Have you ever wondered how our future will look? Not exactly my future but our children’s and grandchildren’s future. And not the doom and gloom one but the future of a terrifyingly adaptable species – the Homo sapiens. Us.
I only have two predictions that have arrived whole in my head.
Soon – we will be paying our restaurant bill with our phones. Maybe through PayPal or something. No cards. Just a bill to the phone – hit a few buttons and bam- paid. This is so obvious I am sure it is already being done somewhere.
But my long term prediction is that villages and cities will become more self contained more self sufficient energy wise. They will close their gates like medieval castles and casting off massive government will become smaller and more self sufficient. With their own renewable energy and water and food.
Let’s look at 150 years down the road – not long. There will be little or no oil. Municipal Water will be severely regulated. Households will collect and make their own water probably using household units that draw water from the humid air and purify it for drinking. The weather will be wilder for a while as the climate recalibrates so our houses will have less glass, more shutters, air locks in doorways. We will have gone through the horror of massive overpopulation and untreatable disease and through the dreadful food and water shortages period. Probably a world wide unstoppable flu epidemic. The seas will be empty of fish and full of plastic.
We will be remembered as the richest century. The century of oil and squander and superbugs. Already here in America more people die of untreatable infections than Aids. Squandering oil, and penicillin, and time. Remember that the Roman Empire foundered because – among other things: like greedy leaders- they depended on wood for everything and chopped down more trees than they planted. We will be renamed the deniers and bickerers.
But let’s leap frog through that to the recovery period. This is my favorite period.
The beginning of the new world. The cities will not have adapted They will adapted by dividing and refinding their inner village. Sone areas will become storehouses of recyclable stuff. Small villages will rise up within the cities because the villages and towns will have done so much better. Rural towns will have become totally self sufficient both for sustainable energy and cleanable water. Almost principalities. People will have to apply to live in a certain town. Their skills will be more important than the money to buy their way in. Each town will have its own power source. It’s own farms. It’s own government. It’s own industry for barter. Maybe even its own currency. Each town will be known for its particular talent. Like roofers or water filterers or inventors.
The roads will be lined with fruit trees that are watered with processed grey water, everyone will have a vegetable garden and the pigs will be fed with food waste collected from each home. The milk will come into town twice a day on the back of an electric wagon and people will buy a ladle full.
There will be a big house or two – massive houses that house the industry of the town – like weaving or writing or blacksmithing and employ many people. These houses will have big bread ovens and the whole village will use them. There will be a local mill. And a school in the daytime with books.
There will be few towns in the desert. Or out here in the frozen tundra. Though there will be nomadic peoples who summer ( or winter) in these spaces then migrate with the birds.
I would not be here in the future – there is no wood for fires to cook and keep warm. So I must keep working on planting my forests for the next peoples. So this can return to beautiful wilderness.
No oil which means no waste. No plastic. There will be collection industries making new stuff from found stuff. To have built an entire civilization on the dependence of a non renewable resource like oil will be looked back on as a bit silly. Power will be sun or wind and managed by the village or family farm- but it will be inclement and dependent on climate so being difficult to store it will be intermittent.
It will be an interesting world in 150 years – rising up through the bones of this one.
It is our job to lay good foundations for our future peoples. We need to leave treasures for the flu survivors. Simple things. Troves of seeds, forests, paper books of useful technology, metal, good tools. Clean water. Strong well – bred animals who can reproduce without intervention. Strong houses that will last centuries. Barrels.
What else shall we work on?
In fact we need to decide right now what will survive for 100 years and what they will need in 100 years or 200 years and begin to build these things and store this knowledge in a way that the next generations can retrieve it.
Imagine – no internet- no oil – less water – less travel – no wonder medicines. It will be spare and tribal. But more different than I can imagine.
What will be important for our future peoples? These ones who band together to feed and fuel a village or a farm. How can we help our children to survive and thrive in the new world that is coming. 
What shall we leave for them. Anyway that is what I am thinking about.
What are your thoughts? The positive ones – we have had enough of doom and gloom. Let’s get busy on feeding the future.
Cecilia
The Kitchen's Garden 
71 responses to “PREDICTIONS”
John Michael Greer is distinctly worth reading, both fiction and non-fiction. I agree with a great deal of what he has to say and he and I have matured along very similar lines; although I’m not a Druid 🙂 This fantasy book has some real practical ideas in it. I believe the future is much closer than the majority wish it to be.
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2017-06-05/retrotopia-review/
Sadly, I’ll be travelling into the future by my self. My wife of 38 years has decided another man and future is preferable. Lot’s to do this winter to get this place and the bakery ready to sell. The future for me is suddenly a blank slate but I have a great number of skills and a passion to build. Your blog has been an endless pleasure and I’ve noticed periodically a twinge of jealousy for you energy level 🙂
Oh no – baker Pete. How miserable. And also how marvelous that you are free to sail into the future knowing your wife is happy elsewhere and you can pursue your own pursuits. Selling the bakery is a blow. Wow – new windows and doors are opening in all directions in your world – is it breezy over there?!
