Our world is experiencing a convergence of global phenomena manifesting as a paradigm shift in both consumer and business behavior. A global pandemic is sweeping the globe as previously mundane activities such as business meetings, local gatherings, and social events have come to grinding halt and are stuttering to start again and get back to “normal”. This could be compared to the U.S. 9–11 attack that left the U.S. shaken and a major shift in security posture from the Stock Market Exchanges to air travel. Security at airports have never been the same. One could easily imagine the current situation of reduced occupancy capacity, social distancing, wearing masks, religiously washing and sanitizing our hands, and virtual meeting and networking the new “normal” as variant strains prevent the complete inoculation of the population and “herd” immunity is never quite achieved.
In this pandemic, in-person meetings are being replaced with digital virtual presence which has accelerated the transformation towards full digitization of our previously analog world. The final enclaves of analog are moving into their final chapters as the economic sector laggards are either seeing benefits of digital efficiency or feeling the pressure of disruption as digital encroachment brings greater economies of scale, lower costs, and ultimately decentralization.
Simultaneously we are experiencing a dramatic change in the earth’s climate which results in new global weather patterns. This shift in climate is, presumably, a result of our biosphere counteracting in ways which affect us today and will continue to alter our environment in ways we are already experiencing in more extreme localized weather phenomenon.
Our planet mainly functions as an extreme scale carbon recycling system as all organic systems that exist on the planet are carbon based. Carbon dioxide is expelled by animals and human-made energy systems. Carbon dioxide is consumed by plants and oxygen expelled to be consumed by animals, the cycle continues. Surplus carbon dioxide is recycled through weather systems, namely storm systems which wash the atmosphere, sequester, and recycle carbon dioxide in the ground and water system.
The current trends brought on by increased carbon dioxide emissions are leading to more rapid change in the global climate system resulting in greater temperature fluctuations, warming oceans, shrinking ice sheets, glacial retreat, sea level rise, ocean acidification, coral die-off, and more extreme weather system events.
Class five hurricanes are becoming the norm as the biosphere attempts to recycle excess carbon into the ocean through storm systems cleaning the atmosphere. Ocean acidification and warming are direct results of excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Massive rain storms are flooding areas of the planet as these weather systems are becoming more and more frequent and violent.
As we move towards more violent weather systems as seen in Louisiana, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, Texas, as well as China, India, and Indonesia we also see other areas of the planet experiencing water shortages in the form of drought such as India, Somalia, Uganda, South Africa, California and Colorado to name a few. Areas affected by drought in 2017 were above the 1901–2017 average. Extreme drought conditions affected at least 3 percent of the global land area in every month of 2017 [1].
The central theme of climate coupled with the rapid transformation into a fully digital economy are two main drivers of the next paradigm shift. The climate is undoubtedly changing and we must prepare for this change with a dramatic shift in thinking about our current infrastructure and resource consumption from agriculture to healthcare.
There are a number of industries that would benefit from decentralization while relieving the strain placed on the planet for natural resources and waste from extracting, manufacturing, or transporting those resources, namely atmospheric pollution in the form of carbon dioxide and ozone, environmental pollution from plastics inundating landfills and our oceans as well as industrial and agricultural waste being flushed into our water supply. A serious rethinking of how goods are produced and supply chains are structured along with advances in technology could lead to more environmentally and economically efficient infrastructure that is hyper-local and potentially hyper-efficient.
