Sunday, January 18, 2009

Alex Steffen and WorldChanging.com

Wow!

I just got done watching a mind-blowing TED talk by Alex Steffen about mankind's transition to sustainability. It's very, very hopeful.



To distill: The Earth is too small and there are too many folks for us all to live as we currently do.

The solutions are many faceted, but boil down to two things: Bright Green Cities- We in the developed nations must work to make our cities as efficient, people-dense, and easy to get around as possible. Invest in infrastructure, low energy buildings, green roofs and a "sharing economy."

AND we must help the billions around the world leapfrog all old technologies and modernize with cheap and robust tech as quickly as possible. Set up community centers to teach computer literacy and programming.

Efficient at home and efficient abroad, everyone sharing and playing nicely together.

He spells it out well, I think.

It turns out that Mr. Steffen runs a site called WorldChanging.com which is like SuperForest's big, serious, older brother. You've got to see it.

Says Alex Steffen about his site: "(It's) a news service for the unimaginable future."

And yet, everything he proposes is very imaginable. What is totally unimaginable is the sort of societal transformation that would occur were everyone's basic necessities provided for using technology.

With everyone interconnected via the net, who can foretell the amazing hybrids and trends to come. As

We shall check in often with WorldChanging. And keeps our looky-balls peeled for Mr Steffen.

No comments: