[In 2045] There is no more coal burning, and very little oil burning. Electricity comes from solar, wind, and other renewables. Most people live in either small towns, or if in cities or suburbs - have grocery stores within walking distance, like in the 'old days'. Bicycles are the norm. Buildings are smaller and closer together. High speed electric trains and smaller electric transport vehicles are there for longer distance travel. But long distance travel is restricted by rationing (more below). Large areas are preserved as wildlife habitats and as respite areas within and around all towns.
It is normal for most people to grow their own lettuce and basic vegetables and to have a chicken for eggs. Many have small beehives. People who eat meat, eat it one day a week - on Sundays. It is known to not be healthy to eat it more often, and it causes too much green house gas to have more meat production than that. Now - meat is grown locally, to avoid the problems of huge, overcrowded, anti-biotic intensive feedlots, and to reduce transportation costs.
There is little sea-life left in the oceans - as they suffered greatly from industrial fishing and acidification before countries all agreed to lower CO2 emissions. It took many major storms along with sea-level rise of 4 feet since 2015, to get everyone to co-operate. Northern Europe is quite a bit colder now, as the ocean currents changed with the melting going on in the Arctic and Greenland.
Central America, Mexico and Southern California are all desert, like the Sahara, except at the very edge of the coast. Most of the once flourishing agricultural districts are abandoned. New Orleans, Galveston, Miami, & Norfolk (VA) and similarly situated coastal cities around the world have all been permanently evacuated. Most of the people fleeing on this continent ended up in Canada. Those people in the Middle East, India and China who survived the wars, famine and flu, have been moving to Siberia.
What with WW3 and WW4, as people fought over water supplies, agricultural land and and reduced resources, and as many died from influenza when antibiotics became ineffective - the world population has been reduced to 2.5 billion. People figured out that the planet cannot tolerate more people than that - and even that many may be too much.
All the countries agreed at a world congress that no person (each woman and each man - whether as a couple or separate) will have more than 2 children. So that helps. Most people have children fairly young, by the time they are 20, to have the healthiest children (various pollutants in the environment mean more birth defects in offspring as parents age). Once a person has 2 children he or she is ‘fixed’ so they cannot have more. People generally go to college while their children are young. By the time their children are in school, they are ready to join the work force.
People are generally happier, as society has matched everyone to a job. This is done with computers - analyzing aptitudes relative to anticipated needs for the society - so that people know where to put their efforts. Work weeks are 25 hours. Everyone learns at least one creative activity for their leisure time. Many play some sort of musical instrument. Most people do some photography or movie-making, writing, or digital game design.
Almost nobody believes in God anymore. WW3 was Patriarchy’s Last Stand - the war of the Judeo-Christian-Muslim big God religions - and they all lost. So the churches all became yoga and meditation community centers and/or homeless shelters - until societies finally fixed the inequality problems. Female genital mutilation was eradicated from places who were holding on to that practice. Women’s equality is accepted world-wide.
Racial equality is not even as issue, as most people accept that they are mixed race, anyways. It’s difficult for people to comprehend, nowadays, how a person’s skin color was a reason to treat the person badly.
All countries have adopted some sort of Socialism. Following Iceland’s lead, the bank CEOs were finally imprisoned after the Bank disaster of 2018. To fund WW3, the wealthy were required to pay taxes on bank and trading transactions, all monies, plus luxuries. Following the War, all the countries banded together to tax the wealthy regardless of where they lived, or where they put their money. The trillions that were being held in Swiss and Cayman Islands types of banks were used to equalize the world-wide monetary system and implement universal education, universal healthcare and clean water, as well as solar, and wind power - worldwide. Reasonable banking & trading reforms were implemented. There are no more ‘Hedge Fund’ billionaires.
“Developed countries’ came to terms with the fact that having people work for some cents per hour on the other side of the world (with goods sold at Walmart) was tantamount to slavery whether we could see it or not. It did not make sense to be transporting things back and forth (in light of our better understanding of global warming), so while it was difficult to implement, esp. for ‘developed’ nations, there is now a world-wide minimum wage.
Energy use is rationed, so that nobody in the world can hoard at the expense of others. People finally accepted that the world is finite, and one persons overuse affects everyone and the planet. There is serious peer pressure for everyone to cooperate. Plus the punishments is having to go without power relative to how much power was over-used. Since this can be monitored easily, it is easily enforceable.
There is no advertising for consumer goods. Once it was proven that overconsumption was killing the planet, and ourselves, methods were implemented to reduce it. Advertising had to go. There are still ads for things like music and community events. But there is no longer an NFL or any of the big sports things. They were mostly paid for by ads. People attend local games and events - mostly as participants. The internet continues as a means of connection, but it’s not as big of a time killer as it was when it first started. People got tired of it. People like to interact with actual, live, people.
While people in developed countries live simpler lives, overall, there have been some exciting medical advancements. A certain amount of energy is allocated for medical research. Alzheimer’s is identified and treated when people are in their 30s. Most Cancers have cures. Various immunological diseases were eradicated once the link of the lymphatic system and the brain was discovered (in 2015). There is less stress inherent within society, so there is less anxiety and depression, and less mental illness.
With better diets, and exercise, people are generally healthier. People decided that they didn’t think it was so great to live a super long time - such as over 90, and medicine does not try to prolong life unreasonably after that age. Older people are appreciated for their wisdom, but medical resources are mostly used for younger people.
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