C.Y.O.Topia

As if we didn’t have enough on our plate! It seems the climate is going to be even more bothersome in the not too distant future. I’ve been working with a scientist and a science-fiction author on a new podcast called C.Y.O.topia (choose your own topia). The premise of the podcast is to present two alternate realities of 2050. In each reality, humanity has been able to restrict the increase in average global temperature to only 1.5 degrees C, which is an optimistic projection. The difference between the realities is the means by which we achieve that temperature increase. In one reality, we achieve it by cooperation, government relief, restructuring the tax system and real incentives to make better choices. The other reality is unstructured, chaotic and polarised; a rough projection of our current economic model. My job for the podcast is to illustrate the two different realities. We wanted to capture a city in 2050 and have a look at how it would function. We chose an Edinburgh analog because that’s where we are based.