Two weeks ago, I constructed a time machine out of twine, sticks, and plutonium rods to visit my brother in 2014. Since then, I have had the urge to visit the future, but I could not decide where and when to go. Reading about how the state of Florida is totally botching Covid-19, I thought more about visiting Florida in the future. After all, if they can botch a pandemic, how will they prepare for the elevated sea level rises predicted for the future?
I set the coordinates in my time machine, and hit the "Go" button. When I arrived, I didn't recognize my surroundings. I walked around for a while, but soon was overheated and tired. The weather was suffocating, like being in a sauna. Insects swarmed all around me, biting my supple flesh. I saw lots of alligators and other reptiles as I walked, but no humans. Finally, after hours wandering around, I found some folks gathered around a makeshift well. They were wearing very little clothes, if you could call them clothes. They looked more neanderthal than 27th century humans. Long hair, ragged disposition, and tan skin.
They spotted me and immediately ran over, curious about my strange clothes and pale appearance. They asked me where I had come from, and where I was going. They invited me back to their home, which was a cave carved out of clay on a hillside. After dinner of roasted alligator and insect soup, I asked what had happened to humanity?! They filled me in with the best information they knew.
Global warming accelerated throughout the 21st century as right wing politicians backed by corporate influences continued climate change denial. Eventually, a tipping point was reached in which a positive feedback loop continued exponentially. Humanity continued to grow and spread, like a virus on the planet. Forests were leveled for farmland, which increased omissions. The lack of forests and vegetation around the world stopped absorbing CO2 gasses. The oceans became more acidic, eventually killing most marine creatures. The ice caps kept melting, raising the sea levels ever year. Around 2080 a tipping point was reached where no matter what we did, CO2 omissions would continue to rise. Then it got bad.
With the global population rising, and land area shrinking, desperate migrants fled for higher ground, Countries, bolstered by authoritarian and nationalism, denied entry. There was mass starvation and death. Fresh water became an expensive commodity, and around 2150 the U.S. collapsed as the masses turned on each other. Tribal warfare ensued for the next fifty years, there was mass extinction of animals and the human population tanked.
Temperatures finally peaked out, but the damage was done. Humanity had fallen into disrepair and ruin. The next several thousand years were full of infighting between the various tribes. Technology had disappeared, and eventually, a type of feudal system came into being. There were the various kings and queens of the separate continents, but very few traveled between them. Mostly merchants and other traders willing to risk the seas.
I discovered that the U.S. was now called Ulgathrax, in recognition for the king who untied most of the tribes of America. The folks I had met where called "outsiders", who lived on their own, pledging allegiance to no one. They lived off the land, or what remained of it. The reason I couldn't land in Miami was because Florida was long ago submerged and claimed by the sea. I figured that I had to be somewhere in western Georgia.
Thoroughly shaken, I thanked them for the gator and decided to return home. After arriving back home, I hugged my daughter and was grateful that I did not have to live in that world. But wasn't I somewhat responsible for their fate? Didn't my actions of today, reverberate through tomorrow? I thought of these questions as I lay awake in bed, trying desperately to sleep and dream of a better future.
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