Bringing Back the Seasons

December 19th of 2095, exactly 15 years ago, snow went extinct. It was 2080 when it first stopped snowing. No matter where they were, no track of snow could be seen. Since 2025, many scientists and environmental activists have been warning people about global warming and how we could be facing summer 365 days a year. It had gotten worse has flying cars and new versions of meat came out. The rate of methane gas and carbon footprints along with other negative environmental factors increased. Warning after warning, environmentalists worked hard to convince their citizens but people didn't listen. Half of those people didn't even believe in science and another quarter of the half didn't care. The rest of them fought hard. Of course that fight wasn't enough to stop what was to come 55 years later. Decade after decade, seasons disappeared. First Spring, then Fall, finally, Winter. Just like the predictions, Winter was gone. 2080 came and the last bit of snow disappeared. The last trace of snow was up in Mount Everest. Ever since then, there was no more snow. Year after year, decade after decade, there was no sign of snow anywhere. Without Winter, people started seeing how serious global warming was. It was hot everyday, every year. Each year beating the previous year's highest temperature.

Many prepared for the extinction of Earth. Then on 2096, scientists and world leaders gathered for a meeting and came to a conclusion Earth would go extinct in four years if they kept living like that. This time, people were different. They believed the scientists and world leaders and decided it was time to take real action.

The three most important things people had to do were, using renewable energy, specifically using the sunlight they get everyday, cutting down on meat consumption, to reduce methane gas, and most importantly, stop using plastic. It took time and effort to get at least half of the people on Earth to do this. Finally on June of 2096, the temperature didn't go over the previous year's. The production of methane gas decreased by half and so did the carbon footprints. Just in half a year Earth was cooling down. People from all over the world started environmental campaigns, challenges to go vegan or vegetarian, and encouragements to use less plastic. With the help from people from all over the world, Earth started breathing again and by 2097, Earth was a whole different place.

January 15th of 2097, Ash Rolling was getting ready for another day to go to work at the vegan cafe that opened about three months ago. She filled her water bottle as she looked outside the window to see the blazing sunlight of California. She was an environmental activist and after work around 4 P.M. she would go stand on the sidewalk where cars would pass by. She was the leader of her local community's environmental organization. On Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, she led her group to hold up signs that encouraged people to stop using plastic straws, to drive solar powered cars, and to go vegetarian or vegan. On the other days, she led her group to go protest in front of meat serving restaurants and shops to stop selling meat but to start selling plant based patties. She had been fighting for six months now and the results were, 56 new members, 2 stores that stopped selling animal meat, and an award from the city hall. Many people respected her for her courage and braveness to stand proudly in front of thousands of people to give speeches once a week about global warming and the progress they made. Finally on February 2nd, she was on the TV. Her speech was spread out to the world and everything changed. Thousands of people from around the world wanted to join her group. Many more encouraged and inspired. One of them was Ben Hartling.

Ben Hartling didn't care about the environment. He didn't care if Earth went extinct. That was what he hoped for. He was waken up by the heat of Texas at 7 A.M. What a great way to start the day, he thought. The right side of his face was red because that's where the sunlight came from. He dragged himself into the shower where he then turned on the cool water. He just sat in the cool water, wasting water. Then, he couldn't feel the water anymore. It was the new law of 10 minute showers. After 10 minutes, the water would go off for 10 minutes. He forced himself to go get dressed and to go out to work. Ben realized he shouldn't ride his car because in the morning, activists were standing in every corner throwing eggs or even pebbles at his car if they saw that it was solar powered or electric. He walked to work in the blazing sun. Although he had a very thin shirt and shorts along with a cooling fan around his shoulders, sweat was dripping all over body. As he stepped inside his workplace, a pizza place, his boss quickly locked the door. Lately there were a lot of protesters in front of his workplace because they were one of the three restaurants that served meat. His boss, Tony, had just ordered plant based meat and it was scheduled to arrive in two hours. Ben knew the people would stand there until they saw the plant meat arrive so he walked outside, expecting cuss words and eggs. Unexpectedly, people quieted down. Ben explained to them that their plant based meat will come in two hours. The protesters clapped and cheered. Exactly two hours, five delivery drones came with a huge box labeled, Vegan Patty.

