Envisioning earth 100 years from today, it is clear that the very fabric of our daily lives will be drastically different – from where we live to how we travel to how we educate. The question is in how much change will be deliberately made and how much change will be essentially made for us -- resulting from nature taming humankind. The future I propose is not utopia; rather, it is a vision for a society most compatible with the new earth we’ve created.

I agree with Robert Nash’s assertion that the sprawl of human civilization is unsustainable. There will be no sprawling suburbs in 2111; the ratio of protected wilderness and human-inhabited space will be essentially reversed. This is not to say we will live in densely populated “island civilizations” as Nash has proposed. The housing developments of 2111 will be small, multigenerational courtyard communities, roughly 500 miles apart from each other. Each would house upwards of 10 families (each with at most 1 child, not 2.2) with a common area for subsistence farming. Living in such small communities would indeed mean more modest living. Smaller communities, however, are capable of holding each other accountable in resource use. With such accountability, the tragedy of the commons would be far less tragic. Residents would mostly work from their homes, working in the online service sector or maintaining their land. After years of incremental phasing out of fossil fuels, these homes would be powered by a combination of solar paneled roofs and nearby windmill farms.

There will be no private motor vehicles in 2111. After years of hiking up prices for car components, car tax, gasoline, and gasoline tax, cars will have been phased out of the utopia. Ideally, residents would use teleportation, but if the scientists of 2111 hadn’t accomplished such a feat, a light rail system would connect communities. New, efficient, light rail cars, made out of reused car parts, would be come with high ticket prices to curb demand. The rail would provide a way for community merchants to trade surplus goods. With the continuation of the information revolution, trading information and services among communities would be more efficient and convenient than it is today. Commuting will be seen as a thing of the past.

The education of children will be drastically different in 2111. Children will gather and have a set time for learning reading, writing and arithmetic, but these will be done within the community. No school buses will be necessary. To ensure quality, the teaching staff would be a combination of local leaders and teachers working with children via internet. Conservation and environmentally-friendly farming techniques will be emphasized. Children will learn how to work within the constraints of the warmer, more volatile environment.

The key to adapting to 2111’s planetary conditions demand a simpler, less individualist society. Living in kinship group communities would ensure that residents can keep track of each other’s resource use. Communities will learn to work together in a collective manner to responsibly use nature and teach their children to do the same.