Dateline: April 10 2034
Humanity has always relied on the Earth to provide plants for food, clothing and shelter, animals for work and meat, and minerals for metals and chemicals. Useful materials are everywhere; we’ve known for decades that seawater contains uranium. But now we’re discovering new resources never thought possible.
We’re not relying on geologists to do prospecting any more. Using hyperspectral imaging, trace-element sensing and supercomputer simulation, researchers are unearthing novel molecules and undiscovered species in the strangest places. Some of the most rewarding sites include Earth’s most extreme environments. From the greatest depths of the ocean to volcanic vents and geysers to the driest Antarctic mountainsides, previously hidden gems are emerging.
“We’ve been mining the earth for ages,” said Alex Van Den Laar, “and we’ve barely scratched the surface. Now we’re making miraculous discoveries; abundant fuel sources on the deep seabed, magnificent microbes in the permafrost, and interesting species in the tropical jungle. We don’t need to scour the stars, everything we could possibly need is right here!”
Uncovering all the secrets of the Earth will take many more generations, but we already have the tools to capitalise on what’s been revealed so far. With gene editing tools we can enhance beneficial bacteria to become industrial scale feedstock suppliers. With molecular editing we can bend chemicals to our will, creating long, stable chains of polymers and hydrocarbons, without the toxic byproducts of the industrial age.
The irony is that we could have avoided much of the mining and deforestation of the past, if we had only known what we know now. But at least now we can afford to take better care of our home planet. Abundance is everywhere if you know where to look.
And the Earth has everything we need, when you get down to it.
• First published on Mindbullets 10 April 2025.
Antarctica gives up the gas — and it’s super green hydrogen
Dateline: December 10 2029
Natural gas has long been touted as the obvious successor to coal and oil in the global energy mix. It’s simply cleaner and easier to transform into the most convenient fuels. Even jet fuel is made primarily from gas these days. And the fracking revolution has made gas abundant, everywhere.
On the other hand, environmentalists are anti-gas, because it’s primarily methane and fracking can lead to soil and water pollution. Methane is also produced from rotting garbage and animal waste — biogas — and there the problem lies with harvesting it cost-effectively. But biogas is far more socially acceptable than “fossil fuel” gas trapped underground.
Antarctica, the fifth-biggest continent on the planet, is a pristine icebound wilderness, with unique ecosystems. People and nations have been at pains to protect it from human interference and exploitation, and mining in Antarctica is strictly banned. But surrounding it is the Southern Ocean, and that’s where the latest green gas resources have been discovered.
Green gas is hydrogen-rich natural gas, which means it’s one of the few places in the world where hydrogen can be mined, instead of manufactured. Granted, there’s still a bit of processing to be done, separating the hydrogen out of the mixture, but it’s way less polluting than steam reforming or coal gasification. And it has to be done carefully, as hydrogen readily combines with oxygen and other elements. It’s a pretty explosive substance!
Solar power and renewable energy are great, but heavy industry and jet planes need green fuel to operate sustainably, and if we can’t mine it we have to make it — and that has its own set of problems and trade-offs. Any exploitation of this resource will involve a minefield of international “co-operation” and corporate multinational agreements. Will that prove impossible?
• First published on Mindbullets December 9 2021.
Despite appearances to the contrary, Futureworld cannot and does not predict the future. The Mindbullets scenarios are fictitious and designed purely to explore possible futures, and challenge and stimulate strategic thinking.
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