Ever imagine scenarios of possible futures based on different trajectories we seem to be on?

One such scenario is a Mad Max America in the 2200’s. The Southwest has succumbed to desertification from climate change. Peak oil peaked centuries ago. The US was too late to transition to the post oil age. What’s left of us compile hand-cranked vehicles from ancient industrial scraps.

To get around in the 23rd century, we would put together the kind of mutant makeshift creations you see at Burning Man. Simple tech vehicles for a Mad Max future.

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Overstock.com chairman and CEO Patrick Byrne, says we are less than 50% of the way through the mess, he predicted the coming of this current crisis many times before, starting 3 years ago, Watch this montage to see Byrne’s predictions beginning in 2005:

Dr. Patrick Byrne has learned at the knee of Warren Buffett, the greatest investor of all time.  As a child Byrne’s parents would allow him skip school so he could spend time and get an education from the “Oracle of Omaha.” Byrne founded Overstock in 1999, and in 2007 the company generated nearly a billion dollars in revenue.

Today Byrne is suggesting one of the following scenarios could occur in the coming years:

• Reagan Recession:  A deep retraction reminiscent of the recession under Reagan in the early 80’s.
• The Lost Decade:  A protracted recession similar to the one suffered by Japan in the 90’s.
• Great Depression: A severe economic dip on par with the Great American Depression in the early 30’s.
• Mad Max:  Not likely, but still possible, a catastrophic breakdown of society with mass shortages of energy, food, and water.

Which way do you think the economy is going? What does this mean for sustainable economics?
Image: Whymcycles

Good old American ingenuity would not be dead.
Image: David Cushing

Pedal power would be our primary means of transportation.
Image: Whymcycles

We would remember the good ol’ days of the 20th century SUV, nostalgically making new ones to run on just human power.

Image: Whymcycles

Even quite large vehicles could be hand-rolled across our encroaching deserts, moving toddlers and the ancient along comfortably in a Ferris Wheel type of arrangement like this design from the 2009 Burning Man.

Image:  Princess Diablo

Improvising ways to keep off the sun would be important, while staying cool. Textile production was possible in ancient Egypt, so we’d find the old ways again.
Image: Flikr user Princess Diablo

But all would not be gritty and serious. We would commemorate species that had become extinct in the 20th and 21st centuries; in whimsical designs like this.
Image: Waldemar Horwa

We might surprise our 21st century selves with our ingenuity in making such low tech scraped-together contraptions. Using simple techniques they might even be able to…
Image: Waldemar Horwa

…light up at night.
Image: Avi Ostfeld

My favorite would be this one. The elegant proportions are so reminiscent of that ancient 21st century French EV - Venturi’s Eclectic.  The first off-the-drawing-board version. You remember it.

Source: Flikr Burning Man Mutant Vehicles

You look west to see a barren landscape, tumbleweed breezing lazily through the charred remains of a forest.  The rust laden skeleton of what used to be a city echoes the promise of a future long gone.  You are fighting out your days amidst gunfire and tribal warfare in armor composed of animal fur and long deserted hockey pads.  Ironically water isn’t the most important liquid on the planet that spins where the Earth once spun.  You begin to wash the grease smears off your face in a shallow pool…

…oh wait, am I jumping the gun here?

While our gas crises hasn’t quite reached ‘Mad Max’ proportions yet, things are close enough that the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers will make this September “Green Check-Up Month.” After countless years of making oversized and inefficient autos, Ford and Chevy are now going to tell us how to save gas.

Read more of this story »

Image: Whymcycles

Good old American ingenuity would not be dead.
Image: David Cushing

Pedal power would be our primary means of transportation.
Image: Whymcycles

We would remember the good ol’ days of the 20th century SUV, nostalgically making new ones to run on just human power.

Image: Whymcycles

Even quite large vehicles could be hand-rolled across our encroaching deserts, moving toddlers and the ancient along comfortably in a Ferris Wheel type of arrangement like this design from the 2009 Burning Man.

Image:  Princess Diablo

Improvising ways to keep off the sun would be important, while staying cool. Textile production was possible in ancient Egypt, so we’d find the old ways again.
Image: Flikr user Princess Diablo

But all would not be gritty and serious. We would commemorate species that had become extinct in the 20th and 21st centuries; in whimsical designs like this.
Image: Waldemar Horwa

We might surprise our 21st century selves with our ingenuity in making such low tech scraped-together contraptions. Using simple techniques they might even be able to…
Image: Waldemar Horwa

…light up at night.
Image: Avi Ostfeld

My favorite would be this one. The elegant proportions are so reminiscent of that ancient 21st century French EV - Venturi’s Eclectic.  The first off-the-drawing-board version. You remember it.

Source: Flikr Burning Man Mutant Vehicles