Considering the 50-fold increase and the globalization of economic activity during the 20th century, we are now in the Econocene: an era where our economy has become the major driver of rapid global change. Managing the California Delta will require policies that facilitate looking ahead and continually working with change rather than looking back and trying to secure a static past. Simply making modest adjustments in the current science–policy interface will be insufficient. Impractical changes—that is, those well beyond existing practice—are called for across the public, private, and non-governmental sectors.