The Long Boom

About ten years ago, I read a  book titled, The Long Boom.  It presented a very appealing vision for a future that would be marked by prosperity.  I was so taken with its message, I contacted one of the authors, Peter Leyden, and asked him to participate in a documentary titled, The Hydrogen Age, that I was working on at the time. I traveled to the Bay area to the offices of The Global Business Network, of which Pete was a fellow at that time. 

Pete Leyden gave us a great interview. It was also fun talking with him about The Long Boom.

Here is a link to the original Wired magazine article that prompted me to read the book.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/5.07/longboom.html

The Long Boom vision was that an extended period of economic prosperity was ahead for the world, built on three technological pillars; clean energy technology, bio-technology, and  nano technology. The long boom meme  was supposed to deliver decades of prosperity as the world transitioned to a new kind of economy that was compatiable with nature and sustainable over the long term.

Unfortunately, reality interviened.  I quote from page six in the book.

'Politics can either make or break this long boom. We can do the right things and sustain it, or we can do the wrong things - or  do nothing - and cause it to peter out.'

The ideas put forth in The Long Boom were noble and reassuring. Huge strides have been made in clean energy technology, bio-technology, and nano-technology in the ten plus years since the book was first published. Despite that, the world is caught up in what could best be described as a nauseating myasma, brought on by the corrosive politics of self-interest. We are not doing the things we need to be doing to make the long boom fully blossom. Why? Because public policy is in the hands of those who have become rich and powerful serving the status quo. Change to them is an anathema. Their intransigence is a big part of the struggle between the 99ers and the one percenters, who are happy with things just as they are.

Pete Leyden is now heading up a group called Next Agenda, that specializes in taking big progressive ideas from inspiration to reality.  Here is a link to that organization...

http://nextagenda.com/offerings/speaking/bio