One day, we learned

Stories can be powerful. As a child I remember many days passed, absorbed in the world of some book or other. Stories can also be tools for exploration and communication. Through stories, we get to spend time in someone’s world. Live it for a bit. Maybe we want to be there, maybe not. But having spent time in that world we can understand why we might feel that way. Recently I was privileged enough to attend a talk by John O’Brien. There he described his book: Visions 2100. This book contained visions from many diverse and interesting people. They were exciting through their difference. John set out a challenge in that book: to write a vision of my own. This is my vision. It’s presented a bit differently to the ones in John’s book. It is presented through the eyes of Sam. Sam is a young person in 2100. They live in a world that has seen much hardship. The path to Sam’s today has not been easy, but society came out better. There is hope in Sam’s world. I hope this vision adds and contrasts to others you have heard. We can only understand through exploration.

My dreams shattered by a raucous screech. Ugh the alarm again. Surely it can’t be morning already!? Fumbling for the alarm in the darkness I finally find it and shut it off. As I shut it off, the light in my room comes on. Like adding insult to injury. Who decided to link the lights and alarm together? Muttering under my breath I slowly roll out of bed and put my feet on the floor. The mirror is right in front of my bed so I can’t help but see myself. Short, dark, messy hair? Check. Bleary, half-awake eyes? Check. At least my freckles don’t look tired. Looking around, I survey my room. Tiny, messy, but mine. On my wall is a poster depicting a lush green landscape, underneath the picture is the slogan “Tread lightly”. That’s the ethos of our whole community, and why the clothes I pull on next are covered in patches, second, third, and fourth hand. On my way out of the room, my timetable catches my eye. “What have I got today?” I mutter under my breath as I study it. History after homeroom. That’s great, my favourite subject! But after that it goes downhill. Maths, science, sustainability. Boring. I sigh as I head out to the kitchen.

The kitchen is bustling as usual. 5 families live in our little house here so the kitchen is always busy. It’s ordered chaos. There are six people crowded in already My brothers and sisters, plus my Dad. I’m not sure who out of everyone is actually related to me, but it doesn’t matter, they are all family. Everywhere there are little slices of life. Homework here, someone’s shoes there. It’s impossible to keep a house with this many in it tidy. Out of everyone there, only Amylin, my sister, looks up. She is tall, with blond hair tied neatly into a ponytail. Already dressed in rough coveralls for work of course. “You look like a zombie” she jokes “Errgh” I joke while miming a zombie. Amylin laughs and gets back to her breakfast. She is a remediator, and if I’ll be honest, my idol. Remediators have a really hard job. But everything worthwhile is hard. I want to be just like her, making a real difference. Amylin takes the last bite of her breakfast and swings her bag onto her shoulder. “I’m off, see you this afternoon” she says, giving Dad and I a quick hug. She won’t be back until late probably; remediation is hard work.

“What’s for breakfast champ”. That’s my dad. He holds the house together. Always seems to know what we need, always there for us. We all love him. “The usual please” I say. But before I have even finished the sentence, a plate and cup appear in front of me. Toast and juice. He already knew of course. “c’mon, eat up. School starts in ten minutes” he says. “Yes, Dad” I sigh through my first mouthful of toast. It’s funny how even though the room is full of people he can make it feel like there is only us there, just for a moment.

Soon it’s, time for school. School is in virtual reality here. One of the few bits of technology used every day. I slip the virtual reality headset over my head and in a few moments I’m suddenly at school. It’s much larger than home. You don’t have to save space in virtual reality I guess. The school’s entry is a large two-storey atrium with corridors heading off in several directions. There are people from all over the world here. Like salt and pepper, people of all colours, sizes, genders, all together. A raucous array of posters, displays, and paintings celebrate a wide array of special occasions for the students at the school. In history class they said we do school this way so that we can see others and know that they are not so different to us. Because in the past we would start to hate people we thought were different. I really don’t know why you’d do that? It’s obvious, to me at least, they are all people like me. How could you hate someone for being different?