Thank you for the author recommendation- as you know I read everything – I will download one of his for my travels!
Keep on pushing through – just like a chicken- peck peck step, step step peck. And onwards! Keep in touch – let us know how you are doing!
Oh the thoughts and fears! These can keep me up at night. We need to teach children how to take care of themselves, how to make good food choices and make food. Real food, properly. Not processed “food”. If manufacturers stopped making food they should know how to grow, prepare and preserve food. We started preserving small batch and making bread. We live in a city so we only can grow small amounts but it is something. I think these life skills should be taught in school too. I guess it part of parenting. I do feel bombarded with bad news. The state of the world, politics, the oceans, plastic, bees, pollution! We need to focus on the good things people are doing that are making a difference. There is a book by David Suzuki called A Little Good News. I think I need to re-read it!
Oh – a little good news! We can all
Do with some of that!
I’ve found that with age I’ve become less tolerant of some things and people and a bit less positive. EGAD! Have I become the crabby old lady of the block? I hope not but I look at how the world is changing (some good and some bad) and try to keep up as best I can… but not everything is worth keeping up with and some things just need to be hit by the delete button. I agree it is important that the little ones need to be taught certain things in order for the future to not (hopefully) become the reality of some dystopian novel or movie. Are those two little cuties the grands?
Morning miss c… t
Morning miss T!
What useful something in your house would you put in a time capsule for future generations!
I’d leave a real cast iron skillet and some recipes that would be perfect for it like drop biscuits 🙂
An excellent choice!
The positive.. ok.. I honestly think more people will learn how to raise and eat insect protein, raise their own BSF for their own 0 mile working oil for greasing things. I think that we will see a come back of all animal manure being collected and used in many cooler climates as year round heat for growing as they did for hundreds of years in Europe.
I believe that the value of a chicken, pig, or sheep or goat will become much more clear, that everything they can offer will be used, and that those items will have a greatly increased value.
I hope to see a huge increase in tree hay and the change in pasture systems that go with it 🙂
I believe most of what we consider “solar” today, will go away and we will use solar energy in a more basic way, there will be greenhouses, there will be walled gardens using the natural blocking, microclimate growing but that at some point in the next 20 to 50 years that they will stop mining and using today’s solar batteries and will come to understand the impacts its having on our planet. I hope there is leaps moved forward for the “now” energy capture, without the negative’s that go with the current battery collection/holding programs
Lets dream big shall we.. I hope that we get tax credit (for taxes are like air.. they have been there before and they will be still be) for water collection, for our tree’s for our soil carbon capture and for if we grow enough to help feed other people etc.
The question of what can I do now! that can be passed down and shared and used in 150 or 200 years is a good one.. one that bares thinking about and more consideration. I will get back to this one!
That is a fantastic take on taxes . Are you like me ? Got your bills and receipts all over the table!
So much to ponder at this early hour. Not that I haven’t thought of these questions before. What strikes me about we humans is our potential. We are capable of astounding things. Those things run the gamut from exploration of the moon and space to massive genocides. Harnessing that potential for common good and the advancement of humanity is hard to do on a large scale. Your concept of self-sufficient towns is interesting. Food for thought.
I agree – as a species we are highly adaptable and clever – as long as we stay free to use our own brains – in that I mean sitting and thinking! Quietly. That is such an important thing to do
It’s called Apple Pay.
Do all restaurants have it? That would be great – I did see that on my phone but never use it
I think you can pay for most things anywhere. It works like a contactless payment card. In London it works on buses and the Tube too. There’s a similar Google Pay thing for Android phones.
Buses and trains! Oh I can’t wait for that – so is it a Bluetooth thing? If there is no contact?
I don’t use it as I’m on my bike and have a countless bank card for shopping, but the cards work with a chip. Have a look here for instructions: https://www.apple.com/uk/apple-pay/
Your piece really resonated with me. My parents passed on the skills of cooking, baking, sewing and knitting to me and I’ve taught those skills to my own children and hundreds of others through the school system. It was a sad day when Family Studies or Home Economics was removed from the curriculum. My own children continue to cook and bake amazing meals all from scratch and my youngest daughter has started her own fabric business. We’ve all learned how to grow vegetables and can what we’ve grown. I volunteer at a museum where we make bread from scratch and bake it in a huge outdoor wood burning oven. Every Wednesday the community comes out to buy the bread. I’m in my 60s now and strangely I saw myself 150 years from now teaching those same skills you talked about. Obviously I won’t be around to do that but maybe my great great great grandchildren will be and maybe some of the things that I do now will be passed on down through the generations of the future.
It is true! It all comes down to good food. That oven sounds amazing!
Yep Samsung Pay already up and running here too..
Us city slickers will be the first to die off. We will rue the day we ripped up green fields and trees to make way for cement and tarmac and unsustainable homes with no space to grow food and animals. Sigh.
Just last night I saw an ad on TV stating the first person to live to 200 had already been born, and then asking similar questions to yours above, food for thought. It sure makes you look around .,… And panic on behalf of future generations.
