RTW Trip showcasing the future to our kids.

This sounds like a great idea for a RTW! But, I do have a couple of negative comments. My area of work frequently addresses these issues, but at a local scale, and technology can only go so far towards averting these problems. Are you interested in some of the solutions even if they don't involve technology? or are you primarily interested in focusing on technology which may or may not be beneficial? Also, with some of these examples of human achievements comes many negative things (China and human rights?). Do you want to avoid these issues or show both sides of the problem / solution.

In terms of more local solutions there are many, many people / organizations researching or trying to find solutions to these issues. If your kids aren't too young and you don't choose a highly sensitive area then some people may be willing to show you what they do. You could try tracking down people working in areas that interest you and contact them. For example, this foundation funds people using technology to solve problems - search the grant database and see what has been done: http://www.lindberghfoundation.org/docs/. Most local solutions are about finding ways to improve peoples lives so they don't have to kill wildlife / cut forests / pollute water etc... or making people understand why all these things are important and / or reduce the current "disposable" lifestyle.These issues are the root of the large ones, but I am not sure if it is what you are really interested in.

I was meant to add that renewable energy would be a good thing to look at (but not palm oil, since the plantations are very destructive. I would guess many biofuels fall into this category, but I am not sure):
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/home/bioenergy

Edited by: Api

Thanks for your replies. Yes we would be very happy to visit and partake in a grassroots project. We are based in NZ and are well aware of renewable energy sources and some of the contradictions of NZ being "clean and green".

We would also like to keep it fun and in perspective so a 9 and 7 year old can relate to the journey.

A oil palm planation visit, followed a visit to an Orangutan scantuary would be a good example of why we should avoid certain products.

In regards to the technology focus, well I guess that's to satisfy the inner geek in me.

I'm in my 40's too - I went to Berlin last year - we went on an underground bunker tour - it gave me goosebumps - it was one of the bunkers that people were supposed to survive in post the nuclear war. The war I spent all my teens and 20s expecting to end life as I knew it (even though I'm a Kiwi too).

I think a little perspective is that we are far LESS likely to kill our civilisation in this generation than we were just 30 years ago. Berlin as a whole is amazing funky, vibrant city, and just so different compared to a few years ago (Check point Charlie museum is awesome too).

Frankly I think its pretty sad that you want to scare the hell out of kids that young. The globe is probably warming- whether its because of human activity is highly debatable - the science is far from settled (remember how everyone knew the Y2K bug was going to stop all the computers, yeah right!)

What is certain is that the human race is pretty darn special - show your kids Macchu Picchu, show them the great cities of Europe, the Taj Mahal - built because one guy was in love, show them Pompeii - people have changed much in 2000 years. Yeah Dubai is pretty cool.

The world is still a beautiful place: the reefs of Western Australia (better that the Great Barrier), the stunning Grand Canyon, the Highlands of Scotland.

I can't say that seeing corporate headquarters would be high on my list of "must dos" - but I'd love to go to Keneedy Space Centre / Epicot, the museums of Washington

Frankly I think its pretty sad that you want to scare the hell out of kids that young.

WTF! I must have missed that intent in my post, I do not remember saying we wanted to scare our kids. Indeed, one of the major points was to see what the world was doing to tackle climate change. But that is not the be all and end all of the journey. I wanted us to ab able to look at the future and where the world is going, with a sense of optimism. And hopefully we all all be inspired with what we find.

And yes, call me "crazy" but I firmly believe humans are impacting the worlds climate.

The science is really strong as to the fact the climate is changing (it isn't all about warming), but the degree of human impact is a difficult thing to prove (or disprove), but I agree that we must be impacting it. It doesn't matter in many instances because scientists / conservationists are trying to figure out how to deal with the changes.

Orangutans and palm oil plantations would be a good mix. What about bleached reefs and reef restoration / turtle sanctuaries? Habitat fragmentation is a massive problem when combined with climate change, so you could also looks at organizations / places that try and link habitats or that try and make the area around the habitat suitable for wildlife (many coffee plantations in latin America do this - maybe you could try and find some sort of farmstay / homestay). There are also some "volunteer" projects in latin America that look at wildlife and do radio tagging (jaguar) - this is about as much technology as I can come up with for now, but it is interesting because it is looking at human-animal conflicts which are increasing (as human populations expand).

My geeky brother loved the Smithsonian museum in the US. My husband also recently took my daughter to a great science museum in Valencia in Spain. Other suggestions would be riding the bullet train in Japan, going on one of those funicular railways (I think that is what they are called), wind turbines in Northern Europe, visiting one of those big space telescopes like The Dish in Parkes, Australia. Things like the treetops/canopy walk in the Kinabalu National Park in Sabah, Malaysia also very cool. If you also want to look at amazing things from the past, Petra in Jordan would be the top of my list. Also places like Mungo National Park and the Kimberleys in Australia.

Edited by: empressnasigoreng