The Final Harvest—Climate Change

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In the year 2050, August felt different. An ominous blanket of heat hung over the fields of Iowa, making every breath an effort. A third-generation farmer, John Baxter surveyed his once lush and green cornfields, now reduced to brittle stalks.

Climate change wasn’t just a footnote in a science book any longer; it had become the prologue of the story of the end of civilization. The shadows it cast were long and cruel, suffocating our comfortable illusions of permanence.

John loved his farm. Acres of corn swaying gently in the wind, a sea of green extending beyond the horizon. Yet the corn was failing, the ground cracking open with a thirst that no amount of water could quench. It was as if the earth itself was crying out, its parched lips unable to form words, only gasps of desperation.

Across the globe, it was a different story in the sprawling metropolis of Mumbai. Streets teemed with people rushing to find shelter from the relentless monsoon rains. Swelled rivers burst their banks, flooding the city in a furious deluge. Kiran, a street vendor, watched helplessly as his small shack, stacked with his colorful paintings, became submerged in the swirling brown waters.

While John’s earth was split open, gasping for breath, Kiran’s world was being swallowed by water. Two different realities, thousands of miles apart, but chained together by the same cruel fate: climate change.

Once fertile soils turned into barren lands, the Himalayan glaciers melted away, robbing the rivers of their life-sustaining flow. This was the new normal for the villagers in the valleys, who watched the icy peaks, worshiped as gods, recede into the realm of memories and old photographs.

In the once chilly expanse of the Arctic, polar bears wandered aimlessly on melting ice florets. Their playground was now a death trap, the once crunchy snow under their paws now nothing more than a tepid pool. Their kingdom collapsed, and they were helpless spectators in the unfolding catastrophe.

The picture was equally grim in the sprawling coral kingdoms beneath the ocean waves. Once vibrant reefs bleached ghostly white as the oceans acidified. Schools of fish that once danced among the corals found themselves bereft of home, their colorful world fading to a grim, skeletal gray.

Everywhere you looked, nature was sending distress signals, screaming in a language no words could express. Yet, we humans, the most intelligent species on earth, failed to comprehend these cries.

Hope, though, is the last thing to die. Scientists, environmentalists, and activists united, working tirelessly to decipher the signals that nature was sending us. They raced against time, hoping to undo the damage or at least halt the impending destruction. Yet, their warnings fell on deaf ears, drowned out by the cacophony of industries and economies racing toward self-destruction.

The days rolled on, a relentless march toward an uncertain future. It was a time of despair, a time of reckoning. But it was also a time of resilience. John worked tirelessly to sow seeds resistant to drought while Kiran built a new shack on higher ground. In their struggle, there was hope, a stubborn refusal to surrender to the ruthless tide of change.

In the midst of this upheaval, humanity faced a choice. A choice between clinging to old habits and embracing change, between comfort and survival, between complacency and action. Climate change was no longer a distant threat. It was here, staring us in the face, shaking us awake from our collective slumber.

As the world teetered on the edge, would it take the leap of faith? Would it dive into the uncharted waters of a sustainable future or cling to the eroding cliffs of the past? Only time would tell.

In the end, climate change wasn’t just about rising temperatures and melting ice caps. It was about humanity. It was a tale of despair and hope, destruction and resilience, endings and new beginnings. This was our story. Our challenge. Our call to arms. As we stood at the precipice of a changing world, the question remained – would we answer the call?

—Michael J. Scott

About Post Author

Professor Mike

Professor Mike is a left-leaning, dog loving, political junkie. He has written dozens of articles for Substack, Medium, Simily, and Tribel. Professor Mike has been published at Smerconish.com, among others. He is a strong proponent of the environment, and a passionate protector of animals. In addition he is a fierce anti-Trumper. Take a moment and share his work.

professormike05@gmail.com