NYC 2045 Origin Story
Lenapehoking's New Beginnings

When we first hit one degree of warming, it felt like the world was unraveling. Homes were swallowed by rising sea levels, wildfires turned the air unbreathable and the sky a hellish orange, savage storms and prolonged rains led to devastating flooding, and the winter was late, short, and brutal. Despite constant warnings decades before, we were not prepared. Early on, a devastating hurricane caused the Potomac River to swallow the White House, leaving us without a centralized government. A new fungus developed, aided by the warmer, wetter conditions, and infected all food supplies. It spread quickly, rapidly adapting to different environments, and evaded our notice until it had affected the entire population. It spread to other organisms as well, uniting us with these non-human neighbors through shared experience. Its symptoms are varied and unpredictable, but it results in long term disability in all cases.

    Neighborhoods began to organize themselves, shedding hierarchical standards and instead operating as one body. We learned from our forebears, who refused their place as animals in hopes of controlling nature. Instead, we began to listen. Indigenous communities’ knowledge and leadership was recognized as essential to the survival of these localized, sustainable communities. Researchers began to translate natural signals in earnest, sharing their discoveries with all who would listen. Many communities now have multiple experts in this field, who translate the messages of other organisms for the community. Our environmental and agricultural efforts are guided by information gathered through mycelia and bees, who know the land better than we could ever hope to.

Our communities are made up of a number of smaller groups, each of which focuses on a skill necessary to the survival of the whole and acts autonomously. There is no central governing body; groups interact as needed, and important decisions are made by a committee, with the guidance of interpreters. In the first months after the collapse, we focused on modifying existing buildings, accessing and distributing resources that had been held by government institutions, and making our surroundings more accessible. 

    Rather than our roles being determined by the biased acquisition of higher education or access to certain industries, we learn our roles through unstructured study and apprenticeship, and switching roles is common, often driven by one’s shifting health, abilities, and interests. School systems now primarily exist to give assistance to those seeking out their passions with a suite of installations to assist like maker spaces and art studios. 

Plurality is valued greatly in our society. Through listening to our environment, we have learned that our decisions need to be based on creating a healthy ecosystem. This applies both to plants and animals as well as with other humans and their cultures and ideas. Many internal biases are eliminated as a result of the great strides that have been made in developing a newly coined mindset of plurality. There are few experiences in our world that have not been considered and that have not been integrated into the fabric of society. The needs of the environment are also integrated in the fabric of society in the form of green buildings that sport native foliage to combat rising temperatures and a built environment that is accessible to the aging community as well as individuals living with physical disabilities. Native plants are reintroduced into available greenspace to support the local ecosystem and these patches of plant life are part of the intricate system of bee foraging sites that help connect interpreters with nature to ensure the health of the environment.

Resource sharing is commonplace. “We’re all in this together” mentality rather than “every man for himself.” We return to some indigenous ways of knowing and interacting with other sentient beings. 

Climate change led to the disruption of bees, and we have to study the bee dance to save our food supplies. The bee-climate dependence theory is supported by over 50 years of reach by the year 2045. Connecting back to our lens of world disruption through the eyes of a dancer as the bees and dancer connect on an emotional level. The dancer loses their stamina as the disabling effects increase, and the bees lose their dance.  The dance is provoked to find a solution for the bees, which in turn becomes a solution for losing stamina as a movement performer.