Ideas for the changing world

I believe this week's readings had little to say about social innovation for changing climates and the additional pressure of underprivileged nations.

The signs of a changing climate arouse interest from citizens around the world- but few as much as the Maldives. The small island nation is vacation home for many Europeans and Americans who loves the tranquil open ocean and endless beauty of being so far from bustling urban environments. Very few of those people are residents but for the 300,000 citizens it is troubling to be less than 2.5 meters above sea level at its highest point. Discussion around climate change to bring higher sea levels is a threat to the homes of Maldivians. Their resistance against mass migration to mainland India and the pressures of international development around carbon output are the rock and hard place which Maldivians struggle with. But these are not the only two solutions, Netherlands innovation company Waterstudio, has some input on future models of lifestyle.

 Not too different from the man made islands in the Emirates, Waterstudio proposes a model for floating water housing similar to something out of the movie Waterworld. Even this concept for a conference center in the Maldives is outside of our traditional views of architecture. This aquatecture hybrid works with water as a base and brings a possible solution for the problems faced by the island people. In a soft archipelago like the Maldives it would be a very long time until these types of designs are outdated by the height of the water between sea level and continental shelf. Because tourists love this location so much, these expensive buildings are a very realistic possibility for the nation's future. Climate change could bring some very drastic changes to the style of life, but innovation is the key for developing humanity through these challenges. While others stand to profit.

Change opens up a variety of opportunities. In Greenland, the gold exposed by the melting of the permafrost opens up many doors of possibilities for production and extraction. Some European nations are excited to begin extraction. Their are many untapped natural resources in the world's lands above 60 degrees of latitude. Hopefully these types of innovations bring enough benefit that we can wash out the losses brought on by serious climate change. My view on encouraging these types of innovations at the rate we would need to face drastic changes means creating a world economy which is extremely fluid, has very little switching costs and enormous benefits for those involved in the network of innovation and design. But there is so much more discussion to be had about that topic which is not been had and even more research to be done about the possible policy futures for a theoretical world of quick adaptation and low switching cost world economies.