by senior futurist Richard Worzel, C.F.A. ➢ Within the next 5 years, self-driving cars will expand rapidly into those commercial sectors where the economic case is overwhelming, but will only replace privately-owned cars more gradually, say over 20 years. Some economic consequences will be profound. ➢ The benefits to cities are so remarkable that urban […] Read more

by senior futurist Richard Worzel, C.F.A. This is the second half of a complete report on the future of infrastructure in Ontario, commissioned by the Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario. The first half can be found here, and provided the conclusions, along with dealing with demographics and technology. This half will deal with climate […] Read more

by senior futurist Richard Worzel, C.F.A. I was commissioned by the Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario to produce a report by September, 2015 on the future infrastructure needs of the Province of Ontario, Canada. The conclusions of my report really apply to the United States as well as Canada, and, indeed, to most of the […] Read more

by futurist Kit Arrow The United Nations report on world population estimates a total of 9.6 billion people on the planet by 2050. That’s an increase of more than 2 billion in the next thirty-five years. There have been discussions on how to feed such a large population, but many of those discussions fall short […] Read more

by senior futurist Richard Worzel, C.F.A. Suppose you were a high school teacher who had just taken a job at a new school, and that you agreed to take over as the coach of the basketball team. You look at your new school’s team record, and find that it’s pretty mediocre, so decide you want […] Read more

by senior futurist Richard Worzel, C.F.A. This is the third blog about water. The first two can be found here and here, plus a blog about California’s water situation can be found here. —————- Fresh water is vital, and we’re running out of it. Water shortages will disrupt economic plans, sap economic vitality, increase costs, and cause friction and disruptions that […] Read more

This is the second of three posts about the future of water. The first can be found here. by senior futurist Richard Worzel, C.F.A. Water scarcity has several causes, all of which compound each other. First is that of the freshwater available above ground or from precipitation, most of it is either located far from where […] Read more

by senior futurist Richard Worzel, C.F.A. Water is not the new oil; it’s much more important than that. There are substitutes for oil, but there are no substitutes for water, and we are running dry. As that happens (and it will happen at different rates in different places), the conflicts over water will rise, as […] Read more

by senior futurist Richard Worzel, C.F.A. California is exceptional. We all know that. Unfortunately, California has become exceptional in a particularly unpleasant way: it’s running out of water. According to NASA, California’s current four-year drought is the worst in 1,200 years, and the state’s reservoirs have only about a one year supply of water left […] Read more