It is just before dawn. The raft has rotated on its mooring and aligned to the new direction of the tidal flow. The hydro generator has just come on-line again, and its low whine pervades the silence of the surrounding area. Nothing stirs, no fish nor bird, in this barren landscape. The surrounding waters are dead, rank with the accumulation of salts, minerals and the rotting remains of the life forms, that had been so abundant here. The sun raises, and heralds another day of relentless heat. The air-conditioning struggles in a vain, to achieve equilibrium, and the desalination plant begins the daily task of watering the plants growing in the green house, which pervades much of the area of this small floating kingdom.
The man sitting on the porch, faces the coming dawn, but the empty sockets perceive non of this. It was a brave effort, born of necessity, but doomed to failure. Earth spins on though time and space, silent now, perhaps to awaken again, perhaps not.
This is a bleak picture, remotely possible, but unlikely in the light of day, you may think.
Our good natured planet 'Mother Earth' has withstood, and tolerated all manner of abuse within the period of human history. She was tempered and prepared over millions of years and presented to us in good order. Successive climatic cycles have established a richness within the soil, and a goodness and purity within the atmosphere. Five cycles in all have established these conditions. Free water has formed into oceans, saline and healing, maintaining the environment. Vast forests enrich the air that we breath. Temperate and intemperate regions co-operate to produce the rich and variable patterns of weather that we experience, and the ocean currents that bath our shores.
It is excusable that we should have developed our industrial processes without due care, in the past. What is inexcusable, is that we should continue to employ such practises, in the light of our current understand. We are wise enough, and technically capable of avoiding the worst consequences of our actions, and yet, seem unable to modify our behaviour in favour of our home planets' well-being. The seas are being polluted by an insatiable demand for oil. The excuse; the global economies will collapse without it, and yet we have the ability to generate from tidal streams, wind, and solar sources. We need to be prepared to innovate and develop these resources to the point where they become viable alternatives.
In the meantime we have nuclear power to support the industrial base required to get the job done. Let us hope that for all of our sakes, good common sense will prevail.
