2180, A Future Reborn
Copyright 2014 Skot David Wilson
ISBN: 9781311151179
Title: 2180, A Future Reborn
Author: Skot David Wilson
The Relatively Dry Prologue
The world Sk'lar and Julsey were born into was a basically brand new one. The Industrial Age had passed into history along with the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Middle Ages, and the Age of Enlightenment which all came before it. There was no consensus on what to call these times people were living in since the Great Collapse, or the Reset as it was also known. The best way to describe it, however, was the Age of Sustainability, since that was focus of humanity's efforts following a few decades of suffering by both nature and humankind. For the first time in human history, peoples and nations were working towards building a better world rather than to abuse it and take it for granted.
There had been many great changes in the world following the Great Collapse of 2032. Sea level had risen by 16 meters in the 150 years from 2000 to 2150 as a result of climate change, or global warming, or whatever anyone wanted to call it. Sea level had been basically stable and slowly receding, moving down one foot since hitting maximum in 2151. By the end of the Industrial Age, the excess of carbon that had been spewed into the atmosphere over the preceding two centuries had wrecked havoc upon the natural order of things. When the methane trapped in the world's tundra was finally released due to temperature rise, global warming went into high gear. The rapid melting of the polar caps and glaciers in the late 21st century had caused enough of a reduction in salinity to stop cold water from sinking and had shut down the great oceanic conveyor belt, and the only offset which saved the world from becoming totally ice free for the first time in 34 million years or so was the fact that the Gulf Stream had shifted south and that the dust that had been generated from The Middle East War in 2036, and a brief exchange between North Korea and China, had been the start of a new cooling cycle.
The beginnings of a new global cooling cycle had been initiated by these man made atrocities and abuses of the environment, and a program was instituted by what was left of the remaining civilized nations to help the process along by filling the stratosphere with sulfuric acid, polluting it to keep the cooling trend going. Once the process was kick-started, the earth's natural processes started to take over. oceanic salinity began to rise again the great oceanic conveyor had started up again by 2130.
In the 2030's and 2040's the Earth's population had gone from 9 billion to 1 billion in just a little more than a decade. The economic collapse happened first, and the wars and famines and starvation that followed had taken their toll, but in 2041 a global pandemic with a world wide 80% mortality rate swept across the globe. In months just about 5 billion survivors of the economic collapse and other tribulations had been reduced by another 4 billion plus. The survivors didn't beat the virus, they had a genetic component in their DNA which made them immune to it. It was as if the Earth had decided that enough was enough and was going to reset itself. That actually became the name of the amalgamation of the wars, disasters, mass starvation, cultural and economic collapses and The Middle East War, and included what was called World War Three, which was really just a bunch of inter-related skirmishes and police actions. It was named The Great Reset, later shortened to just simply “The Reset.”
It was now the year 2180. There was no more Wall Street, IMF, World Bank, multi-national corporations, UN, or major world powers so to speak. There just wasn't enough people to sustain them, and with close to 90% of the world's population gone, there had been no more international trade to speak of, no reasons to seek to invade or manipulate other nations, and that had not been eliminated by design, it was just the natural result, the effect resulting from the cause; even religious and ethnic conflicts had vanished. There was a brief period where a few radical religious states rose to power, but no antichrist or devil could be identified, and they were over in a hurry. People simply got tired of useless hate when survival was more important. The culprit for our destruction was determined to be ourselves.
Many nations had made doomsday provisions and contingency plans in secret, and after things had somewhat settled out by the 2060's they slowly began to emerge and started to provide direction and stability in cooperation with each other. Redevelopment was taking place and communication was back up, most of the basic infrastructure for the internet and global communication was still in place, even though global trade had essentially vanished. A world-wide census was taken in the year 2100 and the Earth's population was estimated at 1.4 billion, by 2180 is was somewhere near 2.1 billion world-wide. Things had been better, and with a high, very high level of literacy world wide society was finally much more civil and progressive.
All money and wealth was now either barter equity, commodity, or precious metal based. The remnants of infrastructure and manufactured goods that remained and which were in a state of decay were restored or recycled, and whole new industries were generated around bringing back the comforts of the modern age, many of which were now found in forms that used renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and natural and non-toxic materials. After things changed for the worse, there wound up being many more people banding together in small communities for mutual and self preservation than anyone had ever expected there would be. Common people simply stood together and for each other, and those who would first mutually defend each other against the dark forces of the world then banded together to seek out and abolish any kind of gangs or warlords or tyrants.
