Hey Presto, Transformation

Julie walks across the grass and finds a nice spot in the sunshine. She spreads a towel and lies down. She’s not here just to sunbathe however. She rummages in her bag and pulls out a folder of notes, spreading the folder out in front of her. Then she props herself up on her elbows, flicking her pen and thinking about her work. This is history. And she needs to write a bit more history before she’s got enough for the current assignment. Here’s how it reads so far: By 2070 the world was really on the brink of collapse. International trade had all but ceased, with nation states highly protective and closing their borders to foreign investment, foreign goods and most of all, immigration. A siege mentality reigned, and meanwhile national governments were struggling to keep control of their own populations. Food shortages, water shortages and collapsed economies were leading to civil unrest on a massive scale – and in some cases, to revolution. But then, as we all know, came the change. Perhaps there were signs of it, stretching back a century or more, with activist groups and protests of one sort or another. But they had seemed so insignificant compared to the scale of the problems they had been trying to address. We know this time, of course, as the time of the Great Transformation – and when it came, it came quickly. The reasons for this I will set out later in this essay. But for now, let’s look at the consequences…. Julie looks up from her folder of notes and pauses for a while to think over what to write next. Unbelievable, what these people had faced, two centuries ago. But, to be honest, all that she’d learnt about history so far was suggesting that they didn’t lead such very different lives to the way people are living now. It was more about a change in attitude than a change of technology or economics, or anything else. How had that change happened so fast, all those years ago? That’s what she needed to explain in her essay. But for now, yes, stay with the consequences. She looks around at the town square where she’s lying – hoping for clues. It’s quite a small square of old buildings – perhaps circa 1900’s, she guesses, based on the architecture. There is the grass she now lies on, in the centre of the square, and some trees for shade. Cobbled pathways run here and there. A few cafés and bars line the square. There’s a gentle murmur of voices from these and from other folk sunbathing on the grass. Others sit beneath the trees, reading, or working, like her, or just enjoying the weather. There are birds singing in the branches above her head. What’s missing? Julie thinks. What would it have been like in 2070? Noise, is the first thing that comes to mind. This square, and in fact the whole city, would have been full of noise. Cars, lorries, buses. Aircraft flying overhead. The square could have been tarmac or concrete back then and probably the centre of it would have been for parked cars. All of this in amongst a city dominated by the interests of money and all of it consuming energy as if there was no tomorrow. There hadn’t been too much to do to this square really except get rid of all the vehicles. Which, in turn, got rid of most of the pollution. Which, in turn again, started to let nature get a foothold. It was as simple as that. But imagine this same scenario played out in millions of streets and squares, thousands of towns and cities, right across the world. Small changes, on a global scale, add up to a lot. So then, nature bounced back. And with more nature, better climate and less pollution. And with better climate and less pollution, even more improvements in nature. And so it had gone on, until, 200 years later, the natural world was as thriving as it had been back in the 19th century. And you could see the same cascading effect in people. A bit of resistance – don’t take nonsense from government any more, don’t let BIG MONEY rule – and small changes had to be permitted. With those small changes, further demands. Tighter controls on pollution. Legal protection for eco-systems, animal, bird, insect and plant species. Clean energy. Safe water. Food security. Then more change. And more. Somehow all the trappings of power and hierarchy just melted away. It seemed that this would have been impossible – and it’s not even clear how it really happened – but today, somehow, there is just no abuse of power. Not only that, but there’s hardly even a glimmer left of what ‘abuse of power’ really meant. Could you take someone from the 21st century and explain to them what living free of power even means, Julie wonders. A ‘post-power society’? So a new politics came about, mostly without much conflict, despite the riots and civil wars that were bubbling away in the 2070’s. Somehow, governments had been just sensible enough to listen to their citizens. And most citizens had been just sensible enough to make their demands in civilised ways. With political change came economic change. With economic change came technological change. And with all that came cultural change. People – the difference in people – that was the big consequence. People had started out just demanding something be done about the rapidly-worsening state of the economy and the world in general. But as changes were achieved, so in turn did this change the people. How to describe the changes in people? Julie looks around again. Everyone seems so relaxed, for one thing. No-one is hurrying. And everyone looks very unique, of course. When you look back at video footage from the 21st century the thing that strikes you is how angry and impatient everyone seems. And how uncomfortable with themselves. Kind of manic and self-obsessed. Trying to express who they are, but failing miserably, because very few knew themselves. Their efforts at ‘authenticity’ – as it was called then – just seem laughable to Julie. How strange though. How strange that, in a way, so little was needed to make such massive change. A bit more self-awareness, a bit more sensible discussion, and hey presto, transformation! But then, most big upheavals in history were like that, Julie thinks. Before they happen they seem like impossible dreams – after they happen they just seem like common sense. Julie rolls onto her back and looks at the trees and branches above her. She’ll try a bit more writing later, she thinks, but for now there’s the bones of the essay sort of worked out. Thank God, thank God, she thinks, to be born in an age when all that’s behind us. Thank God we came through.