Just Imagine - Living Space: Your views

(CNN) -- Where will we live in 2020? What will our homes look like? Send us your thoughts and we'll print the best ones here.

From: Maggie Cai, Toronto, ON, Canada
Date: November 21, 2007
Your view: I think in the future, we should use the skyscapers for more environmental uses. Like the glass used on skyscapers can help generate solar power to supply the need of the building. addition to that, we can build a type of wind mills on the top or side the the skyscapers so on a windy day, all the powerful wind would be turned into electricity.

From: R NAME, College Station, TX
Date: September 1, 2007
Your view: In response to your floating house story - They already have floating homes. Mark Twain wrote of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer and the trip down the Mississippi. There have been house boats since before WWII. In Maryland they dug barge canals for boat traffic before rail roads existed. Vietnamese people have lived on the sea for a long time. In Mexico they had floating islands and I think there were floating islands in parts of South America as well. In Europe they sometimes placed towns on high ground in the middle of a lake and when the enemy came they removed the bridges. In Florida the native Americans created islands above the water level and lived in towns in the swamps. In Louisiana Cajun people are famous for living in the swamps. Venice is built to use boats rather than cars - gondolas.

From: Kevin T, Hephzibah, GA
Date: August 28, 2007
Your view: Are floating houses the answer to rising sea levels?

I see the good points and bad. While moving with rising water from excessive rain, or broken levees saves your house from flooding, what protects you from the damaging winds of a hurricane? Now your house is above the trees and various, anchored, wind breaking objects.

For New Orleans, a city that is essentially under a river, I believe a massive project to elevate the city above the river is the proper fix. Dredge the river and fill the low points of the city with soil.

From: Shadasia Lewis, Macon, GA
Date: August 21, 2007
Your view: I think a hotel in space would be amazing. I would love to go. If I had that kind of money it would definatley be worth every penny. Science and Technology has come so far.

From: Shawn Floyd, Los Angeles, CA
Date: August 21, 2007
Your view: Congress would have an Emergency Session, right after the report on the war. In that session they would draft and pass an Emergency Supplemental Spending Bill of 3 billion dollars to fund a project. That project would take 30 months to operate with Congress receiving the principle with interest back after the 30 months. That project would teach the American working class to be more prepared economically for generations to come. This country is in a transitional period, we must prepare ourselves to be more service orientated, while we poise ourselves to be leaders of manufacturing of alternative energy, fuels and other fields of productivity. The project will economically enhance social security, health-care, and the urban policies of this nation. Once the American people see the importance of duplicating the project from the private sector, this country will turn the corner on unlimited employment growth.

From: James Nemec, dallas, TX
Date: August 20, 2007
Your view: So much for the mile high club. Now it's the zero gravity club.

From: L P, Auburn, WA
Date: August 20, 2007
Your view: If I had the money I would do go into space in a heartbeat! I missed the boat on becoming an astronaut as NASA didn't train women when I was of age, but going into space has been a lifelong dream and one I would do at a moment's notice.

From: JIM L, NAPLES, FL
Date: August 17, 2007
Your view: Our priorites are not directed to our imediate needs to sustain life on this planet for our children. Space tourism is a great thought until you think about the impact it will have on the environment. Not to mention the "space garbage" it will create. But as long as there is entertainment from it, the general public will accept it.

From: Joe Cepec, Columbus, OH
Date: August 17, 2007
Your view: Absolutely! It would be the rush of all rushes to stay for a few days in an orbiting space-station. Anyone from the Ohio area who has grown up on the tracks of Cedar Point would have to jump at the opportunity to blast off Earth and see the stars. Since I don't plan on having my four million dollars to spend on this venture for several years (have to finish school first) I certainly would be willing to volunteer myself as the "test dummy" that would try this adventure on!

From: Jaime S, Ayala, Fort Worth, TX
Date: August 16, 2007
Your view: the mayan calendar ends on 2012 everybody on the planet will want to go to space in order to survive the great change. i would love to go no money though it is my dream to travel across the universes yes there are many universes PEACE an LOVE

From: Sam S, Boro, NJ
Date: August 16, 2007
Your view: The thought of this hotel in space sickens me. Launching a rocket into space carrying a couple people is the definition of global warming and pollution.

