Breathing was hard these days, but the price for portable air-cleaners had risen so high that they were barely affordable for the average person. Those who didn’t have the money for one of the high-tech machines tried to protect themselves by using face masks.
Those weren’t enough, hadn’t been in a long time.
Every day, thousands of people died from the effects the toxic air had on their bodies. Asthma had developed into a disease that affected almost everyone and allergies were deadlier than ever. Not many babies survived their first year anymore and those who did grew up sickly.
The warning signs had been there for decades. With the industrialization, air pollution had become a huge problem. For some time, humanity managed to keep it contained, even reverse some of the negative effects. But then, it only got worse again, especially in countries that tried to lift themselves to first world status.
In the 21st century the air pollution was especially bad in Asian countries like China. But the USA and many cities in Europe struggled too. Still, people didn’t really care. They bought cars that pumped fumes in the air and protested renewable energy in favor of coal-fired power plants. Global warming was declared a hoax by many.
Steadily, the pollution spread from big cities to the whole globe. There wasn’t a single place anymore that had air which was safe to breathe without filtering it first.
Michelle had been only 15 when a global state of emergency had been declared. Scientists from countries all over the world had come together and tried to find a solution. But all they had been able to come up with was a prognosis for when humans would stop being able to survive on earth once and for all: 40 years.
That had been 10 years ago and the outlook had not become any better. In fact, it seemed like the scientists had been uncomfortably correct.
And although everyone was working on a myriad of ideas to save humanity, every possible solution failed. Mars proved to be too dangerous to colonize. Giant air filters couldn’t keep up with the amount of pollution. All over the world, people were dying.
In a small lab somewhere in Europe, Michelle was working on her own idea. There hadn’t really been any other career choice that had made sense for her, as soon as it was discovered that she had a certain talent for biology, chemistry and even physics. Smart children were pushed into universities as early as possible and trained as fast and efficiently as possible to ensure a constant stream of new researchers and ideas.
It was okay, for the most part. Michelle would have preferred to make her own choices, but at least she had a certain job security. Until everyone will die at least.
For some time, she had worked with the people whose biggest hope had been the Mars project. In that team, she had learned how to combine everything she knew and come up with solutions nobody had ever thought of.
But this group of bright scientists had soon disbanded. One failure after another had destroyed every little bit of determination. Soon, they were all transferred to different labs, their funds redistributed to other facilities.
The general feeling of helplessness could be found everywhere. Just not in Michelle.
Her latest idea was a bit utopic, she knew that. It might not work at all, but then again, no idea anyone had until this moment had been successful. Why shouldn’t hers be the first?
While the air had turned more and more toxic and the temperatures had been rising constantly, there was still one place on earth that was, aside from some superficial pollution, in relatively good shape. And it covered most of the planet.
With everyone looking outward to space, Michelle wanted to stay on earth and explore what was still largely unexplored to this day. Back to where everything once came from.
The last resort for humanity was, in her eyes, the ocean.
Sources:
Unbreathable: Air Pollution Becomes a Major Global Killer
Beijing smog: pollution red alert declared in China capital and 21 other cities
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