The houses will be so much better I hope – but only for the rich – it is housing for the masses that needs looking at – Lordy I would NOT like to drag this body around for two hundred years – it does have a use by date !!
Even though I have been involved in humankind, my only child has no children & no plans to have any, so I don’t dwell much on 150 years from now, but try to be the very best & kindest citizen of Earth I possibly can while I am here, for everyone else’s descendants. I tend to think like Farah who said to Tanne (Isak Dinesen) in “Out of Africa”, The Earth was made round, so we cannot see too far down the road. Though I have planted quite a few trees along my way.
The trees are the thing! I totally concur
Such are the times we think of this.
(You can pay by phone now – in restaurants, even grocery stores and retail as you walk the aisle and select items – pay right then to avoid lines. )
Water is the biggest issue and commodity. (Oil, there’s plenty, but use needs to be perfected – not squandered. Plastics should become museum pieces and dinosaurs – sooner the better.)
The return to village/small town concepts ( like current planned communities now) is a positive. Less commute, less stress, more family time…we need the return to the evening meal with everyone sitting down to discuss their day. We need a return to human scale and natural environment/time schedules to allow fresh air, outside activities with family and friends and time for sun. People would’d like it, but having everything totally closed ( except for hospitals) one day a week was beneficial for humans. Encouraged actually talking to people – and catching up on sleep!)
With luck and insight and discovery, mankind will stop trying to organize and retrain nature which has a better track record than humans as far as endurance and recovery.
Only the strong should survive ( there is a heritage seed bank already – started by some Brits a while back – needed as back up here and for colonization in space which eventually will happen. The strong, independent, creative and brave will go – hopefully they will not forget Earth)
Even as fast as the world slides into total nuttiness, there are those quietly slipping back – quietly teaching what is old yet will be valued in the future.
Something I’ve often wondered about The Seedbank you mentioned and “survival of the fittest” – is just who was it that decided which seeds are ‘worthy’ enough to be included?
I remember concern (late 70’s?) started in Europe back when people started to be really concerned about modern plants not being hardy enough ( or being overly hybrid/ and genetically modified now) and would lose natural immunity. Heritage may not be a s pretty, but often sturdier and more nutritious even if modern tastes have changed.
I found this article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault
Wow, only read the first bit so far, but thank you for sharing this very interesting article!: )
There’s bound to be more serious authoritative article, but that one was quick to find.
I remember the urgency so many felt to get a safe place started – chaos world disaster fears are not a new thing.
Glad you’re interested in the concept and need
As you say, “world disaster fears are not a new thing.” Assuming eyes are connected with a functioning brain, one need only look out the window/ step out the door these days to see and feel the effects that have already started; anything less is Wilful Ignorance:/
Seems everything has an allotted season. The dinosaurs, the seas covering so much of the land. Live gently and with mindfulness. (And hope they get the darn spaceships working soon…and we can go polluting where no humans have polluted before HAHA. Guess that’s really not a joke 🙂 It is what it is )
No, but pretty much my view of the idea as well. Take care
My hope for humanity resides in third world countries, where people already have the skills to survive and smaller, more efficient and disease-resistant bodies to maintain.
I have often thought that I am glad that I did not have children, such a dismal world we are leaving for them. Your recovery period looks hopeful. Your grandchildren look so much like you!
Just conversation starters really. Life continues to evolve – as it should
Check out U.N. Agenda 2030..it has all been laid out and being implemented as we speak.
I will Emily – thank you!
You have described SOCIALISM TO THE T!! We do not need nor want Socialism. Think positive, think Capitalism, and we will all be happy. Sorry, I do not agree with any of your thoughts.
That’s great. I have seen a number of big packhouses lately that create their own solar power, feed their workers in big cafeterias. have doctors surgeries on site, even have a cluster of homes for the itinerant workers and it occurred to me that this was the way things are moving. Creating independence. What are your thoughts spike?
It has too much Government in the statement you wrote about the pack house. We DO NOT need more government, but much less government. When you read about the Russian collective farms, it scares the Hell out of me. Believe me, we do not need ideas from Russian or any other non progressive country. America is by far the best country on Earth, not perfect, but closer than any other country has to offer. Remember, less government is more freedom for We The People. I know it is hard for liberal people to understand, but use common sense, and it is there in bold lettering. God Bless America!
Where to start? We will always have leaders; i.e.. those more knowledgeable in one topic or another. I’d like to think of it more as a guidance for consultation on how the ‘villages’ or ‘centers’ should function. All must agree on a course of action and even though someone disagrees, they will trust the majority consensus on a plan of action. By everyone agreeing on a decision after consultation, there will be no room for finger pointing or blame. Hence, peace and cooperation in all aspects of life. Maybe, just maybe, the Flower Children were onto something but just didn’t know how to put it into action and carry it through. I do know, this mayhem has to end! Utter mayhem and confusion! We need to re-learn the physical skills as well as feed the soul. We don’t want to toss everything of the past out the window, but learn and build on the wonderful knowledges this and past generations have provided.. Harmony!
Harmony is a lovely thought.