From: James Ellison, Houston, TX
Date: August 15, 2007
Your view: I think that the typical thought of space stations are retarded. Zero gravity is a problem for almost everything, bone and muscle development, spacial orientation, etc....not just bathing.....why don't engineers just build a station that is spherical so that a replica of gravity can be seen by just spinning the station.

From: Saad Tarik, Toronto, ON, Canada
Date: August 15, 2007
Your view: I think we will be living in this space hotel planned for 2012 and will only think once up there,had we cared about global warming earlier we would'nt have left our home. It's due time that people especially governments start taking more interest to curb this problem of global warming and it's affliated effects on our environment.

From: Robyn Scott, lynnwood, WA
Date: August 14, 2007
Your view: I think the idea is irresponsible. The world is in a war and people starving, leaving them homeless and you want to spend money on a space hotel. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The normal citizen cannot afford $4million on a 3 day vacation/8 week training. Only your movie stars, republicians, and Bill gates can afford this. Totally outrageous!!!

From: Matt Brind'Amour, Pittsburgh, PA
Date: August 14, 2007
Your view: In regards to a line at the end of the article about the space hotel and the pollution impacts of space travelers. What pollution comes from sending a rocket with 6 people on it into space? Maybe I'm wrong but isn't the byproduct of rocket combustion pure H2O? Is their a pollution concern with adding water molecules to the atmosphere? I would think that would not be a very significant impact. But I could be wrong.

From: PRAKASH JHA, DOHA, Qatar
Date: August 14, 2007
Your view: its a "IMAGINATION" only, cause only 40,000 people from the world are in reach with its "most expensive" experience. we 600bln people are to see as a documentary, as usual. will be appreciated as a milestone of millionaire.

From: Angie Gibson, Pittsburgh, PA
Date: August 13, 2007
Your view: Your article on virtual worlds was fantastic! I'm so excited to see more and more people shedding light on the subject. They're not just for fanatical MMO gamers or tech savvy people. Beyond building spaces and cybersex is a large group of people who stay connected with loved ones using 3D avatar chat.

Just a year ago I was addicted to MySpace IM for communicating with friends and family in other cities. Once I found virtual worlds I left web 2.0 social networking behind.

My choice is The Virtual World of Kaneva (www.kaneva.com), it's more user friendly and a lot easier for me to get my mom to understand. Virtual world technologies are the best and most convenient ways to keep up.

I can imagine in 2020, my son away at college dropping by our virtual family home for coffee and to catch up before he heads to class... or more likely to ask us to put more money in his bank account "for books" of course.

Angie

From: Marlies Van Hoef, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Date: August 11, 2007
Your view: Most noteworthy, no comment on the oncologists ... the deeper thought in the context of this and the former spot of just imagine ... by the year 2020 cancer survivors will be living in these houses as result of implemention of integrated treatment by oncologists and bone marrow transplanters to indeed cure instead of palliate and provide freedom of life instead of capture by disease ...

From: JOTHI NARAYANAN, PALAKKAD, Indonesia
Date: July 28, 2007
Your view: SINGAPORE- The only country that could demonstrate HEALTH,SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENT in practice. Anyone who wants to learn about ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN DAY TODAY LIFE my request is to visit SINGAPORE.It is possible for other nations to achieve the same result by,

1. Ensuring strict population control.

2.Implementation of health and statutory regulations without discrimination .

3.Creating environmental awareness to all citizens by conducting regular campaigns .

4.Every citizen is able to converse and have the good knowledge of

SCIENTIFIC LANGUAGE i.e ENGLISH.Though SINGAPORE has many nationals.No religious war, dirty politics etc.

My appreciation is for creating mangroves from the refuse soil.Its growth ensures the fertility of the soil but my request is to test the quality of the mangoes/fruits/vegetables cultivated on this refuse soil.

The water of tender coconut from the tree grown near a septic tank /drainage is not potable .One could see the difference in taste of the water of tender coconut from the tree grown in the good location.Please ensure the quality of the yield from these land fill.

