Future Vision. Stories of our brilliant tomorrow

Do you ever find yourself wondering what the future could look like, for all of us? There are many wonderful versions, of a future for Earth. 40 to 50 years ago they mostly consisted of humankind, by now, living in space and in some very futuristic-looking (even by today's standards) cities! These were very much the ideas of creative minds and perhaps they were, in some small part, a hope too. We know that change is happening but not at the pace it was once imagined, therefore books about possible futures have more realistic outlooks. Future Vision is one such title and it is a great pleasure for me to host a Blog this week from the author. I hope you enjoy reading about the inspiration behind the book, some of its contents before locating a copy for your own bookshelves!

At the dentist with my 11 year old recently, the dentist was chatting about the weather and the usual things when he quite casually said, ‘I’m just glad I won’t be around to see the world in another couple of decades.’

I was shocked. But, sadly, not altogether surprised. Until recently, this would have been an extraordinary statement but these days we are used to it. “We’re all doomed.” “Humanity doesn’t deserve to survive.” “It’s too late to fix things.” We hear these sorts of statements all the time - from adults, often in front of children.

We wrote this book because we felt sick of this constant background hum of doom. And because we worry about how this sense of hopelessness and pessimism affects children. How would it have landed on a 10 year old you? No wonder we are seeing such tragically high rates of anxiety and depression in children and young people.

We wanted, in our small way, to counter the doom. Not in a giddy, naive way - we didn’t want to pretend everything was fine. We wanted to show the real reasons for optimism about the future.

We started with the science of now. What is the latest in solar power proliferation? How quickly are coal mines being closed, electric vehicles produced? Where are the most interesting community experiments in rethinking democracy? Which animals are being brought back into the wild? Then we extrapolated forward 50 years, charting the journey from now to a world in 2070 that is greener, fairer, and much more fun to live in.

We consulted scientists at every step. I’ve never known such enthusiasm from busy scientists and researchers. Whether I was cold-calling a NASA professor or a world expert oceanographer, my tentative invitation to them to participate in an ‘optimistic book about the future for children’ was met with great enthusiasm and generosity - and, I sensed, a big dollop of relief. People working to understand the world and to change it for the better know that a crucial ingredient for change is hope.

It’s not that we don’t have problems. We have plenty. Optimism is about the belief that we can solve them; the belief that with care, collaboration, creativity and commitment we can steer the world in a better direction. We are at a unique point in history where we have the ideas, the knowledge and the skills to build a wonderful sustainable world. We can - and must - allow ourselves to dream of a future that is so much better than today..

We want our book to give children that licence to dream. We want them to picture what the future could be - and to start to imagine their own versions of it.

To help get them started, we show them our vision of 2070. We introduce them to talking toilets, 3D printed chocolate, city streets reoriented to pedestrians and children playing. We show them robots who help with the boring stuff, schools enlivened by learning with our bodies not just our brains - assisted by augmented reality. We show them a communication revolution, as we learn to hear from and talk to animals. We show a world where robot fish guzzle ocean plastic, our sofas are made from mycelium and our democracy is one where everyone - children included - is involved in decisions about their life. And of course, clean air, clean oceans and rivers, delicious drinking water and plenty of cheap, clean energy are the norm.

In each chapter, we show a snapshot of life in 2070 through the stories of Kit (aged 12 in 2070), her friends and her family. Where does she live? How does she get around? What does she eat? What’s her school like? What does she do for fun? Each chapter also has detailed timelines which show the journey from the world of now to the future we are describing in 2070. What crucial steps do governments, individuals and communities take to help rewild nature? What happens to make sure that everyone sees the benefits of AI and other tech revolutions? How quickly do we get rid of fossil fuels? We extrapolate from today’s developments to chart our journey, year by year, to show what could be. Grandparents celebrating their 110th birthdays, England winning the world cup, the Royal Family living on universal basic income, AI scrutinising the promises of politicians, finding the first evidence of extraterrestrial life. We can’t promise that every single prediction will be right. But we can promise a thrilling ride and hundreds of ideas to start children on their own hopeful, optimistic, future-thinking adventures.

Come and join us in 2070. It’s brilliant.

Future Vision is published by Button Books.

My thanks to Paul Eckersley, Publicity Manager at GMC Distribution for suggesting the Blog feature, Dr Cathy Rogers and Madeleine Rogers for the Blog piece and the fascinating book.