Just as I arrive, the bell sounds. 5 minutes to class: better hurry. I rush off to my locker. Abeba and Sebastian are already there. Abeba is a short, excitable girl from Ethiopia. She is obviously deep in the throes of explaining something to Sebastian. Sebastian, far more reserved than Abeba, is mostly listening. He is a tall, swarthy, brown-haired Macedonian. Sebastian notices me first. “Thought you were never coming” he says. Abeba breaks off her conversation mid-sentence. “Finally! Hurry up, class starts in a moment” she says, rolling her eyes. “Sorry, overslept” I say. It’s not my fault the snooze button is just there on my alarm I quickly grab my books from the locker and we rush off to home room. I can understand the people from over the world bit, but I can’t understand why we still need to carry books around. Its VR after all. Seems stupid to me…

“Good morning, everybody” calls a loud booming voice from the front of the class. That’s Mr Díaz, our homeroom teacher. He waits a moment for the murmur of talking to settle down. “Welcome to Monday. I hope you are all excited for your school week!” he continues. The response from students is less than enthusiastic. “It’s a big week this week. You’re all getting to the age where you need to start thinking about where you want to go as you grow up”. That made everyone silent. We all knew of course that this was coming, but it was exciting now it is here. “Part of this is trying things for a bit. So in four weeks you are all going to be out there with someone learning and experiencing what they do. Your job for the next two weeks is to work out what you want to try”. I can feel excitement bubbling up inside me. I know exactly what I want to do. I can barely sit still. “some of you already know what they want to do”. Mr Díaz is looking directly at me as he says this with a faint smile on his lips. He knows how passionate I am about remediation. “some of you don’t. I’ll be organising some people to come in and tell you a bit about what they do to help you decide. Once you decide, I’ll help you find someone local to you” Mr Díaz finishes.

On the way to my next class everyone was chattering excitedly about what they wanted to experience. “I’m going to ask one of my mums if I can tag along with her” says Sebastian. “Bergh, that’s boring” I say. “I’m going to be a remediator” I continue. “No way, I’d much rather help people than that backbreaking work” says Sebastian. “Glad you know, I’ve got no idea” Abeba chimes in. “Don’t worry, Mr Díaz says he’ll give us some ideas” says Antonio. “I suppose” says Abeba as we get to our class. She looks kind of dejected.

The rest of the day is a bit of a blur. I couldn’t even concentrate in history, my favourite subject. I couldn’t wait to ask Amylin if I could tag along with her for a week.

That evening Amylin came home late. That just made the anticipation worse. What if she says no? It’s all I’ve ever wanted to be. Eventually, though, she comes in. Looking tired and dishevelled. “Rough day?” says Dad. Amylin manages a wan smile “Like they all are. But we’re getting somewhere and that’s what counts”. I know I should wait for her to walk in properly, but I can’t hold it in any longer “Mr Díaz says we need to try a job in four weeks and all I’ve ever wanted to be is a remediator. Can I please, please, please try it with you?” I blurt out all at once. “I won’t be any trouble and I’m a quick learner” I add. Amylin studies me for a second. “You sure? It’s not all glamour and awesome photos. Look at me, I look like a wreck” she replies. “But it’s the most important job ever! It’s what I have always wanted” I say. My heart is racing. “you’ll have to get up early…” Amylin knows I am not a morning person. “For this I will. I love history, I just wish it wasn’t so bad all the time. I want to be a part of making good history that my kids can study” I plead. Dad had been observing the conversation thoughtfully. “We are making good history now... Well better at least. Compared to when I was young…” he trailed off. He doesn’t discuss what life was like when he was young much. But I have learned from history the wars, famine, and hardship that he would have faced. It must have been horrible. “You are right, Sam, it is the most important job there is. But I think you’d be great at it. You have the passion. For this I think you will get up early”. Amylin sighs. “I’m outnumbered, aren’t I?” She turns to me, a serious look on her face “You realise you can’t stuff this up right? This is my dream too. I don’t want to have any problems because you can’t hack it”. Excitement was bubbling up in my chest. It was really going to happen! “I will, I promise” I say. Amylin’s eyes soften “Good. Dad is right, you will be great. You care like I did. I still do, I just know how hard it is now. Lets see what Daitan says”. Daitan is the leader of Amylin’s remediation crew. I have only met them once. If seriousness was a person, it’d be them. But I really hoped they would give me a chance.

