Planet Earth 2072

Young people are scared for the future.

Why shouldn’t they be? We’re facing a climate crisis. Mind you, when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s the word global warming was entering the vernacular, but we didn’t see a crisis. Temperatures keep rising. Weather patterns are changing. All of this is affecting our lives now. This is no longer something that’s coming down the road in some far away future.

In my short life (53 years) I have seen the change. When I was born in 1972 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, there was on average 13 days out of the year when temperatures reached 90 or above. It’s a tropical island, that seems normal. Well, barely 53 years later, my tiny home island is now averaging about 105 to 110 days out of the year when temperatures reach above 90. By the time I’m 80 the island could see up to 160 days above 90 degrees.

For me this is mind-blowing. Within my lifetime I am witnessing an unbelievable change. That change is the reason why the map below doesn’t feel like science fiction. I believe it, that could happen.

It was not that many years ago, I was living in South Florida when I witnessed one of the strangest flooding events I’ve ever seen.

It was 2019 when a King Tide rolled in to a Key Largo community. Normally, with the tides water moves back out, but not this time. The flood water stuck around for more than three months.

Speaking of the Keys, not long ago the islands, especially Key West, got hit with unprecedented rains that led to floods that most residents had never experienced.

These fears about an unknown future with is the basis of a new project I’m working on, a podcast and novel about the future and how the climate crisis will impact the lives of future generations. It’s called Planet Earth 2072.

The novel is a collection of twelve stories. Six occur in Miami, and the other six happen in Las Vegas. Though they’re separate stories, all of them are connected and occur during the first week of August 2072.

The podcast is not fiction, or in this case, science fiction. It’s a collection of conversations with Gen-Z and their feelings about their future. We also talked to scientists, engineers, and politicians trying to do something about that future.

The validity of climate change is – sadly – still debated, though I believe it is changing slowly. Deniers are running out of excuses, and the evidence of a heating planet is hard to call a hoax. Also, the climate crisis is not a problem for the future; it’s something we’ve been living with for quite some time.

I feel for the younger generation, and I understand their fears. The future appears grim.