Future Proof?

17th July 2008

A new way to discover what British life will be like in 2055

Is eating strawberries out of season really as bad as flying abroad on holiday? Which of the small changes we are making to our daily lives to be more environmentally friendly today will have the biggest effect on our future?

A new project called the Future Generator, with a corresponding exhibition at London's Transport Museum, is able to tell us. It examines our lifestyle preferences then shows us what life will be like in fifty years time based on those choices.

The Future Generator game and exhibit are based on a major report from the Government's cross-departmental Foresight Programme and are sponsored by Orange. Together the report and these new findings offer an insight into the role the individual, business and technology can all play in helping to create a more sustainable future.

Various future scenarios are depicted by the Generator - including a compulsory system of personal carbon trading, a ravaged world of ' energy shock ' vastly different to the present day and a high-tech ' interhub ' regulating all aspects of our lives.

In particular, the findings reveal major differences in attitude between those who live in urban areas those who reside in the country. Rural dwellers live surprisingly less environmentally sound lifestyles than those of modern urbanites.

Andrew Curry, Director of the Henley Centre and co-author of the Foresight Report said: 'In terms of the rural infrastructure, as it presently exists, where local shops have disappeared due to larger supermarkets, if you start having high fuel costs or high carbon costs, the countryside as it is currently constructed becomes a horrible place to live. You have to make changes in the way lives are structured.'

For more information and to try out the Future Generator visit http://future.ltmcollection.org/carbon-controlled.html

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