“Good afternoon leaders, innovators,
and esteemed scientists. Welcome to the 12th Annual Conference of
the International Academy of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.
For over half a century, technology has advanced at an ever-increasing rate.
Due in part to this exponential improvement in technology, the past 50 years
have seen remarkable advances in all fields of scientific study. Rapid drug
development and testing, targeted gene therapy, and stem cell transplants have
revolutionized the treatments for many cancers, neurodegenerative diseases, and
immune disorders. Breakthroughs in the delivery and control of RNA interference
has allowed us to keep up with rapidly-evolving viruses. For the first time we
can say, with confidence, that a cure
for HIV/AIDS is on the horizon. Every newborn child can have their genome
sequenced and examined for genetic predispositions to cancer, high blood
pressure, psychiatric disorder, and this list goes on. We have the power to
fight disease before it can begin to take hold of us. We are now exploring
avenues in medicine that were previously unimaginable, and the future of
biomedical research is bright. Our children can look forward to healthy
futures, unencumbered with the burden of disease.”
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I
arrived at the medical examination center at 8:00 am, just in time for my
mandatory annual health exam. I walked into Individual Exam Room 1. On the back
wall of the small room was a wide, flat glass screen with a glass podium in
front of it. “Please insert Personal Identification Device,” said the voice. I
took out my phone—well it was so much more than that now—and placed it into a
rectangular groove on the glass podium. Immediately, my information appeared on
the screen before me. Name. Age. Medical History. Financial History. Family.
Everything you needed to know about me. “Thank you, Eva Michelle Bowen. Please
step onto the platform and look straight ahead.” I stepped onto the small
platform at the foot of the podium. There was a soft whirring sound, and my
hair stood on end. It always does when I know I am being scanned. In an instant
a new set of numbers was on the screen. “Please press left your left index
finger into the elliptical groove on the left side of the podium.” I did, and I
felt a small prick. “Thank you for providing us with your blood sample.” You’re
welcome. A new set of numbers. I did everything I was told, provided every
sample I needed to provide. Each time an updated set of numbers—height, weight,
cholesterol, blood sugar—were added to the electronic database that housed my
entire personal history. “Thank you, Eva, your updated medical information has
been uploaded to your Personal Identification Device and sent to your
physician. You will be contacted if there are any abnormalities. In the
meantime, consider adding supplemental calcium and iron to your diet. Your next
appointment has been made for March 12, 2063 at 8:00 am. Thank you and have a
healthy year.” I grabbed my phone from the podium, and the screen went black.
As I was leaving the exam room, another man arrived for his appointment. It was
8:15 am.
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“Our strides in medicine have
been matched by great leaps in environmental management, conservation, and
alternative energy. Fifty years ago, some refused to believe that human
activity was accelerating the pace of global warming—that our robust industry
and rapid advances in technology came at a devastating cost. Forty years ago,
it was undeniable. Global climate temperatures had increased by 1.6 degrees
Fahrenheit. China’s increasing use of coal-burning power plants and the melting
of the permafrost released greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at an alarming
rate. Extreme heat and unprecedented flooding caused hundreds of billions of
dollars in damage worldwide. But we, as a global community, chose to do what
was necessary to stave off the menacing threat of climate change, to save our
planet. We chose life.”
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I graduated from Indiana University in 2012. That was fifty years
ago. At that time, IU and other
universities in the Midwest were emerging as leaders in renewable energy. While
some people at the time denied the immediacy of the threat of global climate
change, I was inspired to make a difference. I earned a B.S. in Biology with a
focus on environmental studies, and I moved to New York City to work for Wilson Green Power, helping other
universities in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic make the change over to renewable
sources of energy. During my 8 years with Wilson, we raised solar panels,
improved insulation, and installed geothermal heat pumps in 102 universities from
Virginia to Maine.
But about 40 years ago, the most extreme heat wave to date devastated
the Central and Southern United States. Over 50,000 people across the nation
died of heat-related deaths—mostly the very young, the very old, or the very
sick. Stroke. Dehydration. Crops failed and conflicts arose over precious water
sources. Then, two years later, coastal cities experienced extensive flooding
during one of the wettest spring seasons in ten years. Several major cities had
heeded the warnings of climate scientists and built up flood protection.
Electrical pumps and circuit breakers were moved from basements to floors at least
14 feet above sea level. But the precautions taken by even New York City,
Miami, and Los Angeles could not hold off the floods completely. In 2025, the
US spent upwards of $20 billion on flood damage.
It was now about 8:45 am. Behind the wheel of my BioFuel-powered car I
thought about how far we had come since I started working with Wilson after
college. My husband James was working in the yard as I pulled into the
driveway. We retired to Vermont last year. “Tell me you’re healthy,” he said
with a smile, the well-defined creases around his eyes and mouth revealing a
lifetime of smiling.