When the remnants of governments emerged from their underground arks they also supported those efforts. A movement swept through many former nations, and they created joint task forces who would seek out and disband or destroy any power structures which were cruel or oppressive, or who posed a threat to future stability. These coalitions would liberate any peoples who were being abused, and help them set up new communities of their own or join others which had started the process of reshaping human society.
With the degree of weaponry available to man and the memory of how weapons were used and what had been lost, those with power set in place a system of checks and balances to insure no abuses of power or wealth ever threatened humanity again. With the means of global communication still in the world, as well as the means to produce power, and the new availability of resources when the demand was vastly reduced from the great loss of population, news of what was happening in the world would make its way even to the most remote regions of earth. The United Nation was gone, but a new organization formed named simply “The Alliance”. All the forming members refused to consider a world government or central authority, but they did choose to submit to some aspects of international law and gave a some laws global and universal teeth. The International Bill of Human Rights was only one of a few ideas that came directly from the now defunct United Nations, and the original wording had only been strengthened. This document had been modified to include protection of the earth and nature as well as man, and was incorporated into the fabric of human association, discourse, and conduct. All member nations had to insure those most basic rights, and if any new government or society did not agree and adhere to these provisions, they could not enter the Alliance nor travel or trade with Alliance member states. There was no need for a global government if all unique and individual nations and governments enforced the same basic human rights, and laws designed to protect the earth and make man's activity one of a steward rather than a rapist. To insure this, global laws and standards were enforced at a local level, and true power was vested at the root levels of society rather than trying to enforce things from the top down.
Much of New York City was now underwater, and the Island was mostly deserted. There
were maybe 2 million people living in what was once Long Island, Southwest Connecticut, New York City and the Hudson River Valley, and North Jersey to the West. There were about 100,000 people living in the new province of Jersey Shore. What were once states, counties, and towns and cities were now provinces the size of several counties. New York City was gone, deserted. What was South Jersey up to the Raritan Bay was now the Shore Province; what was left of Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Long Island were now the Island Province; Manhattan was now part of the Province of South Connecticut, North Jersey was now the Province of North Jersey and the Hudson River Valley was now the Province of Hudson Valley.
Skyscrapers in Manhattan were crumbling and toppling over from time to time, and many older cities were overgrown from years of being unoccupied and unattended, but many other cities were being transformed, reborn, and renewed. There were solar and wind generating stations everywhere, farms and hothouses, local markets, and schools and medical centers. Roads were being restored, but railways were the primary source of travel between provinces or for any distance. There were still some internal combustion engines around, but they ran on alcohol or bio-diesel, and most vehicles were electric, and some hybrid. Hydrogen drives and power storage and delivery was only recently being explored as well.
It was a reborn world of high tech, powered by renewable and clean energy, and low tech, agricultural, organic, and sustainable industries. Crime was now pretty much non-existent. The was no longer any reason for people to steal, and children were taught civics and tolerance from an early age. Universal compulsory education with emphasis on civics produced societies of civility and tolerance and innovation. Communities were close knit, and emphasis was now on betterment of the human spirit rather than acquisition of wealth at any cost. No politician could serve in any office for more than a single six year term in any one position, and could not serve in more than three positions throughout their life, and also had to take a full term off inbetween serving any kind of term. Lobbyists and PAC's were illegal, and for capital crimes the penalty was sometimes exile to one of several isolated communities where offenders either worked at rehabilitation, or were imprisoned and worked producing their own food. Out of an area of 2 million people only 200 people were incarcerated, and the only prison was on what remained of Staten Island. It was more of a therapy center than a prison.
The lessons of how badly mankind had abused the world and each other was so engrained and entrenched in the human psyche, so endemic, that for the first time man's level of humanity had exceeded the level of technology. In remote regions a few small pockets of lawlessness still existed here and there, but there weren't many. There were still challenges to overcome and dangers to be faced from time to time, but for those born into this world civilization was much more firmly moving forward on a road to prosperity rather than one of self destruction.