105: Soak Up The Sun

Here, on the last days of the earth, we huddle together for warmth and companionship and in attempt to forget about the inevitable.

Mankind had the chance to make a difference and for so long it looked as if we would step up to the challenge. We recycled and we started to appreciate the scarcity of our planet's natural resources.

Then politics became too cynical and argued against science to say man is doing no more harm now than ever. The markets determined what should be and fairness and right were abandoned for profit and individual gain. The one became more important than the many.

He who had the means of production ruled the world, squandering opportunities that we did not know would never come again. Anti-pollution laws were relaxed in favour of increased profits, quick turnover and maximized margins.

We protested too gently and much, much too late. But it wasn't the ozone layer developing a hole or using all the oil under the seas that finally sealed our fate. It was the smoke and the dust and the chemicals and the toxins accumulating in our atmosphere that did it.

Ironically, if the ozone layer had a larger hole, enough of the build up could have escaped into space. Instead the various particles combined in ways our chemists had yet to envisage, creating a thick, impermeable cloud covering the sky over the whole of the world. The more rubbish we chug into the atmosphere the more impermeable it gets.

And it is soaking up the sun, so we are gradually entering another ice age and freezing a slow death.