Vinyl record sales in 2014 were the highest they’ve been since 1993, according to a survey by Digital Music News and The Wall Street Journal, mirroring the rise in digital music sales around the world (the only exception being in the United States). Neilsen SoundScan data report that 9.2 million vinyl albums were sold worldwide....
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Millennials choosing cities over suburbs
For generations of Americans, “success” meant life in the suburbs. Not anymore. Millennials are choosing city life in far greater percentages than their parents’ generation, according to several recent census studies. There are a variety of reasons. The first: the economy. Unlike previous generations for which home ownership was a goal, most millennials now are...
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Paper tiger, greedy dragon
To understand the insanity of China’s real estate bubble, imagine every state governor borrowing $10 billion from the federal government to build a city to suit his own vision. The result is China’s Ghost Cities — sprawling new cities with almost no one living or working in them. Many of these cities resemble a Las...
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Beyond canes and walkers
When World War II ended in 1945 and the troops came home from war, they did what a vast majority of young men love to do. No longer dropping bombs and firing bullets in foreign lands, returning soldiers concentrated their firepower on the home front. The Baby Boom generation was born. Now, 70 years later,...
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The age of Aquarian Conspiracy
Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of every fear is freedom. — Marilyn Ferguson, The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social Transformation In Our Time You tell me it’s the institutionWell, you know, you better free your mind instead — John Lennon, Revolution The article in the Winter 2014 Trends Journal on the growing...
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The walking-dead phenomenon
Rangers at national parks have a new duty: rescuing visitors from life-threatening selfies. An increasing number of park visitors have been trying to photograph themselves in the company of parks’ wild animals. People who would not think of walking into the woods to pet a bear feel no compunction about getting close enough for a...
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A future of looking back
Every generation has its nostalgia, that sentimental longing for iconic moments in the past. Yet, when a culture is stressed, depressed, discontent and riddled with pessimism, the appeal and psychological uses of nostalgia are intensified. Entering 2015, we expect to see nostalgic yearnings come to the forefront in cultures around the word, with “new” retro...
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Retrofitting the past
Listen to the millennials. What’s their vibe? Name that tune. It’s a scene-less scene. There has been nothing like it in generations. Hipsters at best, style-less at most. Putting down nothing exciting or original to remember back to as time marches on, and not much to look forward to as the future unfolds. For the...
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The roots of nostalgia
The word nostalgia — combining the Greek nostos, “returning home,” and algia, “pain” — was coined by 19-year-old Swiss medical student Johannes Hofer in his 1688 medical dissertation. In a not highly scientific work (it was, after all, 1688) Hofer defined nostalgia as a disease resulting in “the pain a sick person feels because he...
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New energy goes mainstream
An unprecedented diversity of energy sources and players will come to market in 2015. This breadth of sources reflects the underlying, long-term trend of the world’s shift away from fossil fuels. In US oil and gas, the focus is still on shale development. Producers are beginning to open up the Utica Shale, several thousand feet...