Munich 2030: 1 from IDEO on Vimeo.
Munich 2030: 1 from IDEO on Vimeo.
Ahoy, Cool Consumption Yachts! Step aboard the Transrapid Party Train! And get ready for the future of travel, brought to you by the IDEO Munich team, who decided to focus their video sketch on a family grappling with climate change by way of everyday decisions, such as how to spend money (or carbon credits) and where (and how) to travel, with the least amount of environmental harm.
In support of their vision, they consulted with Drs. Susanne Kadner and Timm Zwickel from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, and received an overview of the current situation, as well as the underlying science supporting predictions for the decades to come.
They looked into such things as the Smart Grid, which gives individuals the capacity to be both energy consumers and producers, and the Super Smart Grid, which interconnects a variety of energy production technologies while stabilizing the overall availability of power, even when natural sources, like wind and sunlight, are uncertain.
They learned about the complexity of managing the trade-offs when it comes to powering various modes of transport. (Using biofuels in jets, for instance, emits steam in the atmosphere, which contributes to the formation of cirrus clouds, which creates more greenhouse warming than CO2.) In a global move to electric power, it will be much easier to convert trains than cars, as many trains are already electric, where cars require a redesign of infrastructure.
Water use will also need to shift in response to availability and need, as so much of it is now unproportionally allocated to big industries like tourism and agriculture (in non-native growing regions). The water question becomes “How do we best use what we have for the greater good?”
On a human behavioral level, they discovered the hot debate between adaptation (changing our behavior in the future based on the climate changes that will happen) and mitigation (changing our behavior now to avoid future changes in climate). Only time will tell. However, they say Nicholas Stern, of the Stern Review, argues that mitigation not only achieves a better outcome, but it also costs less in the long run.
Maybe the father in the video sums it up best? “There are plenty of options to live big without destroying the world in the process. Life’s too short.” What do you think?
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