Nov-Dec 2000 Forecasts

A magazine of forecasts, trends, and ideas about the future.
November-December 2000, Vol. 34, No. 6

Contents of the Current Issue

Back Issues

Online Indexes:
Author Index A-L
Author Index M-Z
Index of News Articles

Reprints/ Permissions

Writer's Guidelines

Send a Letter to the Editor

Top 10 Forecasts From Outlook 2001 Report

Current Forecasts

Special to Web visitors, here are a few of the editors' favorite forecasts from the November-December issue of The Futurist:

Good news for skiers: Global warming could actually increase snow cover. Researcher Ross Brown at the Meteorological Service of Canada has found that snow cover in North America increased during most of the twentieth century. Reason: Higher temperatures evaporated more water from the oceans and released it as either rain or--where close to the poles--snow. --Tomorrow in Brief, page 2 of the print edition.

Future farmers could make more money from the air than the land. Wind ranching allows landowners to sell wind to electric utilities, earning as much as $2,000 a year from one turbine on a quarter acre of land compared with $100 worth of corn on the same plot. --Lester R. Brown, chairman of the Worldwatch Institute, page 6.
An elder-care crisis in the near future could make baby boomers forget about the child-care crunch of the recent past. As the over-85 population skyrockets, the demand for professional home-care aides and other elder-care providers will soar. Beyond the near-term problem of helping their parents, baby boomers could face impoverishment themselves if they do not plan now for their own long-term-care needs. --Sam L. Ervin, CEO of the SCAN Health Plan, page 26.
Dieting in the future will be more fun and less frightening. Fear of food (and of being fat) has caused problems such as anorexia nervosa. In the future, healthier dieting will target specific needs, such as reducing high blood pressure or thwarting osteoporosis. --scientist Brian J. Ford, author of The Future of Food, page 42.
Tissue engineers may one day grow a "heart in a bottle." Using a fibrous "scaffold" that is seeded with stem cells, researchers could coax the cells to grow into the needed organ. Skin and cartilage have already been grown this way. In the future, organ generation could help the tens of thousands of patients in need of organ transplants. --Vladimir Mironov, chief scientific officer with Cardiovascular Tissues Technology, Inc., page 52.

To order the print edition of the November-December 2000 issue of THE FUTURIST ($4.95 plus $3 postage and handling) or to become a member of the World Future Society ($39 per year).