In 2052 a collective of elite scientist formed a think tank. The youngest was just 16 years old. The oldest was 21. There were twenty foundation members. But as they all matured and began to choose marital partners, the collective expanded and doubled in size. Their agenda was to ponder the Earth’s environmental issues and come up with a solution to return Earth’s atmosphere to its former pristine state of 150 years previous.
They were clear industry and technology were to blame for the Earth’s decline. That and capitalism – the Earth’s various governments in collusion with the corporate giants of the world refused to surrender economic benefits for the sake of salvation the severely damaged planet.
By 2062 they realised that there was no hope for Earth – the planet as their parents and grandparent had known it was crumbling before their eyes. They predicted within twenty years the Earth’s surface would become uninhabitable by human beings – and any other living species for that matter. The tectonic anchors that had been put in place would eventually be unable to hold the tectonic plates against the massive swell of geological activity below the Earth’s surface. Temperatures on the continents would soar. The Earth’s atmosphere would be filled with noxious gases released from deep within the planets core. Everyone and everything would become extinct.
Sunday, January 23, 2005
Friday, January 21, 2005
History 102: Food
In 2081 organic food is no longer available on Planet Earth. The human diet is entirely made up of synthetically produced food dispensed via specially designed community cafeterias.
Individuals are prescribed a calorie controlled diet according to statistics filed by their personal physicians, taken at an annual check up held within 24-hours of their birthday. Details on the individual’s dietary requirements/permissions are uploaded to a massive global database, accessed via an ocular chip implanted in the individual's eyeball at birth. Upon arrival for a meal at the community cafeteria the individual stands in front of a dispensing unit. An ID scan takes place and the correct calorie controlled meal is dispensed according to the data on file. As a result of the community cafeteria's and calorie controlled consumption of sythetic food, obesity became an obsolete disease by the year 2032.
Each meal contains a balance of synthetically produced protein, carbohydrates and simulated vegetables. If the meal is not consumed within 20 minutes of dispensing it disintegrates along with the synthetic plate it is served on, thereby eliminating the need for tidying away of plates or utensils. This system was originally designed when the world’s fresh water supply reached critically low levels in 2027 (more on this in Environmentals 201).
Food contains neither colour nor any apparent texture. It is artificially flavoured according to the individual’s cultural influences. It is possible to request a variety of flavours from other cultures, however this is discouraged because early 21st century gastroenterologists determined that many of the gastrointestinal complaints dealt with in the 20th century were the result of consumption of foods that were genetically unsuitable to peoples of different cultures – international cuisine was outlawed in order to reduce global expenditure on surgical procedures for food related afflictions. Governments determined such diseases or disorders were self-inflicted and therefore not treatable under any government medical program.
Individuals are prescribed a calorie controlled diet according to statistics filed by their personal physicians, taken at an annual check up held within 24-hours of their birthday. Details on the individual’s dietary requirements/permissions are uploaded to a massive global database, accessed via an ocular chip implanted in the individual's eyeball at birth. Upon arrival for a meal at the community cafeteria the individual stands in front of a dispensing unit. An ID scan takes place and the correct calorie controlled meal is dispensed according to the data on file. As a result of the community cafeteria's and calorie controlled consumption of sythetic food, obesity became an obsolete disease by the year 2032.
Each meal contains a balance of synthetically produced protein, carbohydrates and simulated vegetables. If the meal is not consumed within 20 minutes of dispensing it disintegrates along with the synthetic plate it is served on, thereby eliminating the need for tidying away of plates or utensils. This system was originally designed when the world’s fresh water supply reached critically low levels in 2027 (more on this in Environmentals 201).
Food contains neither colour nor any apparent texture. It is artificially flavoured according to the individual’s cultural influences. It is possible to request a variety of flavours from other cultures, however this is discouraged because early 21st century gastroenterologists determined that many of the gastrointestinal complaints dealt with in the 20th century were the result of consumption of foods that were genetically unsuitable to peoples of different cultures – international cuisine was outlawed in order to reduce global expenditure on surgical procedures for food related afflictions. Governments determined such diseases or disorders were self-inflicted and therefore not treatable under any government medical program.
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
History 101: Environmental Changes
Early in the 21st century humanity understood clearly that the world’s environment was in a decline. In 2005 the planet was assaulted by a series of freak weather events as well as major activity on the tectonic plates. Scientists furiously began developing a technology that would secure the tectonic plates and halt continental drift. But not before 2010, when several small islands in the Indian Ocean, including The Maldives and all of Indonesia were swallowed by the Ocean.
The following decade was characterised by hurricanes, droughts, ice storms and ever increasing sea levels. In 2012 the world's scientists revealed a plan to bring to fruition a technology called tectonic anchors. They would hold the tectonic plates in position but would not stabilise the Earth's unpredictable geological activity for another six years. Sri Lanka was engulfed by the sea, millions of people drowning in the catastrophic event. Thailand lost vast amounts of its jewel-like coastline - and it's livelihood. The Bahamas became sandy marshlands.
