A 100 word story for the Friday Fictioneers.
PHOTO PROMPT © Jan Wayne Fields
“That’s where the farm was.” Tim waved a hand across the plain.
“Down there?” Evie’s face expressed incredulity.
Her grandfather smiled. “That’s what my granddad told me, and he remembers seeing it, the grass and the cows.”
“Cows?”
“They ate the grass. It was green then, he said.”
“Central Eastern Region isn’t green,” she said, a touch of suspicion in her voice.
Tim’s gaze brushed the barren hills and the dry stalks that had once been trees.
“Ah well, it wasn’t called that then. When it was green, and cows and horses grazed on it, that plain was County Meath.”
Jane Dougherty Writes 
A grim climate fiction piece. We need more of these
When I read that if/when the Gulf Stream runs cold because of the melting polar ice, that Ireland would become like the Tundra, I got the shivers. No going back for me. As long as Florida golf courses flourish, I suppose the great and the good will continue to deny there’s a problem.
Succinct and to the point. This gives me shivers, too.
It will happen if the deniers keep on denying.
It will probably happen anyway, but they will make it happen sooner instead of later.
There has always been change, but it’s always been slow enough for species to adapt. Unless of course the deniers point to the examples of the really big climate changes, like the ice ages, the end of the dinosaurs etc. But if they believe that that’s where we’re headed ‘naturally’ and rapidly—a total wipe out—where does that leave the divine plan?
Wait–you want them to be logical?! 😉
I want them to follow the dinosaurs (that they don’t believe in anyway) into oblivion.
🙂
Introduce them to that real estate agent.
I fear this is our future. A grim story told with precision.
Thanks Susan. I fear you’re right.
That’s a scary thought…although it’s already happening in many parts of the world. Perhaps the trees will rise up and stage a rebellion. (K)
If the Gulf Stream runs cold instead of hot, the whole of western Europe will become much much colder. I’m not sure how it will affect the rest of the world; but it must go somewhere else…
The Times published maps of how the coastal states will look once the oceans rise. There will be almost nothing left of Florida at all; even half of Massachusetts will disappear. They should plaster those maps on billboards all over the United States. Images are so much more effective than words in conveying the devastation.
Aren’t even the golf courses spared?
I’m hoping they go under first.
With all hands.
How long before so much of our current landscape is unrecognisable?
It’s already unrecognisable to anyone from a hundred years ago. And that’s without the climate change.
Country Meath Ireland… That is scary!
The climatologists say it will look like the tundra if the Gulf Stream turns off the heat.
Yes and that is not beyond the realms of possibility 💜
Unfortunately.
That gave me the chills down here in West Cork!! Good story.
Susan A Eames at
Travel, Fiction and Photos
Great twist to your story. I didn’t anticipate that at all.
It is still possible to mitigate the worst of climate change, and it’s not merely down to those in power to achieve that. The more we all sign petitions, lobby elected representatives, write stories, and practise what we preach, the better our chances.
If course. We all have to do our bit. Politicians never want change until the rug under their feet starts to move!
Reinforcing important messages in fiction is a brilliant idea. Well done.
Thank you, Jilly 🙂
A story oft-repeated. The good news is that sometimes, left to itself, the earth restores what has been used up. Not always. Not often enough.
She can’t restore the rhinos, the big cats or the primates once they’ve gone. We are champions at destroying.
I suspect this is the result of Global Warming, perhaps. An interesting read.
Thanks James. It’s where we’re going I fear. It might be too late to do much about it now.
Loved this! I’m originally from Meath so this is great.
My mother’s father was from Meath. I remember being so awed by the landscape, my Uncle Michael pointing out the hill of Tara in the distance. The idea that it could all just die is awful.
I agree. I haven’t seen it in reality but it looks so beautiful in pictures.
It’s just so lush and green. Hard to imagine reindeer trotting about in it…in summer.
Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
🙂
Dear Jane,
There’s no such thing as climate change. Yeah, right. We’ve had snow into the middle of April this year. Never seen that. I saw forsythia and lilac buds last autumn. Good story.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Thanks Rochelle. As long as the golf courses are green and shiny, no worries.
Ominous, powerful piece, well written Jane
Thank you, Michael. I’m not a natural optimist.
And someone else a desert has turned into mosquito infested swamps
Who knows how much will change before we either change our ways or the earth pulls the plug?
Very nicely written and this scares the heck out of me! Jeepers, hope this never comes to fruition!
Thank you, Nan! I hope it doesn’t either, though the climatologists say it’s a distinct possibility.
A bleak but all too feasible look into the future.
I wish it wasn’t but I fear you’re right.
I love the green emerald, and your take on climate change
Thanks Mike. I hope it is only my take—I have a horrible feeling there’s some truth behind the tale though.