Life finds a way part 01

Printer-friendly version

lights06.gif

December 2021 Christmas Holidays Story Contest Entry

lifefindsaway

August 2031

In the late 2020’s climate change became something that no one could deny any longer. As the devastating effects were felt more keenly the political pressure around the world mounted and forced action. By 2026 the sea levels had risen ten feet causing massive unrest around the world as billions were displaced. People who had lost their homes and countries because of the sea level rise due mostly to developed nations having entrenched fossil fuel interests were out for blood. The countries that tried to flat out refuse entry erupted into civil wars as their borders were overrun and their governments overthrown serving as an object lesson for other countries. As they were forced to migrate without resources there were so many it put a strain on the capabilities of developed nations to care for the displaced. Those displaced were forced to find shelter in hastily constructed slum towns on the outskirts of major cities because there were so many displaced there wasn’t the housing to accommodate them.

These slums did not fare well with extreme weather events becoming an almost daily occurrence. The enhanced Fujita scale had to further enhanced with tornadoes going up to category twenty with winds of over one thousand miles per hour. These f20 tornadoes left nothing behind the winds were so strong that everything was reduced to miniscule sized pieces of debris. The government was forced to build hardened shelters for those in the slums while those in the cities were safe due to massive walls that could roll out around the city to protect them from the storm. Having already lost everything once, losing it and having to start over again after each storm made their anger at those inside the cities mount to explosive levels.

Those near the coasts fared much worse but while those inland faced massive tornadoes those on the coast faced much more devastating hurricanes. That scale needed expanded upwards as well with those at the category twenty level having wind speeds of upwards of 900 mph that wasn’t the worst part however. The worst part of these monstrous hurricanes was the three hundred foot or higher waves they came with causing flooding for nearly fifty miles inland. The power of the water was so great that nothing above ground level was left with everything swept away leaving barren earth. There was nothing possible to prevent these one-hundred-year floods so countries were forced to implement high speed subways for quick evacuations until the water receded that were watertight and could be sealed behind them.

Not that these were only extreme weather events with new and much more massive earthquakes making high rise buildings a thing of past. New technology had to be developed and foundations now how to be able to move much more to stay intact. The absolutely most devasting event however, where the rapid shifts in climate with once moist and fertile farmlands becoming deserts those areas with heavy rainfall now receiving a year’s worth of rain in a month becoming so wet, they were basically swamps. Wildfires were a year-round event and with the previously fertile farmland turned into arid deserts the food shortage was exasperated even further causing further unrest and riots in the streets, with people fighting to get enough to eat.

Societal unrest continued to mount as civilization started to tear it about at the seams those forced into the new slum sought outlets for their rage. They were joined in their rage by those in the cities whose could no longer get enough food. As the societal unrest mounted those in the fossil fuel industry still fighting change were made into wanted posters by those displaced and were hunted in the streets and were tried in vigilante public trials and were publicly hanged. The first company to suffer from this unrest was Exxon a mob hundreds of thousands strong swarmed all their offices to find the evidence of those who knew about climate change half a century ago which was released on social media and the dark web. The anger was so great that every single person involved including all of their descendants and everyone in their families were put through a vigilante public trial and hanged and then all their offices were razed to the ground. Soon all other fossil fuel companies and those involved shared similar fates.

Unfortunately, with hunger becoming a much more common issue it looked like society would collapse completely with those in the governments they felt hadn’t done enough in the crosshairs. Things began to look increasing dire as governments around the world starting to falter and the biggest obstacles to dealing with climate change and their families met the same fate as the fossil fuel executives. Just as it looked the entire world would devolve into anarchy, when Christmas eve arrived and suddenly everything changed.

Authors Note:
Please comment its been a while since I have written anything.

up
52 users have voted.
If you liked this post, you can leave a comment and/or a kudos! Click the "Thumbs Up!" button above to leave a Kudos

Comments