We spent the first two sections of this chapter discussing the science of global warming, and how we know that this warming poses such a grave threat to our future. In this section (7.3), we’ve seen that it will be very challenging to stop this threat. But it is not an impossible challenge, and humans have met many great challenges before. So for this final subsection, we ask you to envision what the future could look like.
Imagine that it’s the year 2050, when you’ll still be less than halfway to age 100 (how old will you be?). Through global action, we’ve changed our energy economy to carbon-free sources, and as a result, the carbon dioxide concentration is no longer rising. Meanwhile two major additional developments have occurred:
- Scientists and engineers have successfully developed technology — such as nuclear fusion or solar energy from space — that gives us far more abundant and clean energy than we have today, at far lower cost. As a result, we have enough energy to provide every human being in the world with a much higher average standard of living than is available today.
- Although the consequences of global warming are still being felt, the technology for active removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is now available, and because cheap and abundant clean energy is also available, we are beginning to lower the carbon dioxide concentration back down.
If this happens, it means that you are likely to live most of your life in a world in which global warming is no longer worsening, and instead is starting to get better.
Now consider the year 2100, when most of you can expect to still be alive. If the trends above continue, by that time we may have restored the carbon dioxide level back to a safe level (say, 350 parts per million). In other words, envision the world of 2100 as one in which global warming is in the history books, but no longer a threat to the human race. Meanwhile, the availability of abundant, clean energy, along with other new technological developments, has improved our lives in many more ways. We’ve eradicated poverty around the world, and everyone now has access to plenty of healthy food and fresh water, great health care, and a first-class education. Humans are also now exploring the solar system, and with the mineral resources available from the Moon and asteroids, we no longer need to mine the Earth. This has allowed us to restore global forests and ecosystems, providing what is much like a global set of “national parks” for people around the world to enjoy.
Global warming is often portrayed as the greatest threat that our civilization has ever faced, and that may indeed be the case. But it also presents an opportunity for us to come together as a species, to meet the threat, and to build a world of wonder and prosperity far beyond what our ancestors could ever have imagined.
Discussion
What Could We Do with Abundant Energy?
The text above discusses some of the things we could potentially achieve with cheap, abundant, and clean energy. To help you understand why such things would be possible, discuss the following questions in small groups or as a class. Be as detailed as you can be in explaining how this energy would help.
- Today, many people lack access to clean, fresh water. How could cheap, abundant, and clean energy help this problem?
- Such energy could also allow us to grow more food using less land. How?
- How could this energy help reduce or eliminate poverty more generally? Be sure to consider the role that energy (or lack thereof) plays in poverty today.
- How could this energy make it possible for us to mine resources from space, thereby allowing us to better preserve our Earth?
- Discuss any other ideas you can think of about how our lives might be improved by the availability of cheap, abundant, and clean energy.
- Of the future technologies that we’ve discussed, and others you might have heard about, which (or which combination) do you think represents the most likely way that we’ll achieve cheap, abundant, and clean energy?
This discussion is designed to help students understand why energy makes such a huge difference in our lives, and why new energy technologies could lead us to a far better future. Notes:
- (1) Desalinization of sea water could easily meet our fresh water needs. Today, this is impractical on large scales, because of the energy required. But with cheap and abundant energy, it could be done.
- (2) There are several possible answers to this question. For example, hydroponics under artificial lights can grow food in vertical layers, allowing much more food to be grown with less land use. The main impediment today is the energy needed, so cheap and abundant energy would solve this problem.
- (3) For this question, students should think more generally about the role of energy in poverty. For example, poverty generally includes a lack of electricity, a lack of fuel for cooking, heating, and transportation, and so on. Cheap and abundant energy could address all these issues. Indeed, history shows that rising living standards and greater energy availability go hand-in-hand, and we can expect that to continue in the future.
Note: You might also wish to discuss the fact that making these things happen isn’t automatic with more energy, but rather requires economic and political policies that encourage the use of the energy in ways that would help to eliminate poverty. - (4) Space is expensive today because of fuel costs, so there are many ways that more energy could make space much more accessible. For example, we might use the energy to produce cheap rocket fuel, or thinking more futuristically, to build a space elevator (see the discussion of this possibility in the lead author’s book Max Goes to Jupiter).
- (5) This is an open-ended question for which students will likely have many creative ideas.
- (6) This is an opinion-based question designed to encourage students to review what they’ve learned about possible future technologies.
Activity
Class Action List
Look back at the discussion from the beginning of this chapter entitled “Your World at Age 100,” in which you discussed two alternate futures for when you are 100 years old: one in which global warming continues to follow the current trend, and one in which the world comes together and solves the problem.
- Working as a class, briefly discuss what you’ve learned about the science and consequences of global warming that most of you did not know before studying this chapter.
- Look back at the class list of recommended actions that you compiled for Question 5 of the earlier discussion. Working as a class, revise the list as you think makes sense to help us achieve the kind of world you’d like to live in.
- Based on your final list above, create either a written or video “class action plan” that you can share with friends and family. After you show it to them, discuss the reactions your class action plan generates.
This discussion returns to one from the very beginning of the chapter, giving students a chance to talk about what they’ve learned. Notes:
- (1) Use this question to help students review the science and consequences from the first two sections of the chapter.
- (2) This question returns to the class list made earlier, giving student a chance to revisit and revise it.
- (3) This is more optional, but we think students will enjoy the chance to put together a “class action plan” and to share it with friends and family.
Journal Entry
On Your 100th Birthday, a Letter to Your Younger Self
Imagine that is your 100th birthday, and you are celebrating a life that has turned out even better than you might imagine today, in a world in which the problem of global warming has been solved. In your journal, write a letter from your 100-year-old self to the actual you of today, in which you give yourself the encouragement you need to set yourself on a path to this great life. Be sure to tell yourself about some of the things you did to help make a better world, and about at least some of the amazing things you’ve seen happen in your long life. Note: For additional inspiration, you may wish to watch the video below (or read the book that goes with it).
This journal entry should help reinforce the theme of teaching with inspiration, not fear, by again having students imagine their future looking back from age 100. In this case, we suggest having students write this letter from their future selves to their selves of today. Encourage them to focus on how education helped them get the kind of career they wanted, the kind of family they wanted, and to be the kinds of citizens they would like to be.