ecoTrain Question of the Week! What changes have you seen in the world in the last 20 years, and in which direction do you think we are headed?

What do you think the world will look like in just 20 years? How far have we come in the last 20 years? Are we headed toward a Mad Max or George Orwell future, or are we moving toward a blissful utopia? This week eight @ecoTrain passengers have pondered and written on this very thought provoking question from our unique perspectives. It is SO interesting to read the various thoughts we have, and see the common threads as well as the variety of opinions. If you are fearful of a terrible future, maybe have a read and see what we think is going on! Sometimes our greatest fears are our greatest saviour.

Write With Us!

If you would also like to write on the QOTW and share your thoughts and views, please write link your post in the comments section below. I will check back for 7 days and will be up-voting and re-steeming my favorites answers from you all. If you have been thinking to join the @ecoTrain then this is your chance to show us what you can write, because we will invite one person who has written on this question to join us and be a part of our small but very cozy and supportive community! (Please do not use the @ecoTrain tag, just link it in the comments below)

Please do enjoy, and feel free to comment!

@solarsupermama

It seems like ten years isn't that long, but wow. A whole lot has happened. I was staffing a Sudbury school. I only had two kids, and they were 9 and almost 6. It was a presidential election year in the US, and some of us were still naive enough to believe that the worst was nearly behind us and that Obama would bring positive change for the world. It seemed like we were on the cusp of a beautiful flower opening.

Like all politicians, he wasn't who he said he was. And now we seem to be pretty much living in Idiocracy. The police state all around the world, particularly in the US, has swirled completely out of control. US police killed more than 100 people in the month of January alone. Sex abuse and harassment charges are swirling all around. Discoveries about the abuses of child protective service agencies all around the world are being uncovered. And only God knows what the FBI, CIA, and other similar agencies around the world are up to. Darth Cheeto and Lil' Kim seem to enjoy trying to push each other to the edge of global destruction for fun. Personally I've had one baby leave the nest and birthed two more. I freed myself from an unhappy relationship and found another. I sold pretty much everything I own and moved to Belize. I had a massive plan fall to pieces and lost a shit ton of money. I have lived in destitute poverty and am currently rising from the ashes.

@eco-alex

I have lived in a remote community in India for the past 12 years. During that time i have visited Europe briefly every few years. It is interesting to view the world through snapshots, because you can see the changes happen with more clarity .. a bit like how you don't notice your children growing up unless you are apart from them for some time. I have also had the opportunity to visit Indian cities and see how they have changed and evolved since 2008.

When I think back to 2008 the most obvious change are of course technological! When i used to take out my cellphone or laptop I used to have a crowd of Indians around me watching and looking. I was a rarity in 2008 having a colour touchscreen phone! Nowadays almost everyone has one, and no one even flinches if I get out my iphone in public. The mobile phone already revolutionized India in many ways, and the smart phone just took that to the next level. This technological change is also every prevalent in Europe, and most notably the increase in automation, and ubiquitous use of smart-phones.. I can JUST about remember the days when I used to queue up or wait for hours and would just sit there thinking or fiddling. Now there is no such thing as waiting any more, its just an opportunity to check in on everything on-line.. even if it takes absolutely hours! WE do seem to be ditching human service very quickly now, and I can see that happen in almost every step of my journey. When I buy a train ticket i use a machine. When i pass through passport control I use a machine. When i pay for items at the supermarket, there is the option to self checkout with a machine..Although it is not apparent yet, these changes are very significant, and may also be a pointer toward where we are headed!

@misslasvegas

When I first saw the question I thought, NOOOOOO...I am SO not going to answer that. But then I realized it was only 10 years, so it would still be hard to guess my age LOL.
10 years is nothing really, and yet: so much has changed in only those few years.

So what changes have I seen?
Economy

First of all, we’ve seen an economic boom and crash in that time. Recession has hit many and the poorest among us the worst.
Here in Ireland alone, many families are still facing eviction out of their own homes because they bought into the bank's stories when they told them the economy was at a high and lending and mortgages were handed out like wildcards on the playfield.
The Irish bought property left, right and center. A family home here, a holiday home there, all in the name of the Celtic tiger.

