We Swim Upstream

Distopia

We were left to wonder if the vast blue tides around us would stop rising in a never ending effort to swallow us whole. Towns. Cities. Everything was consumed in a manner, in which terrified even those in the highest of places, safe from the harm, chaos and destruction the blue waves bring. Are we innocent? No. At least we thought we were but we saw this problem peak the horizon a long time ago. We brought it upon ourselves and we are now left to cross our fingers and hope that the deep ocean surrounding us will return to low tide once more so we can finally see the land beneath our feet again.

I examined the scenery around me, thousands if not millions of people were all here together. The last of us left on this desolate planet. Once a planet littered by grand skyscrapers representing the never-ending capitalist nature of mankind. The metropolitan air that previously hummed and buzzed with excitement and pulsed with energy has now being replaced with a sombre and melancholic atmosphere as we now know that our time here is at an end.

For half a century we were warned of what was coming. Something as precious as our planet that's ever so fragile could just as glass, shatter at any given moment. We took it a step too far we crossed the line that was clearly carved in the sand. Even when we realised the extent of the damage we caused, the precautions that took place were nothing to reverse the scars we created.  Plastic. Fossil fuels. Greenhouse gas emissions. We physically pushed the limit of the world with a force so powerful that caused an extreme and drastic change in the planet's atmosphere. Even the air we breathe is contaminated with toxins and lacking the pure and simple element of oxygen that we desperately need for the survival of the human race. Why couldn't we save ourselves? Couldn't we have pulled ourselves out of the wreckage and salvage whatever we had left?  But we didn't... blind with riches and the possibilities available to us - we marched forwards like a storm of destruction, more dangerous than the worst of thunder, towards our eventual undoing.

Now I am left here to contemplate the irreversible damage that was caused to our precious planet and all of the things I could have done to stop such a crisis happening. Although even I know that one person cannot change the fate of the universe. The scars started appearing a very long time ago.

Fear spurs through my body and I watch my grandchildren sleeping together on the hard white chairs. The harsh, bright lighting from above highlights their hollow cheeks and gaunt faces, shocked, I remember how long it has been since they've have had a proper meal, or even relaxed without worry or stress. They are undeserving of the pain they are experiencing now. Naive and innocent they no nothing different from the life they're living now. It shouldn’t be that way, they should be living a life of happiness but they are far from that. Across the hall I glance at the men wearing white clinical garments, they stand tall in a uniform manner like queens guards, their faces unemotional and unwavering of the turmoil occurring around them. But I have to put my faith on these men of stone as they are our only hope now.

We should have protected the planet not just for ourselves but for the future generations. They are now been left to survive in the dying world we left them. It's not much of an existence anyway.

We resorted to growing our own plants for food as there wasn't enough to go around the enormous population of the planet, of around 10 billion people. The parched, yellowing plains and grasslands that previously used for farmland to grow fertile crops and raise animals have been overused due to the rising sea levels, reducing the volume of land available. Resulting in a displeasing image of fields that lack any nutrients to grow crops or feed animals. The slow and steady decline of food will soon lead to the eventual starvation of us. Yet the population still continues to increase and we strive on little food, unable to escape the pain and suffering. It is as if nature is forcing us to feel the pain it feels as an act of revenge.
Even with the populations rising we are being condensed and crammed like lions in cages, restless and in need of something more. The rising sea levels and decaying lands have led us to survive in overpopulated suburbs fighting to see another day. I reflect on the previous years, the years when life wasn't such a struggle.  Food on the table. Hopes. Dreams. We thought we had our full life ahead, of us, ignoring and forgetting about what we considered at the time an irrational fear of global warming - the extinction of ourselves and our blue planet. We viewed it with the same feelings of hilarity that we had when we saw the men in black clergy robes- followers of the church- preaching about doomsday. We had all been yet to find out that The End has already come.

The hardest part of a salmon life is to swim upstream, a journey that it makes every year to escape from the harsh climates of the oceans. Much like us, it doesn’t conform to the natural order of life. It instead breaks out the mould. It instead chooses the hard way to battle against the current. But to a salmon, this annual ritual is a normal part of its biology. A genetically programmed, evolutionary trait. Perhaps we should consider that maybe, just maybe, the root of our destructive tendencies are biologically inherited and that we were specifically designed to lead ourselves down the narrow pathway that no one wishes to enter- towards our own undoing.

I will ask you... Was it worth it? What did we achieve? The list is extensive; farming, religion, morals, medicine, science, technology, wealth, and power. We created history. Dominated the planet plundered it’s resources, like pirates stealing gold. We just hadn’t quite grasped the concept that what we were taking wasn’t even ours to begin with. We build empires and destroyed others. Conquered. Worshipped. Basked in the glory. But that wasn’t enough for us. We were lured by the vanity of prosperity and power. Once we gained a title of value we marched onwards to achieve more. Those who don’t remember the past are condemned to repeat it. We were the condemned, condemning ourselves to a future of sadness and despair. We killed our planet by being infatuated with the ideology of human progress. Rising tides, melting ice caps, deforestation, global warming, war, famine. We are critically endangered. Yet we still make an attempt to swim upstream just like the salmon, forever battling against the current of the blue tides that surround us. Until we are eventually swallowed whole joining the other extinct species of the first men who walked the planet.

But those from the highest places will stand tall like statues and still in a desperate attempt to depict themselves as heroes l, even after what they have done, they lend a hand finally choosing to stain their immaculate white suits for the betterment of mankind. But even I know that their vision is tainted and they just wish to be painted as the saviour of the human race in the history books, when the turmoil ceases and all is left is the young new generations oblivious to the pain their ancestors felt before them.

We are the antagonists of our own novel, we created an alluring façade highlighting only the good in ourselves. Yet we were still to face our own reflection in the mirror, to see the cracks beneath the surface of this planet. What could we have done? What would have stopped this before it was too late? Nothing. I will ask you again.... Was it worth it? I think we all know that It was not.

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Authors notes:
Hey guys hopefully you enjoyed my short story, I really wanted to focus on the massive problem climate change is and the devisating effects it will have on our planet if action isn't taken. No matter who you are or where you live you CAN TAKE ACTION. One voice is enough to turn the tides of change.
#climatestrike