A Letter From My Mind: What is left for us?
For this post, I want to take a step away from the usual
literature discussion and take a stance on the (not so) recent environmental
debate occurring about what will happen to the Earth if we keep destroying it.
Enjoy this little excerpt from the depths of my mind:
Hello.
My name is Dr. Astra Maverick. It is April 5, 2074, and I am speaking from the
remains of Greenland. I am currently situated in an underground bunker built
for 20 people with enough resources to last 5 years. I have been here for the
last 6 and a half years. I don’t have much time left.
This
device is my last hope that I can prevent the disaster that is about to occur
before it does. People of the past, the world is ending. It started when Russia
thawed from the high amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. The sudden rise in
water levels flooded much of Asia and took out over 80% of the population. The
government promised us that we would be safe, that the factories were being
regulated. When they tell you the same, do not believe them. The opposite was
happening across the world. The sudden heat flares started deadly fires and
burned all the trees from the tip of Canada to the bottom edges of South
America. Water and fire dueled freely on the surface of our world, and we were
simply the necessary sacrifices.
We
became expandable.
So, we
did as nature taught us and adapted. We created suits made of the strongest
plastic we could find. Something that could rival the strength of nature
itself. And as the battel drew to an end, we believed we had won. We were
wrong. We thought we were the only casualties – we forgot the ozone layer,
which was gently, but surely, peeling away and rejoining the cosmic dust it
came from. It took out most of us – skin cancer. We refused to bow, however,
and instead redeveloped the suits to give us protection from the UV rays of the
same sun we once used to love.
The
same suits that were meant to protect us killed the rest of us.
The
suits were meant to filter our water and food to ensure that we would not
pollute ourselves with microplastics. The tubes, which were made as a result of
“recycling” the used plastic, eventually eroded, and contaminated our food and
water until all of us were dead from plastic pollution and contamination. My
parents were the researchers who built this bunker. They left 4 years ago to
find a solution.
They
never came back.
This
device is all I have left. I am the last one in this world that we claim we
love so much. I am the last one and I am telling you that there is no second
chance. You have to stop treating the Earth as a hopeless creature that will
not fight back despite the abuse it faces from our hands. It will fight back,
and when it does, we won’t be ready. No matter how many suits we make. No
matter how much we want to survive. If we don’t stop, Mother Earth will take
her revenge and ensure that she purifies her lands from the plague that is
humanity.
I pray
to whatever god looks upon our destructed land that this message reaches you in
time. I pray that you fix this before it happens. Save our home because no one
else will.
This excerpt, if not already clear, is set 50 years into the
future where humanity is down to the last person, and she is making a desperate
attempt to reach us (back in time) and warn us to stop the downward trend in
environmental protection. Regardless of how fun it was to write this, it’s
important to note that this future is not science fiction anymore. With the way
the environment is being treated as a result of modernism and materialism, this
future is all too probable. It is my attempt to persuade you into, hopefully,
taking action to prevent this from happening.
Signing off for now,
Reality Sucks
I LOVED the way you wrote this, it made it feel so real and fun to read. I liked how you talked about our constant change to the destroyed world around us, but how we still avoid ways to actively respect nature and its needs.
ReplyDeleteThis was so entertaining! I really liked how your writing took on the voice of "Dr. Astra Maverick"! I also liked how you emphasized the reliance humanity has on plastics, as well as its inevitable effect.
ReplyDeleteThis was so fun to read! I thought it was a really creative and almost euphemistic way to spread a dire and serious message. I thought it was so on brand for us human to make something to protect us from a situation the we created, but then that ultimately goes and kills us.
ReplyDeleteThis was so entertaining. I like how you wrote this in the perspective of the last person alive. I also like how you explained why it happened.
ReplyDeleteI specificly liked your last paragraph. You wrote it as a fun way to conclude while including a call to action in it. That really caught my attention. I also liked how you took up the tone of a professional and created a whole new personality that convey the message of the need of protecting our environment
ReplyDeleteI read this even before it was published, and it was good then, but the edits made later were amazing. The perspective of a doctor add credibility to the piece. Also the conclusion by giving a reality check of now was a effective addtion.
ReplyDelete