Ash Rolling got ready to protest in front of the last hotdog house in the shopping mall. She picked up her giant sign that read, "Meat is Heat" and then put on a waterproof jacket and tough boots just in case crazy people who hated them were out there. As she stepped outside of her old but cozy apartment, she instantly started sweating. After walking for five minutes, she felt dizzy. The green lights were all around her and as she fell back, someone caught her. It was one of her teammates, Ivy. Ivy's hazel eyes stared at her worriedly under a thick layer of mascara. She asked Ash if she was alright. Ash nodded but Ivy knew Ash too well. Ivy took Ash's thick jacket in her hands and helped her cool down in a cafe next to them. Just after ten minutes, Ash was ready to go although she was still soaked in sweat. Ivy could only admire her determination as they made their way to the rest of their team and joined them in standing outside the hotdog shop for three straight hours until the manager came out and told them he just ordered veggie dogs that would arrive the next morning. Ash smiled proudly as she thanked the manager. It was another day of success.

Ben let his body crash onto his bean bag as he opened his four screened phone. He opened up today's trending news, YouTube, a music channel, and the group chat with his friends. Then he noticed the hottest news. The cover was a really pretty brunette who looked as if she was giving a speech on a podium. His finger clicked on it without even looking at the headline. Although he first clicked on it to see who the pretty girl was, right as she started her speech with, "To those who are helping to save the Earth and to those who are not, listen up," he paid attention. She had a very strong and firm voice, a voice that could convince anyone. Ben sat up straight and listened. "To those who are eating meat, to those who are using single use plastic everyday, to those who throw eggs to activists, and to those who simply don't care, listen up. My name is Asha Rolling, a 27 year old environmental activist who is living each day to save Earth. Us, environmentalists are working extremely hard. As you know, it is impossible to walk outside without getting wet. It's so funny how everyone knows that and everyone does't like that but not everyone wants to help. My team of activists have been protesting, encouraging, and sometimes forcing people to live more eco friendly. We do this because we want to live. Because there is one Earth. There is no Planet B. If we die, all the hard work our ancestors and all the work we did are going to get considered useless, wasteful, unnecessary, and so many more word. We aren't asking for you to stand in the heat holding signs with us. We aren't asking for you to not use plastic at all. It would be great if the only kind of car on the streets are solar powered ones, if animals were't slaughtered for meat, and if everyone cared for our environment but I don't even wish for something that big. Just do these three, use as much renewable energy as you can, shop online and let the drones deliver your stuff, and eat plant-based meat. I promise you're going to be healthy without eating meat, I promise drones will deliver your products safely, and I promise you'll save money when using renewable energy. Thank you." Ben didn't have any words to describe how incredible the speech was. He was simply inspired. He closed all the other screens and clicked the button on his desk to open the virtual laptop. The screen floated in front of him as he typed on his virtual keyboard that wasn't actually there. He spent all night researching ways to help the environment, ways to live eco friendly, and signed up to be part of Ash's team of activists.

It was February 15th of 2097 when she saw her email box was filled interest forms, all of them interested in joining her team. She sighed as she wished they didn't come all at once. She decided to take a break that day from holding signs but instead met up with her whole team to look over each interest form. All of her teammates showed up and they started going through each one of them. They spent five hours just looking at the interest forms and exactly at 2 P.M. they cheered in joy as Ash read the last one. Out of the 3,500 forms, they chose 150 new members and Ben Hartling was one of them.

Ben stayed up all night researching and praying to be part of the team. He slept just three hours and jolted awake to the alarm clock. He was half awake as he opened his email box, hoping for an email back from Ash, remembering they were sending back emails that day. His fingers were shaking as he scrolled down all the spam emails and finally got to the actual emails. His eyes rolled side to side as he looked for the name Asha Rolling. Suddenly, he saw the name and fell back, not believing. He got hold of himself and read the whole email. It read: Congratulations Ben Harlington! You have been chosen as one of the 150 people who will be part of our team. Our next sign holding will be on Bridgeton Street, California, in front of 8/11, a supermarket that sells a variety of meat on February 21st. Please make a sign relating to this theme and be there ten minutes earlier if you can. Ben immediately got ahold of a plane ticket to California, scheduled to leave in just three days.

Ash and her teammates organized a presentation slide to show to the new members. They were very excited to meet their new teammates and to go protesting with a large group of people behind their backs. Days passed and Ash got everything ready to greet the new members.

