Futuristic Garbology: A Vision

We gaze with some apprehension at a sleek, shiny machine that looks like a cross between a sports car and a small spaceship. Illuminated in a vertical cylinder of light, the time capsule silently awaits our entry; it gives no clue to what we can expect at our destination, the year 2032. With racing hearts, our small group of garbologists enters; we strap ourselves in. Soon the countdown begins. There is only the briefest feeling of levitation, a slight rising sensation in the pit of the stomach as though descending in a fast elevator, and then we are there. As we exit, our curiosity is at fever pitch. What has happened to the Earth in the three decades we miraculously skipped over? Before we departed, the world’s population was rapidly approaching 6 billion, with many signs that the environment was finally wilting under this onslaught. We could only guess at what three more decades of continued environmental degradation might yield. Would we find air that was breathable, only traces of an ozone layer, any remnants of tropical or old-growth forests, any parks or green spaces in cities? Would North America be one giant parking lot? With these questions buzzing through our brains, we begin our futuristic exploration, like archeologists working in reverse. We move invisibly through this new time domain, knowing that we can only observe and not affect anything we see. It is clear that we are still in New York City, but what a change! The streets are no longer choked with car traffic, although small motorized bicycles, some built for two or three people, are darting everywhere. There is no haze in the sky, the air feels clean and brisk, and the streets are completely free of litter. Recycle containers are ubiquitous; they are green and divided into six compartments. As we soon discover, every house, apartment building, streetcorner, park, airport, shopping mall, and baseball diamond has recycling containers; there are no waste bins. People treat garbage as a resource rather than as something undesirable, and they spend considerable effort in separating the various recyclable components, whether they are at home, at work, in a cafeteria, or at play.