THE GREAT DISRUPTION DEBATE
HOW IT WORKS
Every summer, a handful of excellent student debaters take to the Zoom screen to build their case for one very specific event, product or policy change that will be the single most important disruption to what we once thought was our “normal way of life.” This single disruption has a an exponentially positive impact on rapidly advancing a sustainable future, systemically triggering a range of other tipping points across sectors.
Five debaters are selected from a pool of eager applicants. Each gets to build his or her case for three minutes. The audience votes on both substance and style. The future always wins.
HOW TO APPLY FOR THE GREAT DISRUPTION DEBATE
Selection Criteria will be based on the following
Current members of Sustainable Ambassadors are given priority
Participation in at least two of the six 2050 System Workouts
Previous experience in Speech and Debate (classroom or club)
A one-paragraph case for which topic you chose either from the list below or one you recommend
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A list of a few potential topics...
Microsoft Goes Carbon Negative: The ripple effect is felt throughout the supply chain
Nations Ban Fossil Fuel Cars: France just joined the movement to ban fossil-fueled cars. The country will end sales of gasoline and diesel vehicles by 2040.
California Politics: Modern California politics has an uncanny knack of prefiguring what happens in the rest of America in about a 15-year timeline.
Black Lives Matter: The movement forces massive structural changes around economic and environmental justice.
Amazon Prime Delivery Vans: Amazon announces the purchase of 100,000 electric vans. UPS, FedX, and the Postal Service follow the industry. As economies of scale rapidly improve, school buses go electric.
Internet of Energy: Decarbonization, decentralization and digitization will transform the energy sector.
Return of the City State as the locus of change: Nation states give way to trusted local networks of local institutions and local actors that co-produce a local economy.
Battery Storage Innovation: Batteries get better and cheaper determining how fast renewable energy grows, how fast fossil fuel power plants shut down, and how fast the vehicle fleet electrifies.
Green Communism: China leads the world through clean energy technology and autocratic decision making leading to swift and sweeping tipping points.
Autonomous Vehicles: Advances in the transportation industry vastly eclipse the changes over the past half century such that getting from point A to point B will be unrecognizable from driving today.
Ranked-Choice Voting: This simple fix, along with the elimination of the Electoral College, generates a rapid succession of policies for sustainable solutions faster than we thought possible.
Circular Economy: Product design and supply chain innovations unlock a revolution in new value as zero waste becomes a smart business strategy.
The Pacific Northwest Secedes from the Union: The logic of the bioregional movement becomes a political choice point integrating environmentalism, equity outcomes, quality education, local food networks and sharing economies supported by AI.
Electric Vehicle Revolution: Electric cars become cheaper than conventional cars without government subsidies between 2025 and 2030.
People Stop Eating meat: That solves it right there.