A History Lesson for 2050.

The early 21st century is known as the start of the 2nd Renaissance Period.

This was a time when ...

Oil-fuelled car emissions were known to contain pollutants more harmful than asbestos.

Average car fuel economy had decreased rather than increased over the previous decades, despite improvements in technology.

Global warming, worsened by oil consumption, was causing the Arctic ice cap to melt so rapidly that perimeter nations were arguing over who had rights to the exposed oil fields.

The automotive industry was obtaining a proportion of its steel from child slave workers in Brazil and other developing nations.

Carbon trading schemes were being corrupted by corporate lobbying from the automotive industry.

Gullible consumers were seduced into believing they needed a 6 litre V8 ... or a personnel carrier ... or a car capable of towing a Boeing 747.

Oil had hit "peak production" placing huge pressure to drill in national parks and other areas of ecological importance.

Respiratory diseases amongst children in developed nations were on the increase.

The majority of people believed that the 2nd Iraq War was simply an excuse to access more oil reserves.

Politicians were saying we were "addicted to oil" when really it was their governments that were addicted to the tax revenue on oil.

The last remaining primary rainforest was being cleared to allow for the next "addiction" - ethanol.

In nations where people were starving, food crop farmers were switching to ethanol crops.

Oil rich nations such as Nigeria were failing utterly to use profits to improve living standards for their own population.

The technology existed to build affordable, practical, safe cars that performed well, consumed little and emitted very low levels of GHG or pollutants.

So what was the main catalyst for change at this time?

Google launched a project called "10 to the 100" aimed at realising the most popular altruistic ideas.

Amongst the many excellent suggested ideas was the seed idea responsible for the car you probably drive today ...

micar

It gained popularity via Youtube and on 27 Jan 2009, people voted for it on the project10tothe100.com website.

What did they have to lose?

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• micar
• google
• 10^100
• 10tothe100
• 10 to the 100
• Project10tothe100
• mad world

[afcaetano]

Sharpy, I don't want to be rude, but most of your factoids are blatantly false, particularly the one about the steel industry using child labour in Brazil, and the one about the "last remaining primary rainforest" (I assume you mean the Amazon) being cleared for ethanol production.

[sharpy10tothe100]

Not false at all. This is in no way "anti Brazilian".

1) GE benefits from Brazil's extremely cheap steel production. Approximately 3 million children are employed across Brazil's formal industries - a large percentage of which is within the steel industry. PETI estimate that child labour will not be eradicated until around 2020 - if at all.

[sharpy10tothe100]

2) No - primary rainforest clearance is not limited to Brazil. Amongst other areas, Indonesia is also suffering from massive clearing (Indonesian forests are disappearing at a rate of more than 2.8 million hectares a year—an area half the size of Belgium) specifically for palm-oil and agrofuel production.

Many thanks for taking the time to comment, but I didn't just dream this up.

[krazytasha]

I agree. I guess some people buy into Al Gore's lies and distortions completely because they want to believe into something.

Can you please explain to me if global warming is such a current problem: Why were there palm trees on the south coast of England during the Roman times? Perhaps the Romans had a huge industrial empire...

[sharpy10tothe100]

This isn't just about climate change. Your first mistake is thinking that you have to "buy into" an opinion on Global Warming, and you've clearly rejected Al Gore's information based on the fact that you "can't be bought". A common fallibility amongst the insecure. Your second mistake is thinking that palm trees no longer exist on the south coast of England. They do. Your third mistake is to ignore TRENDING of data. Quoting isolated incidents is useless without examining trends.

[sharpy10tothe100]

Your final mistake is in not using your own brain. Just ask yourself "How can our current and future resource consumption NOT be affecting the globe?"

[snaphappy1977]

whats the music on this one called?

[KevZen2000]

In 2050, we do not know what will happen. The Free Market will resolve the ecological crisis, as it only can. The government will not resolve it, without, causing another in its place. IF you want a solution, then crate the incentives to get people, to stop using the resources, that cause climate change, or that hurt Earth. We need to develop a space program, because eventually we will run out of resources on Earth, no matter how productive we are.

[Supergungun]

Our technology is starting to decay. We will never advance because we lost the spirit of the past.

[afcaetano]

It gets kind of confusing when you refer to a "last remaining primary rainforest", and the Indonesian rainforest is not any of those things, certainly.

I also get a little skeptical about that annual rainforest clearing being about the same area as Belgium, because the same example gets tossed around when people want to draw attention to the Brazilian Amazon problem - a real problem, for sure.

OTOH, unlike with the Amazon, there's not a lot of Belgiums that could fit the Indonesian islands...

[afcaetano]

I never assumed your factoids were "anti-Brazilian", just incorrect, that's all. What I can tell you is, there is substantial child labour in Brazil, but not at "formal industries", the steel industry no less. Brazilian steel is a lot less expensive than US steel because of a number of factors: abundant iron ore, renewed infrastructure from privatisation, cheaper labour and cheaper energy (hydropower, mostly). Child labour is not a significant factor.