People in 2030: The Zero-Waste Girl
September, London
Mina: 32 y.o.; Occupation: An actress, working as a voice-over artist at an agency; Marital status: single; Lives in: London; Loves: to support the local economy; to keep it minimal; to live environmentally friendly
It was a nice September morning in 2030 when Mina woke up by the smell of a fresh coffee. It wasn’t an actual coffee but a smell from her new home assistant that she recently bought. She decided to try this new extra feature in order to avoid the stress from the sound alarm. She really hated that sound nevertheless it was her favourite tune 5 months ago.
Mina opened her eyes and started to plan her day right away. Missy, her cat, was behaving strangely last night. She doesn’t want to eat and was a little bit more sleepy, so she had to consult the vet and see why she feels that way.
After that, she has to prepare breakfast and lunch for work. In the evening she will have a blind date, so she has to dress pretty. On Depop¹ she found a very nice Marimekko dress from the 2022’s collection made from wood pulp-based fabric. This kind of fabric is very durable and also compostable. Most probably she will re-sell the dress herself after the date because she likes to surround with a minimal amount of belongings.
So the first thing she did after she took a brief shower and dressed in the clothes prepared from the evening, was to call the vet².
“Mina, call Dr Hopkins, please” — she said while she was taking Missy the cat in her hands.
(When installed, every home assistant has the personal name of the owner. It might look like sometimes you are talking to yourself, but aren’t you anyway?)
The home assistant prepared a video chat with the Missy’s Doc. After a few seconds, she hears the soft voice of the Doc and saw his small virtual avatar appears in her room.³
“Hi, Mina, glad to see you, although I know people usually prefer to not see me.”- he laughs — “How’s Missy?”
“Hi, Doc, I’m afraid, she is not very well” and Mina described the situation.
As a result of the teleconsultation, Dr Hopkins cheered her up that Missy will be fine very soon thanks to the drugs that he will send her by a courier. She could start with the treatment when she goes back home in the evening.
It was already 9 a.m. and Mina had to head to work. She was an actress by education, alumni of the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. Currently, she was working as a voice-over artist for a Voice over Agency. The project she was involved in was a voice-over of the Hostess in a new adventure game in an interactive digital room.
This kind of entertainment started 10 years ago in 2020 in Manchester but fastly became popular in London and all over the world⁴. A group of people can book a one hour adventure in a digital room. All walls of the room are touch screens and thanks to a projection mapping, motion tracking, and surround sound the users are entirely immersed in the scenario.
She was excited to work on that project and to experience it herself together with her friends after that.
“Mina, what is my carbon footprint toward today?” — Mina asked the home assistant.⁵
“Your carbon footprint toward today is Zero.” — answered the machine.
“Thanks. Connect home to the windows solar battery and switch to the Daily saving mode, please.”
“Your home is switched to a Daily Saving Mode now.”
“Thanks. Please, run the washing machine at 4 p.m. and open the washing machine’s door once the machine is ready.”
“Sure, no problem. I’ll run the washing machine at 4 p.m. and will open the door once ready.”
“Thanks. I’m going to work now. Please, locate available e-scooters nearby.” ⁶
“I’m locating one two blocks away. I’ll send you the root on your phone.”
“Thanks, Mina. Bye-bye.”
“Have a nice day, Mina.” — said the assistant — “And don’t forget to tell a good joke tonight!”