It was the 18th and Ben had already shipped his small luggage to his hotel room where he would be staying until he managed to get everything organized back home and until he settled completely in California. As he stepped into the plane, all Ben could think of was, please get me to California safely.

The plane arrived and it was hotter than Texas. Ben wished he could jump into a freezing lake. He rode the electric train to his hotel room. He got out of the train and started walking towards his hotel when a woman bumped into him. She was about to fall and he caught her just in time. Ben thought the woman was absolutely crazy to be wearing a giant jacket and high boots in this blazing weather. He had a deep frown in his face as he turned the woman around to make sure she was okay. As he did, he found the face very familiar, and in a few seconds, he knew who this was. It was Asha Rolling, the woman that made him come to California, the woman that got him interested in the environment. Ash looked exactly the way he saw in the video: the same giant green eyes, coral lips, mocha colored hair, but this time, blazing red cheeks. He felt his heart start beating faster than ever as she stared into his dark eyes, not knowing what to do. He got her back up on her feet and grabbed her wrist as she tried to cross the street, even as she was stumbling. He then dragged her inside the cool cafe behind them.

Ash thought it was Ivy who caught her because she always walked the same route. When she turned around to thank her, she found a man with dark chocolate eyes and wavy brunette hair with brows that showed how surprised and worried he was of her. She had to admit, she never saw someone as attractive as him in her last 28 years of her life. Embarrassed that she met him when she was poor looking, she stumbled to run away from him, only to find that he was dragging her into the cafe.

They sat down and an air of awkwardness settled on top of them. Ben broke the ice by telling her to take her jacket off and she did. They introduced themselves after a while and as Ash was about to introduce herself, he interrupted her, by saying, Asha Rolling. Ash was surprised as she found the name Ben Hartling weirdly familiar. Then Ben told her that he was part of her team now and Ash's heart started beating, beating faster than when she was running a marathon in a 100 degree weather. With her excited heart, she asked him if he could come help her protest that day and he accepted her.

When they arrived at the place, people were already protesting, holding signs of different messages. Ben and Ash joined them, and suddenly the owner of the market came out. Ash bravely stepped forward, expecting the owner to tell them that he bought plant meat. Instead, he threw tens of eggs at her team and her with the rest of the employees. And right as Ash was waiting for the egg to hit her, she didn't. Ben had his body wrapped around hers, Ash facing the other direction and Ben getting hit with all the eggs. Although they were both sweaty and smelly, it didn't stop their hearts from beating crazy from the feeling of love.

Finally after what seemed as minutes, eggs weren't flying all over the place. Ben let go of her and both of their faces were blazing red, not from the heat, but from their embarrassment as they realized what they had done. They had failed in getting the market owner to change his mind but they succeeded in knowing how they felt about each other. They both admitted they had fallen in love at first sight. February 18th of 2097, the day they first met and started dating.

Months passed and their love grew stronger. They went on plenty of dates and walks. Ash and Ben, they were both complete different people now. They both had more knowledge and more ideas of improvement as the end of the year was getting closer. On the first day of 2098, two years before Earth's extinction, the world leaders announced that Earth won't go extinct until 2110. But that wasn't enough to stop what they were doing. Earth protection laws were reenforced, there were almost no meat serving restaurants, and most people really cared for the environment now. For the next two years, Ash and Ben focused more on the environment instead of their relationship. Ben was able to move permanently to California after quitting his job in Texas and after brining any other things over. Earth's overall temperature had gone down by 1.5 degrees. With the help from millions of people from around the world, they had done it. They saved Earth. What seemed impossible wasn't impossible after all. By 2099, spring and fall were back. They saw orange and red leaves on the streets and people from all over the world cried in joy as they felt rain for the first time in ten years. Now one thing was left. For snow to fall.

It was January 2nd of 2100 when scientists in the base camp area announced small bits of snow were falling on the top of Mount Everest. Then, after two months, it was snowing hard in Canada. Ash and Ben knew they just had to go see it.

They went immediately after the news, lucky enough to get a plane the next day. They were both anxious to sleep, in worry that all snow might've melted. They arrived, falling into snow as it greeted them. They got a sled and rode down the snowy hill, crying in joy. Winter was back.