"So, what's our plan?" Mother Earth-directed her question to the formidable Poseidon who stood below her on his ocean throne. He looked back at the Mother of the planet, eyes burning with anger, radiating so fiercely that he looked like he would explode. 

“I've had enough of them. It's time to end their pitiful, greedy little lives," the God of the sea declared, as if there really was no need to discuss it further. “And she’s ready. I’ve briefed her.”

The gauntlet had been set - now was the time for humanity to answer that call.

—

It's the year 2100, and a layer of murderous green gas covers the earth's surface from the lethal toxins released by trash. Not a single sign of life can be seen except for enormous skyscrapers that humans hide in. They stand tall like tombstones in a graveyard of rotten bones. Manufactured air aids human survival.

Dotted throughout this new world sits hidden military bases. At moments when the Earth rages, people from within their towers escape to the shelters within them, hiding and waiting out the storms. Within one such base sits Andrew, a soldier.

“The Earth is pissed.” 

Andrew looks back at his comrade as if waiting for the next part of the sentence. Nothing follows.

“Against what, though? What does the Earth have to be mad about? It's US who can’t breathe.” 

The boiling temperatures of the Earth now bake lakes and oceans like cookies in an oven, drying them up, causing aquatic species to become extinct. Forest fires commonly sweep through valleys, destroying civilisation under its blistering heat. But these are nothing compared to the whipping wind of the hurricanes that destroy cities. Nor do they compare to the ferocious earthquakes and tsunamis that can tear down the bases of skyscrapers, collapsing underfoot, billowing in shards and dust. These disasters are the last defensive weapon of nature against humanity. But to be fair, it doesn't even matter who wins; the Earth is already like hell. 

Before joining the army, Andrew cared very little about the problems caused by the terrible condition of the Earth. But since answering the call to arms, he now realises just how badly humanity treats the planet Of course, now, it is too late. Andrew can still remember what his commander had said the day he joined. 

"Listen, people, I think y'all know World War III is upon us, and it looks much different than we had predicted. There’s no Russian envoi… no NATO decree…no UN diplomacy. It’s MOTHER EARTH! And it’s time to shut her down. Humanity relies on us!”

That had been a year earlier, and now, Andrew and his comrades crept silently through the fierce, pelting rain of a superstorm towards where their intelligence had said the hostage would be found. The rain penetrated his skin, leaving him bloodied.

“Why are we saving an old grandma who’s so old she can barely walk?” Andrew whispered to the soldier in front of him. He just couldn’t believe that he had trained in harsh conditions for months only to save a granny. What was so important about this woman whose name they weren’t even allowed to know?

“Because she was kidnapped by Mother Earth and Poseidon. She’s one of us.”

A vivid outline of the cave appeared in front of the troop shortly after. It was pitch black inside, and they could only hear someone yelping for help. The soldiers swarmed inside like ants seeing food; it was Greta with both her wrists tied to a chair and the soldiers recognised her immediately. “Miss Thunberg! Who’s done this to you? What happened?” Andrew’s loyalty to humanity kicked in and his dismissive attitude to the mission evaporated. 

“Young man, watch your tone. Now come and get me out of here,” Greta replied calmly, winking so subtly at a sublime figure in the dark that none of the soldiers noticed. 

Suddenly, the ground began trembling, and the cave started collapsing. It was too late for anyone to escape. While Andrew and his comrades were swallowed by the Earth, he caught a gleam in Greta’s eye. 

Meanwhile, tons of plastics thrown in Poseidon’s ocean were returned by a monstrous tsunami that devoured and suffocated humans with their own trash. In that brief moment, humanity had been eradicated and the world became silent again. When Greta could hear the sound of plants and animals breathing relief, she untied her wrists and stood up calmly. She blew dust off her body. 

“I tried to tell them but they never listened to me,” she sighed. “I had no other choice.” She looked over at her ‘captors’ whose smiles revealed true gratitude. Mother Earth opened a door on the edge of the cave to reveal a staircase, and watched happily as her spy ascended the celestial steps to an eternity in heaven.

           When Greta was gone, Mother Earth turned to her comrade. “Now!” she said, “to the business of restoring my planet and your ocean!”

Reflection:

In this piece, I have applied an ironic, slightly satirical tone to the concept of climate change in an effort to shift the messaging from doom and gloom to something a bit more thought provoking. First, I have imagined a future where World War III will not be between warring nations, but rather will be between humanity as a whole and the planet. Global warming has been a pervasive issue ever since we started ruining nature with our ‘progress.’ It’s time for Mother Earth to fight back against those who have damaged her environment. This is why Mother Nature is an actual character in my story. I also integrate Poseidon because he is the God of the Sea. Climate change is particularly impacting our oceans, Poseidon’s domain, which covers most of our planet. Both Poseidon and Mother Earth have motives to take humanity to war, which we are not expecting as we focus on the wars we create between each other. Finally, I expanded the irony and satire by integrating a very well-known child climate change activist as a key player in the plot: Greta Thunberg. In my story, she is a spy, working against humans in cahoots with Mother Earth and Poseidon. Having watched Greta give an impassioned speech to the UN, it was very obvious to me that had she a choice, she’d side with Mother Earth over her own people who she is very angry with. This is why I reward her in the end by enabling Mother Earth to show Greta the stairs to Heaven. The biggest challenge for me when writing this piece was keeping it under 750 words, but am very happy with the final outcome and hope that my readers will think twice about contributing to climate change when they realise a much bigger war is on its way…. 

Bibliography:

Baker, Mike. “The Tsunami Could Kill Thousands. Can They Build an Escape.” The New York Times, 7 Feb. 2022, 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/07/us/tsunami-northwest-evacuation-towers.html.

"WATCH: Greta Thunberg's Full Speech To World Leaders At UN Climate Action Summit". PBS Newshour, 2019.