CRYSTAL FLOGG: REPORTS FROM THE FLOGG IN 2033

WE NEED A VISION.

ST LUCIA NEEDS TO REINVENT ITSELF FOR THE FUTURE.

BUT WHO IS GOING TO IMAGINE THE FUTURE?

WE ARE.

Micoud 2033

WELCOME TO CRYSTAL FLOGG

A NEW FEATURE LOOKING AT GOOD AND BAD POSSIBILITIES

IN ST LUCIA 2033

A SMALL SAMPLER:

The color of money

Bio-Tech is the number one industry in the island.

Health tourism, agriculture, the sports industry, food security, manufacturing and foreign relations all depend on it. Discoveries in cancer treatment, HIV/AIDS and diabetes are made by secondary and A Level students messing about with gros ponpon, bois bande and other bush medicine.

IFMs change regional travel

A St Lucian bicycle maker figures out how to make individual flying machines based on hybrid designs of mopeds, gliders and segues. The first model to hit the market is a moderate success. However, when designers modify the IFMs so that they are operated more like motorbikes and less like flying cars, it becomes an international sensation. The company also begins manufacturing a jetski with retractable wings that has a range of 900 miles and a top speed of 300 miles an hour when it is in flight mode. It revolutionizes marine travel in the region. The two inventions make national boundaries between the island irrelevant and unenforceable, necessitating new travel legislation wherever they are sold. The company begins work in Cayenne on a space glider that can exit the Earth’s atmosphere by gradually ascending on air currents rather than blasting straight up. The space glider is tailored not for cargo, but for tourism.

St Lucian farmers form both research institutes and corporations which conduct scientific and business operations in Latin America, South East Asia and Africa. Their successful enterprises lead to St Lucian diplomats becoming powerful mediators and arbitrators in extra-regional conflicts. These diplomats were instrumental in the re-unification of China, which included the independence of Nepal and Tibet, and the honorable end of the Communist Party and it’s transformation into the Growth Party. Ironically, within a year of reunification the twin capitals Beijing-Taipei sell Hong Kong to Australia for a song

Anse Ger student scientists: Diplomacy kisses their ass

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The nursing and teaching programs of the Sir Arthur Lewis UWI Campus have to be franchised out to other islands, because St Lucian nurses and teachers are so in demand in Europe, North America and in international agencies, that the island can no longer afford them and must import from Guyana, St Vincent and even Trinidad. However, because of special contractual arrangements where nursing students get paid to train, but pay back 10% of foreign earnings on a monthly basis, the programs become self-sustainable and become models even for rural and farflung regions of developed countries.

Diesel engines dominate the motor vehicle market after virgin coconut oil replaces petroleum as the major source of fuel for both cars and the national power grid. Other renewable like wind, solar, bio-gas and ocean currents account for about 40% of energy consumption. More than half of all household energy is generated on site and LUCELEC is makes more than 70% of its revenue on service, repair and equipment sales and modification. Less than $100 million of fossil fuel is imported into the island per year.

Student scientists at the Anse Ger Secondary School students discover that adding traditional bush medicines like citronelle and other grasses actually improved fuel efficiency by up to 20%. No one knows why and an entire publishing sector develops on the subject, though most of the theories in said books are utter rubbish. Geothermal energy never gets off the ground and the Sulphur Springs remain and tourist attraction with the International Naturist Christians declaring it and the Pitons a holy site, “where the Hand of God wrote His Signature on the Earth.”

Cocombe Coolie: Name of one of the most successful touring Lucian acts

An alliance of St Lucian artist co-operatives, which had purchased all national cultural festivals from the government only eight years ago, sells the Festivals Holding Company, which also includes a regional multi-media franchise with international cable penetration, for $27 billion. The artists’ co-operatives retain all rights to the entire catalogue of cultural products produced before the company went public. Artists and athletes are the second largest contributors to the economy after bio-tech.

St Lucian and St Lucian-born  athletes win 46 medals in the 2032 Olympics in Kinshasa, participating as part of national teams ranging from China’s national football team to England’s golf team, Bosnia’s track contingent, America’s swim team and of course, the East Caribbean Alliance team.

Two years prior, St Lucia’s gymnastics team, failing to medal in the 2028 Olympics, swept all singles and pairs medals in figure skating. A movie is made about their story and becomes the first film entirely in Lucian patois to hit number one at the box office. It wins Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Director at many American, European and Asian awards ceremonies. Kweyol becomes hip among international youth. A Russian rapper has a massive international number one club hit with a song called “He, He, Hesalop!” spawning a wave of imitators. The CDF sues him, unsuccessfully.