Bringing Back the Glow

       As residents of the Northern Hemisphere, all summer long my friends and I had romped with as little attire as possible in our local lakes and the Atlantic Ocean.  This year, though, the sun left us midway through the season. We had the haunting feeling the cyclical change was turning into a permanent situation that would forever change our world, but the opinions of a few high school kids mattered little at this point. 

   With Mother Nature closing the curtain on 2300, news reports began to surface about nature playing a cruel joke on humanity by having the sun disappear from earth’s skies.  Medical personnel working in an increasing number of emergency rooms failed to get the punchline.   They couldn’t find humor in the fact that severe frostbite cases overwhelm hospitals, and they feared that death-toll records would soon follow.

      Almost overnight, medical facility emergency rooms in many areas found themselves overwhelmed by those exposed to the frigid temperatures for as little as five minutes in the middle of  July, when the majority of the hemisphere usually enjoyed tanning rays and warm ocean breezes.

     Scientific data began to mount–the conclusion? Due to climate change the sun would vanish in about a decade.

     The most clear evidence of the climate reversal?  The normally warmest inhabited place on earth--Dallol, Ethiopia, which holds the official record for highest average temperature for any place on Earth. From 1960 to 1966, the annual mean temperature of the locality was 34.4 °C (93.9 °F), while the average daily maximum temperature during the same period was recorded as a scorching 41.1 °C (106.0 °F).  Its daily temperature in mid-summer 2300 had averaged negative 85 degrees Fahrenheit for a solid week.

      Although, at one time, a large salt-mining operation, its torrid climate had long ago turned it into a ghost town.

     But, due to its similarity in climate and terrain to the planet Mars, scientists had come to depend on it to learn more about the Red Planet to prepare for possible future exploration.

     With the continuing freeze, this vast fountain of knowledge could shortly dry up.

      Because the overall temperature of the entire earth had decreased only one degree every six months the world’s top climate scientists at first seemed unconcerned. As the illnesses and deaths began to pile up they realized that dire consequences could loom for the planet.

       The scientists also saw signs that oceans around the globe soon could flood even the most arid place in the world, the Atacama Desert in Chile, permanently upsetting the fragile balance of nature there and a thriving tourist industry that depended on it.

        International news outlets also revealed that, although leaders outside of Dallol and Atacama saw the signs mounting most severely in the places on earth which formerly had provided the most heat. Politicians being politicians, therefore continued to put off taking united and concerted action.

   My friends and I resolved to follow the global situation closely, but felt as unconcerned, for the time being, as the rest of the world outside of those areas suffering the most extreme drop in temperatures.

          As time went by,  those who made their livings in Atacama by introducing the world to some of Chile’s most intriguing treasures such as the Tatio Geysers, at a height above 14,000 feet, soon would not be able to guide expeditions to the nearly water-swamped geothermal field that nearby volcanoes had created. The huge steam columns that once rose to heights of nearly 40 feet shortly would soon lay dormant. The Puritama hot springs, once famous for offering relaxing dips in their scenic warm water pools, faced transformation into frozen lakes.

            Tired of standing on the sidelines, my friends and I began scouring the Internet for a solution. The solution, turns out, stared us right in the face near our own local home base.

      Researchers in NASA’s Goodard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD had been looking for a safe method of equipping future spacecraft for a possible launch to Uranus—the coldest planet in the solar system. Their research had estimated its surface temperature at negative 224 degrees centigrade.

          They had developed a “super high temperature capsule,” which they would possibly launch into the atmosphere of Uranus prior to the launch of a planned probe of the planet. They hoped this would sufficiently heat the coldest planet in order to make space exploration there possible.

        Of course, the scientists didn’t believe this capsule had yet reached the point where they could use it to address the planet-wide problem on Uranus.

        When told about the crucial situation developing around the world, they decided to allow government officials to use the capsule to address the continuing danger.

        Besides, the emergency looked like the perfect testing ground for the Uranus concept.

        They launched a rocket from Goddard at 7 am Eastern Time on June 20, 2029. It ejected the low temperature capsule into the atmosphere, and this created sufficient heat to reverse the freezing of the sun.

        After about a week for the world to adjust, things did return to normal.

        Back in Berlin, MD, Bobby, Joey and their “best buds” happily returned to the surf in Ocean City and salvaged the rest of the summer with swimming during the day and dancing to their favorite tunes until the wee hours of the morning every night.

        The Goddard scientists distributed copies of their discovery to colleagues around the world and the joint effort permanently reversed the effect of the June, 2029 incident and it looked like the nation’s teenagers could enjoy their favorite water sports for many years to come.

      The teens from Decatur also decided they would major in science in college and devote their professional lives to both stemming the tide of manmade pollution which needlessly wrecked the summer of 2019 and to making the atmosphere of the galaxy safe for future generations.

      Of course, superheroes like the scientists at Goddard and the Maryland teens easily sprout in fiction, but miracles such as the one above only will take place in reality only when officials and scientists recognize the true causes of climate change and cooperate for the betterment of all.