15 year stretches in history. The progress we make now will define the structure of society for many generations. I guess you could call it Generation Z Problems, but our generation needs to step up in order to compensate for the environmental problems the past generations have put us in.
-Pranav Santapuram
Science/Fiction 
I completely agree with you about the next 10-15 years being a crucial time period in determining the future of our race. My AP Biology teacher in high school showed our class a similar “doomsday” video. A lot of people don’t realize that oil will run out eventually; some extreme estimates even say we only have a little more than 40 years left! One of the reasons I am a vegetarian…the livestock industry is responsible for a large part of our nation’s gas consumption and emissions.
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I, too, agree that the next couple of decades represent a critical period for humanity. I watched “Earth: 2100” last year for my first-year writing seminar, and I was equally perturbed, even knowing that it portrayed a worst-case scenario. One of our nation’s historical strengths has been its ability to set aside politics and unite in the face of adversity. Now, with the rest of the world looking to the U.S. to lead on the biggest long-term issue, climate change, our government (and society, to an extent) is paralyzed by gridlock. That said, I’m optimistic about our generation; I just hope the battle hasn’t been lost before we even get a real chance to take part
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