Welcome to NewFuturism.com!


New Futurism is the home of Jason Harris (that would be me!) and also serves as the base for the Redlines speculative fiction anthology, which I am in the process of compiling for publication.  Last spring I also started a project entitled, 'Ground Level Futurism' which seeks to provide a platform for community based forecasting and problem solving.  Our first Ground Level Futurism project involved interviewing a diverse group of individuals in Baltimore and the surrounding communities and asking them three questions about current events, the government and community building.  Go to the Ground Level Futurism page to find out more!  Also check out the links page for a comprehensive listing of sites that highlight Sustainable development, Green Technology, and cutting edge creative work. If you have any questions, please go to the contact page and drop me a note!  If you are looking for information regarding Samba or the East Side Thunder Project, click here!

To Bogota and Back......

A couple of months ago I embarked on a seemingly ridiculous endeavor- I had two months to pull together a trip to Bogota, Colombia.  Passport expired. Not enough vacation time accrued. Still unpacking from moving into a new house, so where is that box with my birth certificate again???  Oh, and how am I going to pay for the airline ticket???  I had every reason to look toward some other tasks.  Well, I'm back from Bogota and Gaviotas.

 

Want to see some pictures?  Visit Baltimore2Bogota.tumblr.com 

 

Over the next couple of months, I will be posting what I gathered in Colombia, in particular the wisdom of one my heroes, Paolo Lugari, founder of Centro Las Gaviotas. 

Over 40 years ago, a group of Colombian scientists and artists, led by Paolo Lugari set out to do the impossible- create a sustainable community in a barren, arid plains in eastern Colombia.  Gaviotas has not only flourished, it has done so in the midst of civil war and sporadic support from the outside, fashioning solutions for the people of Llanos (plains) and beyond.  Gaviotas engineers have created their own windmills to collect energy to power the village; they have created a sleeve pump that has facilitated villages having clean water where none was previously accessible.  Most impressive is the fact that Gaviotans have planted about 2 million Carribean pine, and the trees have had an astounding effect on the enviroment in the Llanos; rainfall has increased by 10% annually, and the land, which was part of the Amazon River basin eons ago, started sprouting up flora that has not been seen in the area in thousands of years.  Gaviotas in short is one of the few places on the planet where an organized community has interacted with Earth in a manner that has resulted in positive changes for the planet. 

 

 

 

REDLINES: BALTIMORE 2028 - a vision of Baltimore in the near future.

‘RedLines: Baltimore 2028’ is a collection of short stories set in Baltimore, Maryland that will give voice to the various community based perspectives on our future and shine a light on various sections of Baltimore’s cultural landscape. Baltimore’s unique position as an intersection point of Northern and Southern culture, the mystique it holds as a port city, the development of the bio-medical industry in the area, and the effects of globalization and immigration are all components that make Baltimore a compelling setting for speculative fiction.

 

 I have previously collaborated with artists here in Baltimore for various projects, but I've always wanted to collaborate on a book. I am inspired by the work of Toni Cade Bambara,who used her prodigious writing talent as an extension of her social activism. RedLines is a way for local writers to artfully express their vision of the future; I also see it as a way to frame the discussion about the development and direction of Baltimore in a way that is accessible to the general public. Speculative Fiction has always served faithfully as a source for corporate and military interests, so I don't see any reason why it cannot inspire community action.

 

The Title

The title from the book comes from the name of the rail system that is being constructed here in Baltimore. While Baltimore has made strides in adding bike lanes, I feel a system similar to Curitiba, Brasil's BRT System would not only be more affordable for a cash strapped city, but could serve as a model for the rest of the United States.

 

The 'new' Redline here in Baltimore was preceeded by the infamous 'Highway to Nowhere', a public works boondoggle which displaced thousand of families in West Baltimore. Redlines also represents a play on the term redlining, a practice that unfortunately has been entrenched in Baltimore since early last century. Naming the anthology in this manner is a way for me to creatively highlight the need for community voices to be included in decisions here in the city.