Rather, they are stories of the future based on the particular assumptions and questions held by Cultural Creatives. During the first decade, a fringe movement becomes a cultural shift toward CC values and more sustainable practices. Science and technology begin to retool toward sustainable systems, and green taxes dramatically alter the economy. Nonetheless, so much environmental damage was inflicted in preceding years that global warming combined with accumulated toxics and the pressures of population growth induce a major biosystem disruption. Like dominoes falling, populated coastal areas flood, food supplies collapse, and epidemics rage.
People turn to their neighbors, family, and inner life.
Out of necessity society embraces a simpler lifestyle of reduced consumption, a deeper commitment to community, and a reverence for nature. Spiritual values are ascendant, and we are able to draw upon the social capital developed over the past decade. The Internet, due to its organic design, survives the disruption reasonably intact. It facilitates community and personal connection and is used to create informal local economies through barter and information exchange. Meanwhile, government is overwhelmed, its resources tied up in disaster relief.