The Unity Movement presented good ideas and had the potential to weave itself into the social fabric but its influence eventually ebbed with the times. Its philosophy and calls to empathy became a point of conversation, an interesting titbit about some person or other, but ultimately no more important than the party they voted for. Instead life continued as it had before, with promises in the future of limitless power or flying cars, and the conviction that one day mankind would find a way if it just kept looking.
While the Resource Wars had defined the latter half of the 21st century, it had become uncomfortably apparent to all parties that a repeat was nearly inevitable by the early 2120s. Despite all the reclamation and efficiency initiatives, all the sustainable efforts to conserve and recycle what remained, the population was simply too large and the mistakes made early on in industrial history too great.
[ ] Increased militarisation was inevitable as a result of the shortages, as even those who did not wish to fight needed to be a great enough obstacle to dissuade any opportunism. When the pinch came, leaders inevitably were required to use their resources. It was a clean war, as wars go, with minimal casualties. Then there was another. And another. Even if the loss of life was vanishingly small compared to history, some were left prosperous and others destitute. In this way the peoples of Earth learned the hard truth: when it came down to it mercy could only be offered by the strong.
[X] The increasing shortages and failures of infrastructure for lack of material laid bare the devastating consequences of strife. Military expenditures were diverted to shoring up desperately needed utilities, with the world breathing a sigh of relief as it backed down from the industrial warfare that could cause so much misery and cost so many resources. As nations all struggled to get by they could not afford the upkeep of a strong military, and over time warfare and its waste took root in the public consciousness as one of the great setbacks in human development.
[ ] Faced with a descent back to the darkest days of the prior century, massive efforts were undertaken to develop solutions that would enable humanity to maintain its quality of life. Destructive mining methods were used without hesitation if it meant preventing a backslide into barbarism, the seas were seeded with genetically modified algae, and the first nuclear rocket launched thousands of tons to prospect the asteroid belt. When needs must what needs must be done. Slowly but surely under the twin thrusts of innovation and necessity humanity reversed its downward spiral.
