What Will 2209 bring?

I think that if we continue on the same path that we are currently on, DC will be in for some major problems. If we keep polluting the atmosphere as much as we do now, DC probably will be nonexistent in 2209, because climate change would’ve grown exponentially and most, if not all, of the polar ice caps would have melted. AU might be able to survive, since we are at one of the highest elevations in the entire district, but I don’t have much hope for the National Mall and the rest of downtown. If somehow we avoid being covered in water, I think that DC would still be a disaster area. With all of the restrictions on downtown growth, more of the areas that are currently residential will begin being transformed into commercial areas in which the American consumer can shop. This means that people will have to move further outside of DC to find places to live, which will keep creating this suburban sprawl that is already quite large. As people move further away, not only will we have to create more roads for the cars that they will be driving into the actual city, but we may also need to convert the farmland that lies right outside of most of the current suburbs. The areas that we could be using to grow local, more sustainable food would be turned into more housing developments and “dirty energy” power plants to make sure that the people live as comfortably as they would like. All of these predictions, however, come from the idea that people would keep trying to live here; in reality, if we continue this way, many people might leave the area since it will be too polluted to live healthy lives.

If people today really stopped to consider what the future might look like, they would be more open to thinking of new ways of creating a better future. In the DC of 2209, I would hope that there would be much more sustainability in all aspects of life. By this time, production nationally would be done in such a way as to reduce waste in all parts of the cycle. We could still be building new buildings and prospering, but these materials would be completely sustainable (either recyclable or from previously recycled materials) and the process in which they were made would have cut wastes. In order to power these new, green buildings, we would use alternative types of energy, such as wind and solar energy. The areas outside of the city would be kept for farming; they would also be reverted to family farms which produce a wide variety of foods instead of large, commercial farms that only grow one crop and sell their products across the country. There would also be greenhouse buildings, multilevel structures where fresh produce can be cultivated year round instead of just in the summertime. Not only is it better for the environment, but it is also healthier for the population to eat fresh grown foods. All buildings that are built would also have their own water purification systems, so that excess rain water could be turned into useable water for the building, so we would not need to rely as heavily on underground water sources. Overall, with drastic changes in our policies now, we can ensure that life in DC and the rest of the world will continue comfortably and sustainably.