Page 68 - Tales Apocalyptic and Dystopian

Minutes of the Posterity Planning Commission

“Nevertheless, while we concentrate on issues close to home,
larger forces are at play in the world around us. It is an unfortunate
aspect of human nature that short-term profit and immediate threats
receive the preponderance of our attention. That flaw has ironically
led to the generation of some very real long-range perils for the entire
planet which are not being given the attention they deserve. As you
know, I am a science teacher at Chief Hapalonga High School. My
daughter Chaluniko is a student at Kalamoku State College. That is
where she met Dr. Hagalian, who is a visiting professor in the
environmental studies department. In a moment I will ask Dr.
Hagalian to speak to you, the leaders of your respective communities,
about steps we can take, right now, to protect our future. It may take
some time for you to digest what she has to say. I am risking my
prestige, not to mention my job, by organizing this meeting.
Therefore, please leave here tonight with her proposal as food for
thought. If you decide to support it, please contact me and we will
convene again.”

The chairman then gave the floor to Dr. Hagalian, who began by
thanking him and the others for inviting her to give a brief outline of
a plan which could have profound implications for the prospects of
Kalamoku. Then she spoke as follows (based on notes taken at the
meeting):

“As Mr. Norse implied, you are at an historical crossroads. This
island was originally inhabited by the ancestors of Mr. Tualayu. They
developed a self-sustaining culture; that fact is clearly established by
the archaeological record and by early travelers’ accounts of life as
they found it following Kalamoku’s discovery by Westerners more
than three hundred years ago. Since that time, the ancestors of Mr.
Lederer have—sometimes brutally—taken control of the island and
its economy. People from other nations within the orbit of Western
colonization were brought here as agricultural labor, and over time
this polyglot population has to large extent interbred and formed a
new, if uneasy, cultural alliance in the effort to make a living in the
modern world.”
“That industrial order has now reached its peak and is about to
begin its decline, having destroyed many of our ecosystems and
decisively interfered with the planet’s climate. You may view

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