A hot climate and a government shield
The Government Shield
Over the years the Earth’s climate has got hotter and hotter. It is now the year 3000 and the government is talking about installing domes over towns and shielding us from the sun. An impossible feat in my mind but there has been a sharp rise in Skin Cancer and sun-related illnesses and deaths.
All my life I have had to live with the extreme heat. I learned on my ‘Home learning robot’ about years gone past that were freezing cold. People didn’t know how good they had it and I’m suspecting that they moaned about it. It rarely rains and when it does it is warm, I live in shorts, skirts, and T-shirts.
I’m aware that in the year 2000, the sun was worshipped. People would travel many miles to sit on a holiday beach to lie in it all day. Often finding themselves red and burnt. All this has changed, hotter countries like Greece are inhabitable and Greeks have come to the colder UK. Global food supply has been depleted due to lack of quality crops.
Most people now work from home and the days I’ve read about, of racing down to the local shop for bread have long gone. Now if we need anything, we use our devices to log a request to the ‘Global Super-Highway’ and it then arrives within a few seconds in teleport pods from a local air-conditioned warehouse.
The ‘Global Super Highway’
Everyone’s bank details are legally held in the ‘Super-Highway’ under the ‘Global bank’ and the government watches over our finances, shielding people from overspending. I’ve never held cash, I’ve only seen it in pictures and in museums. The only debt now allowed is a mortgage on a house. However, very few people now own, as controls on buying are stricter than ever.
Credit cards, loans and all buy now, pay later schemes, were all cancelled in 2500, causing a massive uproar, but the UK population were in so much debt that Prime Minister, ‘Victor Humphries’, had to do something. He considered that he had no option, if people could not be responsible this was it. No more debt management, or companies working to bail people out, no hugely inflated interest rates. Yes, the global economy had plummeted, but people were reported to be happier as fewer worries.
Now in the year 3000, we really are shielded from harm. Due to the heat of the sun, we rarely leave our homes, air conditioning is frequently on. I long for those days I’ve read about people having family picnics in the country, enjoying the sunny weather. Now it is too dangerous and the heat is unbearable.
Climate change
I’m aware that many years ago the population were warned of climate change and global warming, I wish my ancestors had listened. This is the result of their thoughtlessness, children no longer attend schools and mix with others, we now have our education delivered by home robots with inbuilt curriculum computers. Those living in the year 2000 may think this sounds good, but it’s a lonely world now. I can spend days, weeks with just my own company. Whole communities just hide in their own private home boxes, shielding themselves from the hot weather.
All the concerns of climate change in the 21st century have really had a detrimental effect on the 31st. The warnings that they must have had that were ignored. I’ve read about the heavy traffic and fuel, the polluted cities and towns. The concerns over the waterways and the now late rainforests.
The ice caps have long melted, the sea has risen and there are many towns, once vibrant, now suffocated underwater. In just a thousand years the effects of climate change are huge. I’ve often wondered if the people of the 21st century could see today, would they have lived as they did?
Would you still have lived with no concern about the world around you? With the government not shielding you from the harsh realities of life. Able to drive a car and go anywhere you wanted and having the ability to put what you wanted on credit, steadily managing a debt. Would you have lived differently?
My world
I spend my day sat at a computer programming data. Where some things have gone over the year’s technology has just got better and better. Writing and coding is my passion, programming the robots and the ‘Global Super Highway’.
At just twenty-two, I don’t know a different world, however, I have dreamt of maybe happier times. When I close my eyes at night, I can see the world that I read of in the history online books. I see beautiful countryside, the sun doesn’t burn me, all appears fine with the world. This for me raises a question, of whether my brain is just processing what it has seen in my online books, or have I been here before? Yes, did I live in the 21st century and did I help contribute to the state of the world today?
Our environment
I have sometimes wondered about reincarnation, does it exist? Do we keep coming back? The shielded society of today compared with the 21st century, where would you rather live? Things could have been so different, so many clever people all those years ago and so many predictions. I’ve done a lot of reading around the subject. Moral of the tale here is that we all play a part in caring for the world around us. If the 31st century is this bad what will life be like in the 41st century? If you can change something now to help the future then please do, we owe it to our future generations.
Maybe one day the government will stop shielding us from harsh reality, having your finances monitored is not fun. Though I am happy to know that I am safe, and I will be alright despite loneliness. I wonder if the domes will be installed shielding us from the sun. It would be nice to go out again, but my thoughts are that it will never happen. It’s a dream, however, I wonder what the world will be like if they do it. A new society, a new world, new communities will be created, all living under the dome.
Written for Blog battle – Shield
For more see, A long day and a police interception
Share this:
18 Comments
CarolCooks2
Not a very rosy picture of life in the future if warnings are not heeded… Well thought out. Marian not a, future I would want.. Lets hope a scenario like that never happens…
Just muddling through life
Hi Carol. I find all the warnings on climate change quite scary.. but we all have to live and I need my car.. the world is getting hotter… selfishly I hope that if the world is like this in 1000 years time then I’m sat with the angels with my family. It is not a nice thought!
CarolCooks2
Ahhhh.. But have you thought of buying an electric one there have been good reports on my blog from people who have changed to electric cars…
Just muddling through life
I can’t afford to and I drive miles during my working day.. the thought of having to charge or breaking down through lack of charge… not fun… if I could I would buy a hybrid.. but for now I have my dirty diesel… I need a lottery win.
