Ruins of Tomorrow [Climate Change Action Story]

Chapter 2

Once Penelope got herself together, she stood up and walked back to her house. The TV was playing in the living room, and something caught her attention. "A local teenage boy was arrested this morning for hacking into the database of multiple fossil fuel companies, including Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil and BP. It concerns 16 year old Aaron K. As he is still underage, it is unsure which punishment he will be suffering. The data that was leaked contained proof that these fossil fuel companies knowingly continued producing oil and gas while being fully aware of the impact this would have on planet Earth." 

"What a legend! But what impact has fossil fuel had on Earth? We live the most luxurious life I could ever imagine." she thought to herself. Penelope's mother joined her downstairs. "Sweetie, what would you like for breakfast?" Penelope didn't need to think very long  about that. Her favorite breakfast was bacon and eggs. "Some bacon and eggs, please." she told her mom. With the incident of the arrested hackerboy still spinning in her head, she asked her mom: "Mother, what is the impact of fossil fuels exactly? I never heard anyone say something negative about it. And if they have such an impact, why are we still using them everyday?" Her mother was taken aback by this question, as it was a very important question. Oddly enough, she had never thought about it herself. "I have no idea, but I would love to find out! Why don't you look it up on the internet while I prepare your breakfast.", she answered her daughter.

Penelope took her phone out of her pocket, an iPhone 34 Ultra Max Pro, which she was quite ashamed of actually, because most other kids already had the iPhone 37 Ultimate Pro Luxe, but her parents never admitted to buying her a new one as the current one still did its job. Once she had looked up her question, she noticed there were almost no sites answering it. The ones that claimed to have the answer were blocked by the mandatory antivirus software that the government had installed on every device. "That's strange. I can't find anything about the negative impact of fossil fuels.", Penelope informed her mother.

Luckily she remembered that the journalist was talking about the hacker and what he leaked to the public, so she decided to take a look on the local news channel. "The 16 year old boy's parents will receive a monetary fine, and the government has announced that if such criminal activities were ever to take place again, the culprit would be put in an institution." the news lady said. Penelope was disappointed. Not a single news source that mentioned the leaked data, while it was important enough to arrest a boy for leaking it. As it was summer vacation, Penelope decided she would simply look up the boy's address and ask him what was so important about it. "I'm leaving, mom!" she shouted through the house. "But what about your breakfast?! Aren't you hungry?" her mother asked in vain. Penelope was already on her way and determined to find out why this boy was arrested for some information not even worth mentioning in the news.