Some things change, and some things don’t.
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“If you remember, when our
Academy first convened in 2050, we called it “The turn of the Century”—not
because another century had passed, its events to fill the pages of an
ever-expanding history book, but because we had reached a turning point. For
the first time in history, the net greenhouse gas emissions of every developed
country in the world was zero. We managed to reduce emissions to the level at
which oceans and vegetation naturally remove carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere. Considering where we were 50
years—even 20 years—ago this was, and still is, a monumental accomplishment. A
global initiative like no other.
And it began with science and
technology. Genetically engineered plants enhanced with the genes to withstand
hot and dry conditions allowed us to restore vegetation in arid lands. The
effect of the worldwide Vegetation Restoration Campaign was two-fold.
Vegetation consumed carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and, secondly, provided
food and resources, as drought conditions and unpredictable weather patterns
had made them scarce. We harnessed the natural oil produced by certain algae
and used it to fuel our cars—BioFuel-powered vehicles have been on the roads
for 15 years now. We used it to fuel our homes and businesses. Oil-gae fueled
our future, providing a way to simultaneously remove carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere and produce a reliable energy source.
The effects of reducing carbon
emissions will be felt in years to come. For now, temperatures appear to be
increasing at a slower rate over the last 20 years than they had from
1970-2030. Research in science and technology—innovation generated by the
brilliant minds in this room—will hopefully allow us to end man-induced climate
change entirely within this century.”
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I helped James work in the garden for a couple hours. He took so much
care with his garden. He never used synthetic fertilizers. His seeds were not
genetically manipulated. Truly organic, like so few things are now. While the
V.R.C. managed to restore vegetation in otherwise barren regions, it replaced
so many native populations that could not compete in the harsher conditions.
When I travel—I don’t do much traveling anymore, but when I do—I always wonder
how many trees, shrubs, flowers, or crops haven’t been tampered with. How many
of them have only the set of genes they evolved over billions of years, since
the beginning of life on Earth. How much is left in nature that man has not
touched?
Well, there is our garden.
“It’s starting to get a little hot. Should we head inside for the
afternoon?” asked James. Before I could answer, he was already making his way
up the stairs. My legs don’t move like they used to, even since my double knee
and hip replacement. Medical advances in artificial cartilage and joint
replacements still can’t prevent aging or stop me from feeling it. I used to
fly up stairs, skipping every other step, like they were falling out from
underneath me as I climbed upwards. Now, it is a struggle, and each stair is a
mountain of its own. Then again, things just aren’t what they used to be—old
people always say that. I am old now. I can feel the eleven-o-clock sun already
beating down on the back of my neck as I walk inside to escape it. You can’t be
out in the afternoons anymore. At
least, not from Mid-February to November.
Despite the recent
progress we’ve made, despite the work that I did to promote alternative energy
sources, we have felt the effects of climate change. We
noticed it in rising temperatures. By 2025, temperatures in New York City had risen
3°F. Cooling centers were opened
to shelter people from the hot afternoon sun. Blackouts became more frequent in
the summers as people tried to cool their homes. We noticed it in rising sea
levels. The shorelines of coastal cities seemed to be slowly retreating. Tourism
suffered. We noticed it in extreme weather conditions and natural disasters.
Hurricanes. Tornadoes. Floods. Wildfires. All occurring more frequently than
ever before. We felt it. We still feel it.
I poured myself a
glass of cold lemonade. Were these lemons genetically engineered? Things just
aren’t what they used to be.
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“Climate change once seemed like a process we caused but
could not control. Now, we have taken control of the way we influence the
planet. Through birth control initiatives and legislation in some countries, we
have limited global population growth. We have eliminated the use of Styrofoam and
most plastics, and we have begun to clean up the mess they have already caused.
We have launched major efforts to preserve plant and animal biodiversity.
These are challenges we still face. Maintaining the
sustainability of the planet is a problem we will always face. But in the face
of a challenge, the impossible becomes the possible. On the brink of crisis, we
invent. We create. We discover. We bring about enormous change. We, as the
highest functioning species on this planet, are now intensely aware of how we
impact it, and we have embraced our role to initiate positive change.
It is 2062. For decades, we feared the sustainability of the
planet. Today, we look toward the future
with hope, knowing that we will be able to face the challenges that tomorrow brings.”
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Having worked in environmental science for so long—I remained in the
field even after I left Wilson—I am encouraged by the progress that the United
States and many other countries in the world have made.
Still, people didn’t realize the gravity of the situation until we
faced crisis, like the heat waves and floods. With crisis came change, but is
that really how it should work?
Every night I go to bed. I try to remember my life—what I’ve done, the
people I’ve known, the joy, the sadness, the love I’ve felt. I think about how the
world has changed around me, how I have changed in many ways myself. And I fall
asleep thinking about what tomorrow will bring.
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