This week, “CLEO Talks Climate” presents the following short story as a supplement to the video. We hope it hammers home the urgency of climate change, as well as our capacity and civic duty to mitigate it.
“Collision Course”
By Andrew Blitman, Guest Blogger
The mighty spacecraft The Odyssey entered the
Oort Cloud. Aboard this vessel is every human on Earth, much like Noah’s
Ark. From the deck, I saw a storm of comets in the distance. Though the swarm
of scattered comets appeared small from my vantage point, I noticed that they were
getting larger.
I was then led to the bridge, where the captain was
conspicuously absent. Only the second mate – who lacked the authority and
experience to change the vessel’s course – was present. I asked him about the
captain. The third-in-command exclaimed, “He is asleep in the royal suite and
must not be disturbed for any reason!”
Angrily, I confronted the crewman. “We – the seven
billion passengers of humankind – have paid you – leaders who possess all of
the necessary qualifications and relevant knowledge – tremendous amounts of our
hard-earned money to prevent disasters like this! Don’t you at least have the
decency to use the power we gave you to protect us – as well as yourselves –
from this long-foreseen and very real threat?”
The second mate shrugged in silent indifference, indignantly
refusing his legal and ethical responsibility to answer the question. The
captain – the ship’s highest-paid and most-knowledgeable public servant – was
still conspicuously absent. He was snoozing while the vessel’s imminent and
long-term futures hung in the balance.
I asked the second mate one last time, “Can’t you see
that you are squandering our last chance to change our fate?” He exclaimed (in
spite of the irrefutable evidence) before walking away, “The comets are harmless!”
After I left the bridge, I noticed a group of at least
twenty passengers. They, too, were concerned about an inevitable collision with
the largest comet. Frustrated by the crew’s lack of willpower, they tried to
alert others about the clear, avoidable, and impending catastrophe.
“For the past five days,” the group’s leader explained,
“we astronomers have tried to engage as many passengers and crew as possible with boisterous speeches about the science behind these comets
– which have predictable paths – and why they are so dangerous to all of us
aboard. At least a billion people are extremely anxious – and vocal – about
what could happen to our ship if nothing changes. However, they feel powerless
and do not know how they as individuals can fix the situation. An even larger
number is not even aware of the danger. Some (including most of the crewmen),
even had the nerve to publicly deny that these comets exist.”
I responded, “Those who are aware must start a movement.
We need to share our concerns with the captain and crew, who appear to care nothing
about their responsibility to prevent our inevitable destruction. They only
want to keep their jobs – and our money – to the bitter end.”
A world-renowned British historian – the group’s
second-in-command – added, “Our current situation is strikingly similar to what
happened to Her Majesty’s Ship, The Titanic, in 1912. More than 200
years ago, the trans-Atlantic liner crashed into a giant iceberg; it sank and
killed all but 705 of the 3500 people on board.” He continued, “Just as our
captain is sleeping when he should be steering the ship away from comets, The
Titanic’s captain, Edward John Smith, repeatedly ignored stern warnings from multiple nearby vessels about icebergs.”
The historian concluded, “We must mutiny to take control
of The
Odyssey. If we do not or cannot, we will meet the same fate as The
Titanic and be destroyed. However, this time, all that is left of Earth
will be annihilated with us.”
The group’s leader commanded, “Join us! We will act while
we still can. We must and will change our fate before it’s too late. ”
And so, I resolved to follow them. This is my – no,
humanity’s – “Titanic Moment”. Together, we will secure destiny!
About the Author
Andrew Blitman is
the CLEO Communications Intern. A professional blogger (founder of "The Written Blit") and the author of two books, he graduated from the
University of Miami in May 2014 with a Masters of Professional Science degree in Marine
Affairs.
