The Siren's Code

Margo

Margo was getting a little tired of the partying, and having spent a good part of the last two days pulling refresh on her messaging app whilst lying in her hammock she had decided that this morning she would take action. So, over breakfast in her cabaña restaurant that did fantastic homemade granola fruit and yoghurt she got out her phad, a gift from her parents as she left home – she still had to pinch herself to check it was actually hers she – searched the PermaCycle Project and sent an email. There were many perfectly explicable reasons why Yossi may not have got in touch. Maybe he lost the paper or doesn't have a phad, or there isn't wifi at the project – she was slightly clutching at straws – or he had a girlfriend or boyfriend. Her stomach flipped at the thought of him not even being available, but she gave herself one of her talkings to – why does that matter, it doesn't – she just wanted to have a look round the PermaCycle Project, maybe volunteer there, it would be amazing to bring that knowledge back home after all... and spend the rest of her life with Yossi another voice in her head piped up, even bring him home!

Aaahhhggg. She closed her phad and slid it back into her bag, a rustle in the trees made her look up as a bunch of monkeys swung in. Capuchin monkeys, two in one tree giving the death stare to another in the other tree, this face off meant they were completely stationary and gave her some time to just sit and study them. Their features were quite extraordinary, like the ghosts of Dickens' Christmas Past. Skin so delicate and white, uncanny in such a sunny country, they'd be better off in her neck of the woods. A shock of white hair with a perfectly round patch of black hair akin to a skullcap on top, suitable attire for clergymen and they looked like them too. The two, in one tree had their mouths wide open, one restraining the other, from – she assumed – rushing off after the other one in the other tree, but all currently in stasis it was mesmerising. So much so that she found she was now sitting there, her mouth wide open in reflection, as she studied, every line, every detail, every small human feature, and then as they moved their strangely white balls suddenly angled in her direction, really standing out against the rest of the black hair on their body, surely they should be more camouflaged – definitely not suited to this country she thought, perhaps like her she sighed.

Margo had met Skyler and Julie at the Parque Nacional Tortuguero, a spot in the jungle where people went to volunteer as part of their ecology, zoology or biodiversity degrees or actually after their degrees when they were trying to find a job. In spite of the boom in climate saving grants and loans pledged by every government participating in COP to support and promote any form of industry that did not involve further destroying our planet. Finding actual paying jobs on the ground, as opposed to consultants in high-rise – admittedly slightly more climate friendly than they were – offices were not well paid, so anyone who was qualified to work in these type of jobs was either volunteering for free, or moved to other industries to get a job that did pay, the oxymoron of this was that nothing changed. The rich got richer, the climate got poorer, and the young who were desperately trying to do something about it were not able to get their fully qualified feet through the door. It sucked, but it did mean that the volunteers at these reserves were highly intelligent, driven and had time on their hands. The discussions around the common area table, or in hammocks round the dorms were like a fiery cauldron of ideas, opinions and knowledge – a fusion of energy and innovation that were governments serious about their worthy initiatives they could do a lot worse than lean in. The problem being that there is a seduction to expensive suits, air conditioned office suites, and you get what you pay for mentality. Well look who's paying now. And why is it that things sound so good in my head, but then sort of freeze in my throat.

Margo had studied Sustainable Conservation Biotech, majoring in Marine Sustainability, her thesis about wave height, temperature, and damage around the Inner and Outer Hebrides. Sea level rises in the North Atlantic, due to climate change directly impacting the livelihood of these Islands off the West Coast of Scotland with the complete removal of some coastal towns if nothing is done, not to mention the strengthening weather already creating damage and displacement.