Predictions for 2011
By Roar Shepperd
2010 is quickly coming to an end. Was it a good year for you? What does next year have in store for us? Recently, I’ve been looking at future patterns based on past global behaviors. Personal research, along with what research centers have shown, reveal some amazing trends for next year. In short, we can say that next year will be a decisive year for the Earth. It’s obvious that a change is coming, and it looks like we may see a period of unsettling events.
The first possibility is a set of major floods in the spring. These massive floods will sweep away the fragile spring buds, creating a reduction in food crops from early summer. Like flooding destroyed all the cabbage in Korea this summer, making for a sharp increase in prices, we will see a rise in foodstuffs by 4 to 5 times next year, and not just in cabbage. In particular, outside of vegetables, we may see a huge spike in the prices of bread and sugar. We will have to appreciate the taste of fermented pickles as a snack! It’s recommended to prepare foodstuffs and basic materials before May.
Already we can say the world has entered an inflationary period and economic crisis, although it’s not being stated publicly. If you speak to the people on the streets of Madrid, Lisbon, Paris and Athens, the crisis has already hit and people are struggling with basic survival. Unemployment there among those in their 20s is already above 30 percent. Even in Seoul, the cost of food stuffs has nearly doubled within a short period.
Next year we will see various natural disasters, more exposures of government and corporate wrong doings, which is meant to show us their duplicity; exposure of a secret corruption scandal, perhaps at Wall Street; and the sudden on-take of the ``Oil Peak” crisis. ASPO (The Association for the Study of Peak Oil), has stated clearly that our world oil reserves will peak between 2006 and 2010, and this was already shown in the ``Hubbert Peak” presentation in the 1970s. A ``peak” in oil means that even if we keep pumping, the usable reserves are already dry.
Thus 2011 will represent the start of a new era. Image our lives without oil? Our entire material civilization is based on oil, from our heating, plastics, computers, cars, and cosmetics _ almost everything we use. Petroleum is a wonderful non-renewable resource that takes millions of years to form; it’s extremely useful and cheap. Its discovery is intractably tied with the rise in science, technology and capitalism. But now we are entering into a new era, the era that goes beyond oil. Except for a few noble European nations, no one is talking about this situation. We are completely unprepared for it.
We need to prepare our consciousness for the shift that will come in 2011. The future will see a need to farm together, share work and food together and prepare alternative energies together. How can you do these all by yourself? If the heating is cut off in your comfortable apartment in Seoul, what will happen? We have failed to prepare for the future that is here due to our lack of foresight. At least, it’s important to prepare our minds. Why these changes are coming, I will continue to explain next time. Let’s enjoy the end of 2010.
The writer is a visionary and plant communicator. He is helping open the first Seon Culture and Experience Center in Jeju in December. He can be reached at nukeroar@hotmail.com.