Imagine: Dystopia

For some it has been an inconvenience, for others a hardship, for far too many a tragedy. As locked down has eased, perhaps understandably, large groups of people converged on unprepared coastal towns. They travelled long distances to feel a little freedom from the restrictions necessarily imposed to curb the spread of Coronavirus and enjoy the community and congregation integral to human well-being that was badly missed by us all during our lockdown existence.

As they stretched out on the small space of sand claimed for the day on a crowded beach or sipped on a thirst quenching refreshment before thoughtlessly discarding the empty plastic bottle, many may have reflected on the disruption caused to society by the relatively minor shock of a pandemic and the unprecedented lifestyle changes made to contain the danger. After experiencing a different reality, we should all now force ourselves to imagine the catastrophic effects on our civilisation of a major trauma caused by the twin forces of unchecked man-made climate catastrophe and ecological collapse.

To start, imagine extreme heat forcing you to abandon your family farm which sustained your ancestors for generations, your heritage turned to dust by scorching sun and hot winds, as higher temperatures make villages across large swathes of Asia and Africa uninhabitable.

Then imagine living with the stress of the constant threat of evacuation from your home as droughts increase the frequency and ferocity of uncontrollable wildfires which, in the click of a lighter, could turn the community in which you have settled to cinder. Or because global heating has increased the instability of ice age glaciers and the likelihood of thunderous avalanches which, in the clap of a hand, could sweep away the home you have built in the scenic mountain village nestled in the foothills below.

Imagine Pacific Islands vanished beneath the swell of the vast ocean which sustained your culture for two millennia before rising sea levels wiped your small but proud nation from the map.

Imagine waves crashing against the hollow husks of skyscrapers protruding from oceans, crumbling monuments to the arrogance of a species that thought itself above nature, after the melt from polar ice caps has overwhelmed the defences of the large coastal city you lived and worked in.

Imagine large segments of the global population killed in the chaos unleashed by a violently changing climate and the collapse of carefully balanced life sustaining ecological systems. Hundreds of millions of lives ended abruptly by the brutal natural force of extreme weather events raging across the planet and many more suffering prolonged, agonising deaths from starvation or illnesses caused by the polluted atmosphere.

Imagine a smaller world with less space for the human population to live. The remaining population crammed into safelandss in Northern and Southern latitudes separated by vast dead zones too polluted, too toxic and too hot to sustain human life.

Imagine this world controlled by Cartels of the Corrupt 1%; the oligarchs, moguls, tycoons, and politicians who used their power and influence to recklessly push the planet beyond climate and ecological tipping points as they avariciously accumulated 99% of the world’s wealth before climate chaos descended. The ensuing death and destruction further concentrating the wealth, influence and power of the Corrupt 1%.

Imagine, following the disintegration of recognised national borders, a new world order. A more disconnected, divided and dangerous world ordered by fragile political alliances between ruling Cartels in recast territories who use clean water as a currency to buy labour and loyalty from the Followers – the misguided majority complicit in the unrestrained consumption that led to climate and ecological breakdown whilst generating the massive wealth for the Corrupt 1% to accumulate – who now survive in servitude as hard working labourers and expendable foot soldiers for their wealthy masters.

Imagine fortified communities built and populated by the 1%, who without conscience ravaged the planet for profit and corrupted the global economic system to concentrate wealth, influence and power in their small clique of super rich. Their climate secure sanctuaries protected, with equal ruthlessness, from impoverished Followers and the desperate Displaced by Artificial Intelligence sentries programmed to detect, classify and, when coding logic dictates, terminate intruders. Their extravagant lifestyles maintained through the continued oppression of Followers and the Displaced through drone surveillance and policing by Artificial Intelligence officers programmed to impose a strict rule of law.

Imagine Followers struggling day to day for survival in a hostile environment, labouring long hours to meet production quotas set by the Corrupt 1% in return for shelter and access to clean water. Their existence dependent on the smallholding assigned to them yielding enough food to fulfil quotas set by the Cartel’s Agribusiness Czar with enough left over to feed their families.

Imagine an even tougher struggle for those displaced by extreme heat and weather events that turned their homelands into inhabitable danger zones. Having survived treacherous journeys to arrive at Safelands with nothing except the tattered clothing they stood in and a keepsake or two small enough to stuff in a pocket or hang around their neck, they now eke an existence from land on the fringes of the Safelands assessed as unviable by Cartel Agribusiness. The remnants of abandoned towns and villages destroyed by ferocious storms powered by a warming climate provide shelter for the Displaced from the elements and the wilds animals that now roam the overgrown streets and avenues, both of which represent another threat to Displaced lives.

Imagine your grown up grandchildren providing for their families in a world like this.

My imagining of a not too distant climate changed future is a way for me to free my mind from the constraints of lockdown living and release climate change anxieties. It is an intentionally dystopian vision. Some of my ideas and characterisations are extreme but some are scarily plausible based on warnings from climate scientists. It should not be difficult for any of us to imagine the anxiety felt by Pacific Islanders.

Although it doesn’t read like it, I still hold out hope that the right actions can be taken in time to avert the horrors I have imagined during the latter stages of lockdown. I can also see an alternative future…