While the Earth Warmed

Then came the spring after the people of The Great Nation had chosen a new leader— a felon, a conman, full of himself and full of lies. Many who voted for him were not privy to his intentions. They were ill informed, led astray by radical newscasts, talk show hosts, social blogs.  They knew nothing of the planned coup, the constitutional crisis to come. 

It was his second run as commander in chief and he was better prepared, surrounding himself with wealthy loyalists supportive of an authoritarian takeover. By way of dozens of executive orders and key agency appointees the commander began a dismantling of long held institutions while thumbing his nose at the rule of law. He spread fear among immigrants and gave an unelected man unprecedented power and access to the data of private citizens and government expenditures. He did it in the name of cutting waste and to fulfill a promise to make the nation great again. He did it to protect the interests of his rich loyalists and shower himself with wealth. 

With his minions at his beck and call he used a rapid fire strategy to spread unrest and confusion. It’s what Canadian journalist Naomi Kline calls “the shock doctrine.”  Keep the people off balance and on the verge of hysteria. Chaos is the perfect cover for passing unpopular policy. 

Environmental threats were none of his concern. He rolled back regulations and withdrew from the U.S. Paris Agreement; cut support for clean energy initiatives and increased fossil fuel production. He removed thousands from the payrolls of agencies tasked with monitoring climate change and its influence on weather extremes, wildfires, pestilence, and biodiversity loss. He gutted the EPA, rolling back safeguards that had controlled rampant pollution for decades.  

He couldn’t be bothered with data signaling a red alert due to rising ocean temperatures or melting polar ice; held no concern for threats to agriculture from drought and flood and temperature extremes, or the promise of inundated coastal cities and the mass migrations that would follow. He proclaimed the data corrupt, the whole concept a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese.  And he was a smart man, a stable genius by his own declaration. “It’ll start getting cooler,” he said, “You just watch.”

And with the shock doctrine in force and the populace frazzled and distracted, the actions a warming planet demanded were lost under a mountain of concerns over the economy and treason and autocracy and a constitutional crisis. 

When the wildfires next flared there were no resources to combat them, and thousands lost lives and belongings to floods and tsunamis because there had been no advance warnings from offices now empty.  Epidemics that might have been contained ran unchecked as short-staffed agencies were hamstrung and ineffective. 

The earth responded as it always has, as our understanding of physics and chemistry would dictate, without regard for current occupants. The beautifully functional planet maintained its orbit, accounted for changes in atmospheric composition, adjusted to higher temperatures. Most of what it did was long predicted by top climate scientists and should have come as no surprise. The opportunity to avoid catastrophic impacts had been kicked aside for decades. The commander of The Great Nation could not be solely blamed, but his blatant disregard was salt for an open wound that hastened the ill effects and underscored the folly of man and his quest for wealth and dominance.

When spring came that year the titmice sang from the understory and killdeer flew in loose, erratic flocks over the open cropland.  Frost left the soil and the determined green tips of crocus pushed bravely through the thatch. The days grew pleasant and the earth prepped for an explosion of  life. Sandhill cranes winged north as thousands were found dead along their route, and farmers at the breakfast cafe spoke quietly over morning coffee, concerned their livestock would be next. Kids were sent to school by parents worried about measles and respiratory infections and the next pandemic. Vacations were canceled as layoffs dominated the news. Dreams and ambitions were put in hold. 

Everywhere a palpable uncertainty and unrest fueled a growing resistance. Tensions between opposing forces mounted. 

And the earth warmed.