Generations before them walked the earth freely.
MWC 2021: Space — By LA Rysk
The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. — Unknown
The skies were free of smothering haze and furious, bellowing thunder. The earth was calm, and flora grew. The Azul waters and white sand beaches were free of a perpetual crimson tide. The animals were at peace and conceded to humans instead of competing with them for sustenance. Civilization lived in homes attached to the earth by cement foundation laid by craftsmen, and steel objects transported the people to towering construction they referred to as office space.
Imagine our grandchildren speaking of a time before “the Change,” recounting their grandparents’ stories of life ere recurring natural and humanitarian disasters influenced by the climate.
Their population lives in government-mandated mobile homes to quickly evacuate from recurring wildfires and ravaging flash floods. Many are displaced and squat in abandoned buildings, ruins from the civilization before them who lost it all to the once rare but now frequent unavoidable catastrophic forces of nature. They are nomads, wandering the earth and hiding in caves to escape its tremors and lightning rod-induced bushfires. They live for the next day and celebrate survival as they inherited a low life expectancy.
Their world is dystopian, but they know no different. They have only heard stories of simpler times when the land was forgiving, and society was intact.
Generations before them walked the earth freely. They greeted each other openly, expressions not hidden behind medical-grade masks, created to mitigate lung-damaging microplastics and prevent inhalation of human manufactured biological warfare. They vacationed on luminous rivieras of Italy and France, their skin not prone to second-degree burns. The ozone shield of Earth’s stratosphere absorbed most of the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation. Their predecessors bathed and basked in the Sun, which their generation hides from. Within ten minutes during the day, their skin peels and blisters with puss, their lips crack and bleed. Their generation has become nocturnal as a means to adapt. They seek to avoid the day-star’s caress and can only tolerate moonlight.
The human diet has changed. Freshwater is scarce, so they wait in lines for miles for their weekly ration to bathe, cook, and drink. Animals have been infected with the virus, so humans cannot hunt and devour tender morsels of mignon as their carnivorous ancestors for fear of contamination.
Their generation is disconnected and socially awkward. They are unfamiliar with the pleasures of attraction; flirting and flaunting, peacocking and courting. Unfathomable is the scent of a lover’s perfume, top notes of orchid or base notes of oud in cologne, and the pheromones of a suitor. The salty-sweet taste and delicate touch of another’s skin are all foreign concepts. When human touch was not fatal, their grandparents embraced, kissed, and made love to strangers. Now, they are permanently siloed in isolated spaces, living in mandated solitary confinement with simulated interaction.
Their population depends on digital platforms for news and socialization. Their voices are transmitted through code and wires. They see each other through the lenses of webcams. They speak a global language their grandparents would find unintelligible. Because technology is their only means to connect, humankind is subordinate to it. Access to technology is scarce, reserved for the privileged few.
Virtual reality is their only reality. They slave to rebuild lost civilization by maintaining the network. Nations battle for nautical and geospatial domination because these spaces host their life-supporting systems; drones and undersea cables. Personal, intra-human relationships suffer. Everything recreational takes a backseat to the work that is the preservation of humanity.
Their generation works wakes and lives only to survive. They are at war with nature and use technology as a crutch. They resent us because we are largely responsible for their current state.
This account of future generations’ seemingly impossible environment (reminiscent of post-apocalyptic Mad Max and The Matrix) is nothing more than an extension of our current behavior. It is not science fiction. It is reality.
WE are responsible for the environment future generations will live in. There is no excusing this.
A common clause in legal agreements is “force majeure.” It is used to exonerate parties of liability to fulfill contractual obligations due to superior or irresistible force that cannot be reasonably anticipated or controlled, otherwise known as “acts of God.”
In the present, we have the luxury of ascribing destructive force to nature. We self-exonerate. However, we can no longer throw divinity under the bus. Data shows that humans have a direct impact on the environment. A key finding of the latest scientific report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is that climate change is widespread, rapid, and intensifying. The forces of nature are warning us that our behavior is accelerating our demise.
Unlike force majeure, we can reasonably control human contributing behavior. Behaviors like recycling, composting, harvesting personal gardens, organic eating, carpooling, or even teleworking to reduce emissions are not radical left-wing, “hipster” practices. Being environmentally conscious can no be viewed as a “style” or associated with political affiliation. People should not politicize the environment anyway. What good will all of the pontification about controlling resources do when there is nothing of value to trade due to mass calamity? What will the significance of a nation’s GDP be when we cannot export or import? What sense is the effort in politics or political affiliation if there is no population to vote? We need to see the forest for the trees and plant one while we are at it, damn it!
We can not continue to think that our small actions do not make a difference because collectively, they do. Rinse. Recycle. Repeat. We can take simple actions to slow the spread of a potentially extinction-inducing virus. Where would we be now if our ancestors refused treatment and failed to entertain at least solutions for the epidemics and pandemics of the past?
We all must change our environmental behavior. We must hold ourselves accountable.
We have two choices: (1) force our children and all of the earth’s other living organisms into dystopia, or (2) give them a shot at life by changing our ways.
With scientists projecting that the environmental future is grim and data to support it, we have an obligation to protect this space that has always been shared. This Earth is not my space. It is not your space. It is our space. There is more to life than survival. We have had our chance, now let us pay it forward.
