Climate Change – Shirley DicKard

What would your world be like if you lived in the year 2088? As my novel goes 75-100 years into the future, I’m imagining the details of my great-granddaughter’s existence and that of the planet. I was struck by a recent report in Nature magazine: Approaching a State-Shift in Earth’s Biosphere. An international team of scientists concludes that our planet’s ecosystems are careening towards an imminent, irreversible collapse much sooner and much worse than currently thought.

Lots of novels and films have depicted a dystopic, future world: Soylent Green, Day of the Triffids, Feed, Waterworld, 2012, The Day after Tomorrow, On the Beach, Logan’s Run, the Matrix, The World without Us, Wall-E, The Great Bay, Canticle for Leibowitz, Andromeda Strain, the Stand, and my favorite written in 1949, Earth Abides – to name a few. Causes vary from rogue viruses, aliens, asteroids, technology gone amuck to nuclear disaster.

Given both the positive and negative trends already underway, suppose mankind is unable to do enough to ward off an irreversible, planetary-scale tipping point. What’s the outlook for our great-grandchildren if the corporate bottom-line continues to lead us into the future, or GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) continue to alter the biology of our foods and bodies? How will man communicate or move around the planet when there’s little left to extract from the earth for energy or manufacturing? Extreme heat and rising sea levels will probably eliminate traditional ways to grow food or live. What if man himself has tipped the earth so far that it’s no longer hospitable to humans?

I’m looking for images, ideas, imaginings. Tell me how you think a person would get through their day 75-100 years from now. I’m curious about details. With your permission, it might make it into “The Desk.” Leave a comment here or email me at sdickard@gotsky.com. Thanks!

I was surrounded by a cacophony of swans and geese. Such a perfect word for the exuberant conversation of migratory Tundra Swans, Snow, Ross and White-Fronted Geese that arrive every winter to the flooded rice fields in the upper Sacramento Valley. I spent the afternoon with them recently, amazed as I imagine people have always been at this seasonal flyway.

Two hundred years ago, a Patwin woman – one of the valley tribes I write of in my book – might have looked up at the first honks of returning swans, knowing it was the time for gathering acorns and manzanita berries. Spanish, Mexican, then European settlers from the east probably saw the migration as the arrival of protein for their winter larder. But for me, it’s the anticipated arrival of wonder.

People migrate – some. Migrant workers follow the ripening of spring lettuce and winter squash. As a rural school nurse, I knew certain families would show up in the spring when the weather was warm enough to camp out at the river. They stayed until the first frost, then moved on. Now it’s the seasonal folks who arrive in fall with their trimming scissors to work the local cash crop. When the harvest’s done, they too move on.

I wonder how the long-term impact of climate change will affect the signals that trigger migration? 2012 was the hottest year on record – a recent report by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). Earlier springs, longer, hotter summers, harsher wildfires, droughts, crop losses. Will my great grandchildren tell their children of the days when swans used to overwinter where farmers used to grow rice in the Sacramento Valley?

Stone mileage marker hidden in rice fields — Stone marker hidden in rice fields

Mileage marker between Marysville and foothill towns

I like my present-time roots. I feel them deep in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, but I also feel them across the valley where my ancestors settled in 1849. I like making that trek. I feel the pull of my own winter migration when the returning swans call me to drop what I’m doing, and meet them in the valley.

Tag: Climate Change

The Year 2088?

Migration