With the oceans became man’s greatest threat, coastal cities were quickly abandoned. Where coastal life had been a privilege, suddenly it was the most dangerous place on Earth. Major cities were moved inland - former population hubs became ghost towns almost overnight. Because the new inland cities were hotter than the coastal towns of the past, they quickly turned into tightly clustered air conditioned towers that had enclosed walkways leading out the side of one building into the side of another. People never had to venture outside into the ever increasing dry heat.
And of course complex cities demanded power and power demanded electricity and electricity demanded fossil fuel. Scientists vigorously advocated the use of solar power; with the ozone layer around the Earth thinning more each year, solar energy was the cheapest form of power available. But governments and corporations did not want to promote the use of an energy source that could be obtained by anyone for free. They pushed on with their use of fossil fuels, continuing to deplete the Earth of it's resources and the atmosphere of its protective ozone layer.
Because hardly anyone was venturing outside, by 2030 they were oblivious to the plant life when it began to die off. The Earth’s previously green and blue landscape, so apparent and stunningly beautiful from space, was exchanged for endless brown continents. The Earth was headed into an irreversible decline.
The following decade was characterised by hurricanes, droughts, ice storms and ever increasing sea levels. In 2012 the world's scientists revealed a plan to bring to fruition a technology called tectonic anchors. They would hold the tectonic plates in position but would not stabilise the Earth's unpredictable geological activity for another six years. Sri Lanka was engulfed by the sea, millions of people drowning in the catastrophic event. Thailand lost vast amounts of its jewel-like coastline - and it's livelihood. The Bahamas became sandy marshlands.
With the oceans became man’s greatest threat, coastal cities were quickly abandoned. Where coastal life had been a privilege, suddenly it was the most dangerous place on Earth. Major cities were moved inland - former population hubs became ghost towns almost overnight. Because the new inland cities were hotter than the coastal towns of the past, they quickly turned into tightly clustered air conditioned towers that had enclosed walkways leading out the side of one building into the side of another. People never had to venture outside into the ever increasing dry heat.
And of course complex cities demanded power and power demanded electricity and electricity demanded fossil fuel. Scientists vigorously advocated the use of solar power; with the ozone layer around the Earth thinning more each year, solar energy was the cheapest form of power available. But governments and corporations did not want to promote the use of an energy source that could be obtained by anyone for free. They pushed on with their use of fossil fuels, continuing to deplete the Earth of it's resources and the atmosphere of its protective ozone layer.
Because hardly anyone was venturing outside, by 2030 they were oblivious to the plant life when it began to die off. The Earth’s previously green and blue landscape, so apparent and stunningly beautiful from space, was exchanged for endless brown continents. The Earth was headed into an irreversible decline.
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
The Earth Is Changing
My name is Haley. I'm 19 years old. I was born in September 2062, the last time Haley's Comet passed Earth. My father is an astronomer, so he couldn't help but name his only child after one of the universe's most reknowned astronomical events.
My mother is an oceanographer. She and my father are members of an elite group of scientists. They've been in this group since they were university students. It's made up of about twenty different scientists from all over the world. They have what you'd call a "think tank" - an academic based study group where they get together, examine the state of the planet, and make projections about what geological, ecological and meteorological events will impact the inhabitants of the earth in the next decade to a century.
A couple of years ago they discovered something terrible. A sequence of catastrophic natural disasters prompted them to call a special summit of all the members of the think tank. They holed up on an island in the South Pacific for two days, examining all the data about the events - earthquakes, flooding, a tidal wave and extremes of weather, both hot and cold. Finally they came to a terrifying conclusion: the Earth - Terra Nova - was falling apart.
They took immediate steps to secure a disused Biodome out in the middle of the American Desert. All of them moved there with their families - my parents and I included - and began repairing, renovation it and fitting it out to withstand the dramatic changes they were expecting to happen outside. That was two years ago. Today we begin moving colonists into the Biodome. That's right - I said colonists. We're collecting a small number of all the people's of the earth and then we're planning to migrate. To Halo. A planet my father discovered when I was eight years old.
Today is the beginning of the end of Earth. And we're the only ones who know it.
My mother is an oceanographer. She and my father are members of an elite group of scientists. They've been in this group since they were university students. It's made up of about twenty different scientists from all over the world. They have what you'd call a "think tank" - an academic based study group where they get together, examine the state of the planet, and make projections about what geological, ecological and meteorological events will impact the inhabitants of the earth in the next decade to a century.
A couple of years ago they discovered something terrible. A sequence of catastrophic natural disasters prompted them to call a special summit of all the members of the think tank. They holed up on an island in the South Pacific for two days, examining all the data about the events - earthquakes, flooding, a tidal wave and extremes of weather, both hot and cold. Finally they came to a terrifying conclusion: the Earth - Terra Nova - was falling apart.
They took immediate steps to secure a disused Biodome out in the middle of the American Desert. All of them moved there with their families - my parents and I included - and began repairing, renovation it and fitting it out to withstand the dramatic changes they were expecting to happen outside. That was two years ago. Today we begin moving colonists into the Biodome. That's right - I said colonists. We're collecting a small number of all the people's of the earth and then we're planning to migrate. To Halo. A planet my father discovered when I was eight years old.
Today is the beginning of the end of Earth. And we're the only ones who know it.
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