CarolCooks2
Ahhh but you don’t need a charger now it works of your battery and excelerator… Technology has advanced and much cheaper by all accounts.. You may not need that lottety win… Be nice though haha
Just muddling through life
Really, well I didn’t know that.. but a new car or new old car will cost more then my savings.. if I could replace my car i would but she is a low mileage polluting chug chug diesel,. Ha ha… Yes I’m one of the thoughtless ones.. our poor environment.. I wonder where it will end really…
CarolCooks2
I don’t know the answer to that, Marian I only know as individuals we need to really think how we can make a difference and teach our children to think how their actions impact on their future… I read an interesting post on that the other day and will be writing about that in my Mondays post it certanly made me think and there were solutions offered as well… Worth a read.. Enjoy your Sunday 😊
Just muddling through life
It is hard Carol! With my car i always walk when I can, but for work i have no option but drive.. and financially no option but keep my car.. however things like clothes, I buy when worn out… will buy second hand for kids sometimes… I guess there are little things we can all do that make a big difference. I will keep the tv off during the day if I can. Only use heating when I need to.. small things.. I look forward to reading your post! Thankyou! Enjoy your Sunday too!
CarolCooks2
It sounds like you are doing ok, Marian whatever we do has to fit in with our own lifestyles …Well done 🙂 x
Just muddling through life
Thankyou Carol x
aebranson
Nice job how you scared me! 🙂 However, it wasn’t the climate change that chilled me (pun intended) so much as references to the meddlesome government. The young narrator in your story will obviously not know any other way of life, but her references to the government shielding the people in multiple venues sounded even more oppressive to me than the heat. Her question about would people in our time live differently if we knew her future was very thought provoking. Living green is one thing, but I also considered those social implications. In other words, I think your story is quite deep, containing more than one level about the problems our descendants may face. On a different note, I did wonder if your use of the name Victor was just a tongue-in-cheek reference to his winning the election or if there was something more significant about his name. Well done, and you were quite successful at getting me stirred!
Just muddling through life
Thankyou I am really pleased that you enjoyed it and it made you think. I didn’t think about the name Victor, I just named him.
Our world will be a different place in 1000 years and it’s quite scary when you really start thinking about it. There’s so much we should be doing but we all have to live.
Population growth could be another problem. Imagine the traffic jams! Ha ha,
Gary
Late in reading this Marian so accept my apologies please! There were a lot of entries this time….well last time now! This subject is right up my street. It has been for over two decades when science on it was ridiculed as rubbish. It still is by some ignorant politcos. I Mix loads on climate change too. This piece projecting backwards after it’s more or less wrecked the planet is indeed poignant. I’m guessing you avoided pandemic dystopia through disease and subsequent water contamination and probably resource wars as that racks up the horror that may become reality. I could rant on this for ages lol.
Very much a George Orwell feel for government shielding. If you ask me I think they already are doing that to a higher degree than most think. Data is the new currency. Climate change is probably one area they are shielding from too. Making sure their beds are lined and fine.
Of course civilisation declines are not unique either. I often listen to people and then offset it when I see papers or documentaries on ancient ones long lost. I shall wager at their points in time they never thought theirs would die, their cities buried and new ones digging them up trying to piece together why and what happened. Project your tale another thousand years or so and could another be excavating us, or your protagonist even? What would they make of the rubbish, neglect and wanton destruction in the name of profit. What would be their theories? Hmm… almost Planet of the Apes with Charlton Heston rounding a beech and seeing a crooked Statue of Liberty.
Very good piece this and proper food for thought.
Just muddling through life
Thanks Gary, it is an interesting subject and one which will affect all our ancestors. I hope that reincarnation does not exist because I’m not sure if I would like to come back.
Yes I’m sure there is so much that the government today know, that we have not been told. I’m hoping that Futurama stays fiction! But all the rubbish that our societies create in landfill is just going to get greater, scary thought… unless we use more decompostables. Despite recycling our waste I’m sure more goes to landfill then we are aware.
The other fear of course is earth getting hotter and hotter, it really is a scary thought… And yes as the sea gets higher and higher, more and more land and civilisations are going to disappear.
I dont think the fate of the earth is a happy one!
Gary
Big subject this is. I could mull it over for ages. The recycling thing is often a sham like you think too. Most people don’t actually recycle correctly so any contaminated collections are scrapped. It’s also sold to countries wanting it. (Paid to accept it) Often there it’s just dumped causing more issues. The best course of action would be to stop blaming en masse and start buying wiser and dispose of waste correctly. That would affect profits and cause corporates to modify what they do now. My personal belief is politicians don’t have the acumen to do anything. Intellectually most aren’t that great and they strive only to get re-elected. I’ve often thought of dedicating blog posts on this theme.
It is scary though when you project forward from now if nothing is done.
Just muddling through life
It’s a scary thought that human waste is going to be forever buried in landfill sites all over the world. It’s also crazy that in the year 2019 we still have disposable nappies that do not decompose.. (I used cloth) .. it’s a horrible thought.. but the mass of other waste as well.. all just accumulating.. as you say politicians don’t have the acumen.. it’s a horrible mess. Along with global warming and the destruction of the climate and Earth.. it really is a concern for our future generations.
Gary
Makes you wonder if earth might reset by causing scenarios that reduce populations en masse by our own ignorance. That thought makes many dystopian books and films seem not so sci-fi. The planet, or life upon it, has survived mass extinctions and climate trauma many times. But you’d think the development of intellect and cognitive thinking might have had pause moments to take stock and create new ways of doing things. Instead it’s lodged onto avarice and, in political circles, me, me, me. Sadly I’m not even sure the majority of people actually realise the full situation. Sleep walking into a situation that has a tipping point beyond which it will take geological time scales to reshape. Not good thoughts really.
Just muddling through life
You are right! The future to come is actually quite scary. The damage that man is doing to the earth now is all adding to the destruction, it is very sad!