From: Douglas Muller, Ocala, FL
Date: July 27, 2007
Your view: I served my country in the U.S.Army during the Cold War years and we were a proud and united as a country, but now we have become so soft that I can hardly believe it! I for one support the Mayor in Penn. for doing what our supposed leaders are too soft to do. We need to put our weekend beer drinking Military Reserves to work on the U.S. borders doing their jobs. We have become a country for others, not for ourselves first. We need to fix home first before we can fix others ie. hungry, homeless here.

From: Chris Clay, Duluth, Minnesota
Date: July 24, 2007
Your view: The date 2020 will have significance in a variety of ways which is why I suppose you chose to highlight it. Whatever optimism we have about the future ought to be tempered by realization of developing background problems. It hasn't been given a name yet so lets reference it as "The Big Graph" where all lines intersect at 2020.

Around 2020:

-All the easy to obtain oil on the face of the earth will have been consumed.

-The oil sands/shale of Alberta & Saskatchewan are due to come up to full production around 2020 and there's a 50 year supply of oil there for North America.

-Availability of clean drinking water will become an unsolvable problem in various parts of the world both developed and under-developed.

-Irrigation of crop lands will stop in some areas where water is needed for more important priorities, and that includes the USA.

-Basically, all farmland on the face of the earth came under production five years ago, so unless big leaps can be made in producing food from existing farm land there isn't going to be enough to go around.

-6 of 7 of the major world fisheries are presently in decline so we shouldn't count on the ocean for fish/protein.

-The world population of 1990 doubles.

-It will be very noticeable that some countries have resources while others don't. The list of those that don't may well include developed countries.

*What I list here comes from work done by others so you can check to see if it looks accurate.

Global warming isn't listed because all these things can happen if weather/temperature stays exactly like it is today, but it will compound developing problems.

Environmentalists in the USA have been working hard at preserving natural places and living things for some time, which in general should be considered working at a worthy cause. An unintended consequence is that we go out into the world market to buy the things we need while locking up our own raw materials. At some point in the future a situation exists where those world-wide supplies of raw materials start to dwindle and developed countries watch prices go up as they all compete for the same things. Eventually the supply turns to a trickle, and while that doesn't necessarily happen by 2020 it starts getting noticeable by then. If you think people around the world don't love us today, how will it be when America has everything and no one else has anything from their point of view?

What does 2020 look like in terms of have's and have-nots? North America has it's resources because they were locked up/preserved. Russia has them because they weren't efficient at extracting them along the way. Western Europe, Asia, and the Middle East are looking like have-nots for many things. South and Central America are question marks. Africa loses in all categories. A report published by DOD last year outlined everything I mentioned plus more with the essential conclusion that there will be enormous social pressures world-wide as everyone competes for increasingly scarce resources. A rather understated conclusion, I believe, considering the scale of problems described.

So who is going to solve the world's looming problems? I don't think it's individual governments, or even governments working together because there's no collective will power. It doesn't look like individual people are going to solve them either. That's a pessimistic outlook for the big picture but it can be better for the small picture where things that individuals do make a difference. Are we going to write off current "have-nots"? Will current "have's" go to the "have-not" list without a fight? Those remain questions without answers.

Individuals make big differences in surprising ways so maybe that's part of the answer. The innovators and doers in this world should have their work highlighted because they're the ones coming up with solutions and showing us examples to follow. The "have" countries will work hard to stay that way and in the process may find out how to move the "have-not" countries over to the "have" side of the list. As far as CNN is concerned, you opened up the topic so I hope you'll keep it going right through 2020 and beyond.

From: Mohan George, Scarborough, ON, Canada
Date: July 24, 2007
Your view: Global warming is in my opinion a reality, although I don't foresee epic progress in reversing this effect by 2020. The reason - greed. As long as politicians succumb to pressures from the greedy corporates, nothing will change. It took centuries to change slavery. It would be decades before society forces the corporates to protect our planet.

From: Naz Ozeer, Melbourne, Australia
Date: July 23, 2007
Your view: my vision is that the world be a more peaceful place,more tolerent ,a place with no barriers of releigon,colour,race, a place that is full of love and not hatred, a more peaceful a more beutiful world for the children of tomorrow. E-mail to a friend