MY MOTHER’S BROWN HAIR is long and parted
in the center. She is sewing a eucalyptus seed-
pod to a dress made of pale green drapery fabric,
laughing with her friends. She is 19 years old.
It is February 1970, a few months before the
first Earth Day, and students at San Jose State
College in California are throwing a “Survival
Faire,” during which they plan to bury a brand-
new yellow Ford Maverick. The Maverick and
all combustion engines are to be declared dead
because they belch pollutants that have helped
BY EMMA MARRIS create vile, ground-hugging smog in San Jose
LIFE WILL BE DIFFERENT—
AND WARMER—IN 2070.
BUT WE WILL FIND
WAYS TO LIMIT CARBON
EMISSIONS, EMBRACE
NATURE, AND THRIVE.
ON THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF EARTH DAY, WE ASK: WHERE WILL WE BE IN 2070?NATIONAL GEOGRAPHICOPTIMIST’S GUIDE PAGE 18
IN THIS SECTION: COMEBACK CREATURES, WHAT TO DO, WAVE POWER
VOL. 237 NO. 4