Prompt:

Describe or narrate a scenario about a bottle found a decade into a future in which “progress” has continued. Your description should address issues related to climate and elicit feelings of dread.

Scenario:

It is only the first week of March, but it feels like the summer has peaked already. I wake up to yet another emergency text from the Government of Canada warning the public of the ongoing heat dome. “Isn’t it supposed to be temporary?” I mumble under my breath. I’ve been running the AC inside the house for the past month trying to stay cool but to little or no avail. The temperature has been in the high 40’s since the morning and who knows how high it will be today. Every day seems to be breaking records. Children have been ordered to stay home and schooling has been moved online. I haven’t been able to walk my dog except in the middle of the night because the heat on the concrete sidewalk burns his paws. Non-essential travel has been discouraged to prevent heat stroke. People are starting to talk about whether or not we should adjust our clock to reverse day and night to avoid the heat. I turned on the TV just in time to see today’s heat-related illnesses and death count for the country. It feels like a deja vu from the COVID period a decade ago. Our society has progressed a lot since then. We have made significant advances in the medical field (we finally cured diabetes!) and transportation including automated airplanes and space travels where accommodations are being built in outer space for those who can afford to escape the heat. As a result, we are consuming more energy than ever and as many have predicted, our planet is paying for it with climate change and extreme weather events. The push for conversion to electronic cars and other devices that require batteries stripped the Earth of its natural composition including lithium. Data centres have been quadrupled to meet the demands skyrocketing with AI use in almost everything. We seem to have traded in the health of our planet for other “progresses” deemed more important by society.

I head to the fridge to grab a bottle of “Sun Cloak” and pour myself a cup. It is the next-level sun protection that you take by mouth and it forms a bubblewrap-like layer on the skin for up to an hour to protect against the scorching sun. The label says to drink it 10 minutes before heading out in the sun and repeat the dose after 1 hour, to a maximum of twice per day. It creates a layer on the skin where cold air is trapped and circulates, eventually turning into a cool condensation at the end of the hour. It reminds me of the magical elixir that wizards would be drinking in Harry Potter and I am not quite sure if they have studied the long-term effect of this product but it is what we need right now. I am careful not to waste a drop because this costs me $450 per bottle. I would’ve laughed if I said I would be paying more than $30 for a bottle of sun protection a decade ago. But it is the only temporary solution to protect my skin and manage my temperature to get outside to take my dog to the vet. “Hang in there buddy,” I say to my dog as I put him in the air-conditioned kennel inside the already AC-blasting car. They haven’t come up with a pet version yet.

References

Image created using Microsoft Designer