It might be hard to believe, but we're about to turn the page on the first decade of the 21st century. As 2009 comes to a close, it's a good time to take a look back. Way back.
Remember when Ricky Martin topped the charts, The Matrix hit the big screen and the apocalyptic computer meltdown of Y2K was right around the corner? It was 1999, the dawn of an information age. Once we figured out how to take the batteries out of our Furbies, we saw rapid transformations in the way we communicate, organize, and consume in the ensuing decade.
For most people, the Y2K hysteria is as distant a memory as the hiss and moan of a dial-up internet connection. But the feeling of connectedness has only grown since the late 90's. First it was the widespread use of email, and your computer talked to you: "Welcome. You've got mail!" Then cell phones took off; friends and family are suddenly always available to chat, and the number of payphones declined by 50% over the past nine years. Then bite-sized blasts of information could be sent via cell phone, eliminating the need for vocal communication. Now "friend" is a verb and the number of people who have watched a home video called Charlie Bit My Finger on YouTube is seven times the population of New York City.
Bill Clinton ran his second presidential campaign in the same way as John F. Kennedy: strong presence on television and printed media outlets. The only discussion happening among voters was in households or within discrete communities. Technological advancements since then have created a world that made the Obama campaign possible. Taking their lead from young people, Obama organizers spawned one of the greatest grassroots movements in history.
Obama's campaign encouraged user generated content such as video mash ups of speeches that worked from the ground up, rather than preaching from the already cluttered mass media. Users could then watch the videos when they wanted and share them with friends, fueling the expansion of support. To "go viral" was suddenly the only way to break through the enormous amount of information Americans encounter every day.
What about environmentalism? In 1999, environmentalism was only for the few dark green tree huggers out there. Polls throughout the 1990s found that people had a scarce connection to climate change in their daily lives, and even fainter was a concept of how to overcome it . There was very much a "Somebody else will do it" attitude. Today, green is cool and renewable energy is as hip as Miley Cirus (well, almost).
Environmental non-profits have grown 4.6% per year since the mid-90's; that's almost twice as fast as all non-profits. Furthermore, the growth has largely been in local, regional and specialized groups. Why? Because they now have the tools to get things done. Before the onset of the internet, groups needed a deep pocket to be effective in reaching the media. In 2009, they just need organizational skills and a Twitter account.
And a good thing, too, because this dramatic increase in the communication and organization tools available to environmental groups has coincided with accelerating deterioration of the biosphere. During the past ten years, three United States were added to the world population, six percent (180 million acres) of the world's tropical forests were leveled, tens of thousands of species went extinct, 300 billion barrels of oil were burned, and 300 million metric tons of carbon dioxide were added to the earth's atmosphere.
We're beginning to see examples of groups capitalizing on the internet's enormous potential to catalyze solutions to pressing global problems like climate change. Upstart organizations like 350.org, the Climate Project and Alliance for Climate Education have catapulted to the front of the environmental movement using online tactics to grow and rally their networks. What was once door-to-door grassroots organizing is now largely screen-to-screen, often in 140 characters or less. These movements would not have been possible in 1999, and the tools that made them possible are only growing stronger. While the path to overcome climate change remains unclear, the amount of discussion surrounding it has grown enormously and is now nearing the center of the political arena.
What hasn't changed since 1999? Two things: the Harry Potter craze and our sense of ingenuity. Today we have Lady Gaga, iPhones and a president who is not afraid to say that climate change is real. For the first time in history, the potential now actually exists for individuals the world over to come together around a common cause. The coming decade will be telling one, in which the power of these adolescent technologies to translate an information revolution into meaningful change will begin to show its mature potential. How things will shake out is anybody's guess, but in a world where 1,500,000,000 people began using the internet over just the past decade, the future is bright.