Blue Hope, let nothing change so that everything changes

Upon entering the huge dome, Amaia immediately perceived a smell like "new". She had never owned a new apartment or car before, but she remembered how the furniture her parents bought for her room smelled when she was 15. That table, the bed and the bookshelf had been silent witnesses to the marathon study days to get her degree in Chemistry. after, she had to flee her homeland to find a good research position. She tried in Madrid, Munich, and Helsinki. In the first capital, she was exploited and earned a miserable salary. In the second, she escaped a bad relationship Finland, where she stayed for the longest time, the unbearable cold fed frustration and rage in her young soul. Until that strange invitation came. A multinational organization she had never heard of recruited her for an unprecedented experiment and the best thing was that they offered her a extremely high salary, given her age and experience. They called it Project Blue Hope, although Amaia had always associated that with green.

Apparently, some countries were far more concerned about the health of the planet than they showed in public settings and had formed a kind of alliance. Elite scientists were working together on different research lines . She was among "the chosen ones". However, the choice had nothing to do with the outstanding marks she had scored in her BS. They did not want her as a researcher, but as an ordinary middle-class citizen, highly educated, single, and fluent in English. The first interviews were mysterious and intriguing. She even thought about the most sordid and perverse possibilities. She was incredibly beautiful, blonde, thin... She had always hated to be judged by her looks, although on almost every occasion her physical appearance played in her favor. In any case, she went on because she had nothing to lose. The end of the experiment, a kind of Big Brother program but in a crazy way, could not be more praiseworthy. It was about saving the planet. Only when it was officially confirmed that she would join Blue Hope did Amaia knew that 50,000 people of all races, ages, and socioeconomic backgrounds would be living together for an extended period, without contact with the outside world. The approach was logical. No matter how much effort had been made to combat climate change, lifestyle changes, industrial production systems, and food were not keeping pace as to avoid the disaster. Blue Hope's inhabitants would prove that it was possible to live with the same quality of life and the prevailing ultra-consumerism while still curbing climate change. And all this without the need to become "hippies" and lead an alternative life. But that would not do much good on its own. The key was to use micro- and macro-economic data to show the big international corporations, much more powerful than any government, that a Copernican turn in the way they did things, in their production systems or in the transport of goods, for instance, would make them much more money. As simple as that, the great change was not going to be articulated from consciousness and responsibility, but from the most savage capitalism.

The dome had biblical dimensions. Because of the nature of the experiment it would have been impossible to build it in a developed western nation, because in a short time it would be circulating on social networks. That African country, however, was a place where tourists did not dare to set foot. The local population was suffering hardship and hunger and a corrupt and conveniently bribed government was giving away virgin land far from any GPS signal.

The first days were as exciting as when she walked through the University gates. A new world, with its own rules and many interesting people to meet. The organization had conceived a kind of miniature city inside with all the services and comforts. Although with a more Nordic and avant-garde design, it resembled the film The Truman Show. Amaia thought about whether she would be able to endure the two years that were included in the 500-page agreement that she had signed a few weeks ago, which included strict confidentiality clauses.

The ecological city was on the surface. Below it, in immense basements, there was an army of scientists in all branches of knowledge. Computer engineers were an indispensable element, supported by technicians with different qualifications. Everything in Blue Hope was measured and recorded, even the most insignificant parameters, millions of sensors that populated the artificial city. It was essential to compile all this data, to order it minimally and to send it through a "meteorological" satellite dedicated exclusively to this task. In another secret location, reports would be made to demostrate the voluntary and conscious change of course that humanity should undertake to bequeath to their grandchildren a place to live.