Aristotle is supposed to have said "Give me a lever big enough, and I will move the world." Today, we need to say "Give us a vision big enough, and the courage to act, and we will change the world."

These short stories are offered as a contribution to a vision of Earth's future as an ecologically sustainable, just society, in which we are able to work our way through the many challenges that confront us. The stories are not about the completion of the vision, but the making of the vision, the process by which we summon up the hope and the determination to make it happen.

Someone once said that an optimist is someone who hasn't understood all the facts. That may be true - but it is also true that a pessimist is someone who hasn't understood all the opportunities. The examples, models and technologies that we need to create a paradise on Earth already exist.

Around the world today, there is an incredible blossoming of initiative, creativity and personal commitment by people who have the determination to make this world a better place. The skills and the experience we need, we pick up along the way. It is these people who are the role-models for my stories - which is another way of saying that almost all of the initiatives described in the stories are already happening, as the notes explain. They are a celebration of the present, projected into the future.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Margaret Mead

Some readers might think that the stories are unrealistic, because they ignore the many barriers which stand in their way. The biggest of these barriers, however, is the belief that the barriers are insurmountable - and this we have the power to remove, because it exists in our own minds. We need to be outrageous in our visions, and steadfast in our belief that our visions can come true. We are like molecules in an amazing parade, about to form an organism. We CAN build a solar society. We CAN stop the tiger from becoming extinct. We CAN close down the World Trade Organization or the World Bank, if that is what it takes. It IS possible : the biggest enemy is not the global corporations or the banks, it is our own willingness to become cynical, instead of being outrageously vibrant in pursuit of our dreams. We are stardust, making our way back to the Garden.

If you want to keep up-to-date with the kinds of positive initiative described in these stories, I recommend YES! Magazine (PO Box 10818, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, USA. http://www.futurenet.org)

My personal home is just outside the city of Victoria, on Vancouver Island, on Canada's west coast, which is why several of the stories have locations on the island. We all need to create visions for our homelands, to invent the futures that we want to inhabit. I would like to see films, even musicals, set in the possible future. If you have written a story set in the future about your neighbourhood, region or country, which expresses the values of human compassion, social justice and ecological sustainability, and you would like see your story listed on this website, send it to me by email at guydauncey@earthfuture.com. I'll set up a link to your home page, and New Society Publishers will consider publishing the best.

At this website, you'll find links to the groups and organizations that are working to realize these visions today, as well as alternative endings to Kamchatka's Reprieve, readers' feedback, and who knows what else. I hope you enjoy reading the stories as much as I have enjoyed writing them.

Guy Dauncey,
Victoria, British Columbia
September, 1999