The future we want
by Jonathan Hiskes.
The Future We Want is a planned
multimedia project—short videos, traveling museum exhibit, a mobile app,
maybe an Imax movie—that wants to present “a positive vision for a
sustainable society.” The project bills itself as an antidote to the dystopian
landscapes we see in The Day After Tomorrow, The 11th Hour, The Road, Wall-E, and the like.
There’s a preview site
now that shows attractive urban neighborhoods with broad sidewalks, sleek
light-rail lines, and svelte CGI residents. The founders are looking for funding to
build out the rest. Veteran energy advisor Bill Becker tipped me off to the
project, which he created with real-estate imaging artist Jonathan Arnold and
community planning organizer Ken Snyder.
I’m intrigued. I’ve
been wondering
about this sort of thing and highlighting similar works on the hunch that lots of people are convinced it’s time to move beyond our
sputtering fossil-fuel dependence and on to something better, but they have
trouble imagining what that “something better” looks like. Appealing visuals
seem essential for overcoming their status-quo bias.
But seeing that
strategy on display here, it’s sort of unconvincing. The preview videos have an
upscale-chic feel that calls to mind condo ads in lifestyle magazines. Surely
the future won’t all be this sterile.
To be fair, this is
still the preview site. And I’ve always been more disposed to words and music
than computer-generated renderings. The bigger problem, though, is the same
reason Hollywood turns out so many dystopian movies. Danger alerts us, grabs
our attention. Danger is sexy. Safety lulls us to sleep. It’s tough to make
compelling drama out of a happy-green-prosperous future—even if that’s where
we want to live.
Here’s the sort of
video they want to produce. I’d love to hear what you think, readers. Is there
any promise to this approach?
Related Links:
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