From Fossil Fuels to Flying Cars: How We "Crawl" Toward the Future Today
We’ve all seen the movies: flying Deloreans fueled by banana skins and a world where, as Dr Brown famously said, "Where we’re going, we won’t need roads". While that high-tech, regenerative future feels miles away, the transition has already begun. We are currently facing a global fuel crisis, witnessing the early ripple effects of a fuel-constrained world where rising costs pressure everything from the food chain to general trade.
As we navigate the "messy middle" of this system transition, the question isn’t just what the future looks like, but how we get there. Building the future doesn't happen overnight; it happens in stages of evolution. This is where we implement “crawl, walk, run”.
Here are the actions we can take today, during the "Crawl" phase of building a future with flying cars, to help build the foundation for a world beyond fossil fuels.
1. Shift Your Mindset from Ownership to Access
One of the biggest cultural shifts we can make today is moving away from the "white picket fence" reality of individual car ownership. In the future, transportation will likely be an on-demand, community-driven initiative rather than something collecting dust in a garage.
Action: Experiment with living with less. Whether it's selling a car or simply using it less, we can begin to rely on shared systems like ride-shares, public transport, or even the feet we were born with.
2. Embrace Local Resilience
As global supply chains become more fragile due to fuel constraints, nations and individuals must rethink their strategies. The future of transportation is deeply linked to local resilience.
Action: Look in your own backyard. Support local manufacturing, join community food systems, and shop locally. By reducing the need for long-distance transport for daily goods, we relieve pressure on the current system while building the community-led foundations of the future.
3. Adopt "Micro-Mobility" Patterns
We are already seeing a "pattern break" in how people navigate city streets. The rapid normalisation of e-scooters, e-bikes, and Lime scooters is a perfect example of a technological and cultural shift happening in real-time.
Action: Use alternative transport for short commutes. These small changes, cycling more or sharing sidewalks with scooters, are the early layers of a more flexible, electrified movement system.
4. Remove Assumptions and Ask "What If?"
The greatest breakthroughs in history, from Henry Ford’s assembly line to early infrastructure investments, came from people willing to break existing patterns. To move toward a future of "nuclear diamond batteries" or "air buses," we must first remove our current assumptions.
Action: Start a mental exercise for your own life or business: What becomes possible if we remove fossil fuels or roads entirely?. By working backward from a future where these problems are already solved, we can find the "genius ideas" that emerge when old systems begin to unwind.
The Journey Ahead
We are currently in the adaptation phase, using what we have in new ways. As we move into the "Walk" phase, we will see these actions integrate into larger systems, like autonomous vehicles and new energy sources.
The transition might feel like chaos, but it's an evolution in how we navigate an element of being human. By choosing to walk, cycle, share, and think locally today, we are already building the strategy for the era of innovation that lies ahead.