The next four weeks were a blur. After Daitan said I could do the work experience I was fitted for coveralls. They were old and second hand, but everything was here. “Its not fair on the world to make you a new one because you don’t like the old one” my Dad always says when I ask for stuff. But even though they were old and patched, they were the favourite things I had.

Before I knew it, the day came. My alarm went off early, but I was already awake. Not like I could sleep on a day like today. I sprang out of bed and beat the world dressing record getting my coveralls on, then I ran to the kitchen. Dad, and Amylin of course were already there. I don’t think they sleep. Dad already has my normal breakfast ready. Toast and juice. But I can barely taste it. “Whoa, remember you need to breathe too” Dad observes, laughing. I don’t though. Way too exciting day to slow down. Before I knew it, we got to the depot.

Daitan was there together with around ten others. Daitan came straight over. “So you are Sam?” My heart is pounding. I hope they like me. What if they don’t and send me home? “Y… Yes” I squeak. I must’ve looked nervous.?“Don’t worry, I won’t bite… Stay with Amylin. She’s one of the best. I’ll make sure the others show you some stuff too.” I nod vigorously. “You’ll be fine. I’ll tell everyone what we need to do today then we’ll go up OK?” I nod again. Over the next few minutes the rest of the crew filter in and soon it’s time to start.

“All right everyone, first lets welcome Sam.” Daitan booms. “They will be spending the week with us to see what we do”. Everyone turns to look at me. “Be nice to them and keep an eye out. I’m sure they would love to see what you are doing. Remember you were like them once too”. Everyone turns to look at me. I huddle in a bit closer to Amylin. “When you are done making Sam feel uncomfortable, I’d like to tell you what we are doing today”. Everyone turns back to Daitan. “The eggheads at the university had a look out there. We are getting there but the storm did some damage. They say the bees are struggling this year. Amylin and Sam, that means I’d like you on pollination duty. You can start with the Borago Officinalis over in valley 3.” Amylin nods and pulls me in a little closer. Daitan continues Boris and Maria, A bear on hill 5 was hurt in the storm. Their population is dangerously low so we need to do everything we can to help it. Only take it to the hospital as a last resort OK?” Another two sounds of agreement. Daitan keeps rattling off jobs. One team needs to stabilise some erosion. 4 in that team. Another needs to plant an area. Another needs to transfer some fish from one lake to a safer one. Soon enough everyone has tasks and it’s time to go out. We all exit a large metal door and start climbing.

It must be the longest stairway I have ever seen. Back and forth. The occasional light gives us enough not to trip but no more. We mostly walked in silence. Just footsteps and breathing. All alone in thought. My head is spinning. This is every day? There is so much to do. All this stuff that the world used to do itself, now we have to do until the world gets back on its feet. I had learned about it in history at school of course. Only through learning the past can we prevent these things from happening again. But in class it was a bit abstract. They can show us pictures and videos. But here now I can understand what it means. In the space of 200 years humans had destroyed most of the world’s ecosystems. Their unsustainable living had been at the cost of the world. Ecosystems began collapsing in the late 20th and early 21st century. Still people did nothing. By the 2050s and 60s they had reached the point of no return. Humans survived, just. By digging. The surface mostly unliveable. Storms, fires, floods, scorching heat were every day. But now, we knew our responsibility was to fix it. That was the job of the remediators. I had never been to the surface but had seen lots of pictures. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Most of the world was a barren wasteland. But I know the remediators had been working to fix that. My heart was pounding.

My thoughts were interrupted by us reaching an even larger door. We were here. “What’s the weather like out there?” I hear someone ask. “Hot” comes the reply. Everyone laughs. I feel like I’m missing some kind of joke. Amylin grabs my hand tightly as the doors swing open.

Behind the door is a beautiful landscape. Green grass sways in the breeze, dotted with bushes and flowers. To my left is the edges of a forest, huddled around a lake. The sun is just setting behind a mountain range. I drink in the beauty. We all stand in silence for a moment. “its beautiful” I whisper. “It is, isn’t it” Amylin says back, her voice brimming with emotion. We stand in silence for a moment, drinking in the beauty. “If only the rest of the world looked like this too” she adds, competing the thought. This seems to snap her back to reality. Come on, quit lollygagging, we’ve work to do”. She hefts her toolbox and sets off purposefully. I follow, determination in my steps. If I want everyone else to be able to see this one day, I’d better get started.?