Now, many of these same people either have been evicted from their homes so the banks could repossess their property, a lot are now either homeless or worse.
The number of families who have at least one parent who didn’t know how to face their increasing problems and decided to step out of this life into the next is staggering.
Families broken apart and now dealing with depression and/or trying to handle living without a loved one. But the banks don’t care. As long as they can twist their money grabbing fingers into the sides of the broken and pull out whatever they can pull, there is nothing anyone can do to stop them. The resistance is there, but it is not enough....YET.

@stillwatersart

That is the question posed by @eco-alex to the @ecotrain members. This will be my first post as a member of the Ecotrain and I am excited for the challenge and am honored to get to contribute and learn from these people who are dedicated to making the world a better place.

One very encouraging change that I have seen is that a new generation is going back to the land and realizing the importance of growing their own food and healing the land.

In our local area family farms were dying out and most farming is large scale mono crops. Then probably around ten years ago there emerged the first CSA in the area. Now there are probably 10 or more and also many “pick your own” fruit farms. Many of them are created by some young people in their early 30’s and they are networking with others and creating communities that support each other and value organically grown food, music, and creativity.

These young people didn’t choose the corporate world. They choose to get up before the crack of dawn and feed and care for animals or pick their crops for the farmers market.

Their entrepreneurial spirit has revived our dying downtown area and turned it into a very hopping place to be. The old crusty people who wanted to stifle progress are either falling to the wayside or getting on board and loving the changes. When I say progress, I don’t mean tearing down the charm and character of our town, I mean reviving it and making it even better than before.

@likedeeler

I have seen lots of changes obviously in the last ten years and in answering this question I would like to focus on changes which for me all come under a common theme, decentralization and individualisation.

The driving forces behind those topics are obviously technology, but also, and even more important, a shift in consciousness, because all improvements, all manifestations in the material world start from thoughts, and in order for minds to think those thoughts, there must be a certain kind of consciousness.

I think in the last ten years there has been some awakening going on among people, like a second renaissance, this time not against the progress and science hindering manifestations of religion, but against the manifestations of government, rule of force, central banks, fiat money, against all those things which serve only a few and enslave the rest.

It´s called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe in it.
George Carlin

@mountainjewel

In the past 10 years we have been on a binge as a global society.

We've consumed copious quantities of STUFF never before seen on Earth.

This has led to the alarming and rampant consumption of the Earth's resources.

What is the cost? And where are we headed?

This image highlights both the problem and the solution. By creating art with waste, new pathways are forged and we can look at our trash differently.

Heedless Consumption is Violence. Full Stop.

I hope this post triggers people and raises questions for all. This is not meant to preach, alienate or discourage, but to raise awareness and inspire action for the creation of a more beautiful world, one where waste management and conscious consumption is prized over convenience, ease, and possessing.

@vangelov

Things can't be looking any better when looking towards the horizon. I have a really strange way of seeing the world we live in but that doesn't change the amount of beauty I can see.

Until now I can honestly say that we've been living in hell. When we look back at the world and go back in history everything seems to be at a standstill, yes I know, technology has advanced but that doesn't make people any more loving or peaceful.

When we look back we can mainly see one consistent pattern of human evolution. A pattern revolving around. Money, death, envy, greed, and lust.

Those have been humanity's driving fuels for quite the time now. Everything that we've built is somewhat sourced from them. But these times are long gone now. People have started gradually cleaning themselves from these fears of the past and as that happens better things are given birth to.

@clara-andriessen

Hey you, Thanks for stopping by. What changes have you seen that make you excited about the future? I have seen many exciting changes. Many of which you can find as topics of my posts, because I write about exactly that, what makes me enthusiastic in life. Hopeful things. 😃 I see hopeful changes on all three levels of our earthly existence: ON THE PHYSICAL/MATERIAL PLANE: Transportation: I see positive change every time I take the train in Holland. There is this new train called FLIRT ( Fast Light Innovative Regional Train). It just makes me feel part of a positive future when I step in to that train. Not only does it have a step that slides out from the train towards the platform for people who are older or parents with strollers and such, but it has free internet, free phone and laptop charging usb sockets, separated trash ( organics, plastics and waste ) AND it rides completely on electricity derived from windmills! Those things make me happy!

Much love to you all, and many thanks to the @ecoTrain passengers for taking part! This was a challenging question and we hope to have inspired you to write your own!

Thanks for being here with me and the @ecoTrain!

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