RTW Trip showcasing the future to our kids.

Hi Everyone

We are now in our 40's and in our lifetime there has been huge changes in the world we live in. The fall of the iron curtain and the end of the cold war, 9/11, climate change, the rise of China, the decline of the US and Europe (IMO).

Every day technology seems amazing to me, plasma screens, Ipads, the Internet.......

We were discussing doing another RTW, but this time we have a bigger budget and we will also be bringing our kids. And I wanted the trip to highlight areas and places that was examples of how the world was looking forward.

Climate change is a big concern and I really wanted our kids to get a sense of what is happening on a global scale, shrinking glaciers, deserts advancing, coral bleaching etc. But I do not want it all to be doom and gloom, what are the emerging technologies to help address this, who is producing it and can we see it? I would love to go to CERN, to see where the cutting edge of physics is.

Cities that showcase what we as people can achieve, Dubai and Shanghai spring to mind.

Can we go to Apple or Google's HQ? Is it worth it?

What are good examples of sustainable living?

So I wondered if fellow TT'ers could provide suggestions? I know it's quite a broad brief, but I would really like to hear your input.

X-Posted to travelling with kids branch.

There's another side you might want to check out to.

Judges ruling it's illegal to drink unpasteurized milk from your own cow.

Monsanto suing small farmers when some of their seed shows up in their crops that got there from birds.

Corn being grown for fuel, when the world is facing a food shortage & there are better crops that can be grown to produce fuel. Politics plays a major role there.

Just a thought to focus on things that can be changed. the climate has been in a state of change since the beginning of this planet & will continue to change long after we are gone.

I'm trying to figure out how you'd do an activity showing how corn is grown for fuel and failing.

I've already left you guys an answer on another travel forum that will go nameless but just wondering how old these kids are?

Hi Guys

The kids will be 7 & 9 yrs old, when we leave. So of course, we have to make sure that, things are appropriate for their age and not just appealing to the inner geek of me. I guess I want them to be "awe inspired" and for us to filled with a sense of optimism that the future is not going to be bleak.

Thanks for the "other" reply Andromeda, exactly the type of info I was after!

Ok cool- honestly at that age when it comes to real science facilities I suspect your biggest issue will be taking the kids along as often you can't take under 10s or under 13s there (Mauna Kea for example is an out due to extremely high altitudes- I know CERN has a visitor center so that may still be ok). It's part government security/liability, part us big kids are even more possessive of our toys than younger ones.

So yeah if you have science-y questions for visiting places do ask here as I'm more likely to notice/reply- and if you're in the USA my article in the December issue of Astronomy is literally the ins and outs on visiting astronomy sites in SoCal like JPL, Palomar, etc etc, so that might interest you... Other places that might be of interest are the Boeing plant outside Seattle (biggest building in the world by volume!), Air and Space in DC/ the new hangar in Virginia where they have the space shuttle/ the Enola Gay/ lots of other stuff, Houston/Cape Canaveral of course... yes I have an American bias but forgive me, it's what I know and who spends by far and away the most on such development even today.

Did you see the article on this website about islands to see before they disappear? What a great lesson on global warming to go to a beautiful place with beautiful people and know that it is destined to disappear.

We found that seeing people living a more-or-less subsistence life in contentment was a grand lesson....to realise that people today still live exactly how they were a couple of thousand years back, and that it still works....they will be the ones who will experience little change if Peak Oil turns out to be true! The communities planting, tending, harvesting their rice together may be at the whims of the weather, but they also have some special lifestyle-values that many in the sophisticated west have lost.

Have you considered going somewhere in Africa perhaps and seeing water programmes at work? Or to the slums of Kolkutta to inspire your kids about a need that they might one day be able to do something about? (visiting Big Brother Mouse in Laos spurred out kids to greater action and we have continued to sponsor books now that we have returned and the kids have worked on a project for them from NZ too)

Andromeda wrote:I'm trying to figure out how you'd do an activity showing how corn is grown for fuel and failing.

I've already left you guys an answer on another travel forum that will go nameless but just wondering how old these kids are?

I imagine a visit to a Monsanto learning center, either in Scott MS or Monmouth IL see & listen to their propaganda, then discuss what was learned there, just might be classed as an activity that would be informative. Plus falls in the learning parameters you have outlined.

Have you heard of the book Monkey Dancing: A Father, Two Kids, and a Journey to the Ends of the Earth by Daniel Glick? He had similar ideas in planning a RTW trip with his family; it might give you some ideas.