Imagine Masdar. This video provides a compelling, dreamy look at this zero carbon, zero waste, renewably powered city. Much like the science newsreels from the fifties that imagined the future in luxurious, automated, labor-saving terms. And while the skeptic in you may whisper that it's a little too dreamy, you know that current realities come from, at least in part, the dreams and visions of the past.
But beyond the epic task of creating from scratch a city that is wholly sustainable, what is perhaps more exciting is that this bold, positive vision comes from the Middle East. A place many Westerners view as a hotbed of sullen, reactionary groupthink.
So what if Masdar is the opening shot of a Middle East that leapfrogs past the West, past India and China, past everyone, to take us beyond classic capitalism to a natural capitalism based on an updated reckoning of our use of resources ? What if, instead of dragging up the rear, we find the Middle East drawing us to the future?
Masdar is a layered vision worth imagining.
