Emma Little / Are you feeling optimistic?

It was a crisp Autumn day, beautiful colours and the birds singing. As I cycled up the Innocent Railway path towards work I passed dog walkers and other cyclists we smiled and wished each other a good morning.  I was paying attention to all the life that was flourishing and jumping about around me.  Isn ‘t that amazing, considering 100 years ago, a steam train would have been rushing through, billowing out black smoke , with absolutely no chance of any life being able to thrive?

As I pedalled, I started to drift away, imagining what it could be like in the future.  What if, in the future, our roads became the life channels around our cities?  Since the infrastructure revolves around our small communities, people don’t have to travel so far within the cities.  They walk and cycle when they need to because commuting has almost become a thing of the past.  People work from home much more, only getting together at work for necessary meetings.  We don’t all need our own cars, because there are car pools on the outskirts of cities and high speed public transport services.

I felt so uplifted after this daydream, because although I know it’s probably too idealist, if more people contributed their ideas about what the future could be like, could we end up with a realistic plan?

I’m sure people travelling by rail 100 years ago along the Innocent Railway line wouldn’t have dreamt of what it would become.  Do you think people will be saying the same 100 years in the future about our environment today?