Icarus: A World Avoided
Upon the left they passed by Samos, Juno's sacred isle;Delos and Paros too, were left behind;
and on the right Lebinthus and Calymne,
fruitful in honey. Proud of his success,
the foolish Icarus forsook his guide,
and, bold in vanity, began to soar,
rising upon his wings to touch the skies;
but as he neared the scorching sun, its heat
softened the fragrant wax that held his plumes;
and heat increasing melted the soft wax—
he waved his naked arms instead of wings,
with no more feathers to sustain his flight.
And as he called upon his father's name
his voice was smothered in the dark blue sea,
now called Icarian from the dead boy's name.
— Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book VIII
“‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings;
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
— “Ozymandias”, Percy Bysshe Shelley
Okay, well now that we have the requisite poetry dealt with, welcome to the thread of Icarus, a maps and graphics timeline detailing a world dealing with a significantly worse climate crisis than OTL.
Point of Divergence
In 1974, Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina discovered that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) had a devastating effect on the Earth’s ozone layer, following the work of other pioneers in the field of atmospheric chemistry. By the 1970s and 1980s, awareness of the growing “ozone hole” had led to decisive action by governments worldwide, culminating in the global ratification of the Montreal Protocol in 1987 that helped curb the use of CFCs and eventually, other similar chemicals. This means that today, the ozone layer is expected to recover by 2050.
But, say, Rowland never took a position at UC Irvine in 1964, and thus he and Molina never meet. If that influential 1974 paper is never published, what could happen? Well, other theories besides CFCs could be used to explain the growing ozone hole[1], which means that CFCs might not have been the widely accepted theory until much later.
Icarus describes such a world. By the time the reason the ozone hole is worsening is discovered, the political window for action to happen is fast closing. Thus, the climate continues to steadily worsen, and by the 2010s, vast swathes of the world are uninhabitable as governments continue to drag their feet on meaningful ozone and climate legislation.
[1] For example, proposed theories included changes in Antarctic atmospheric circulation, malignant effects of nitrous oxide, or chemical changes as a result of cloud particles. See “http://www.ccpo.odu.edu/SEES/ozone/class/Chap_11/11_1.htm”.
The Timeline
Icarus occurs in real time, so most updates will be about the situation in the early 2020s. There may be a few updates regarding events in the past or glimpses into the future.
Index of Previous Works
Nov 19
Arcavist,
Disculpas for the long interval tween messages recently. I’ve had troubles with the post and seems my correspondense sometimes gets lost on the way to Santa Rosa (prolly thanks to those degens in Vallejo). If this letter doesn’t arrive by next week, it’s prolly better for you to visit inperson.
Now, onto bisness. Part'a the roof at Sacto’s Central Library was caved in when I visited, so that means I cant get most'a the books you requested. On the other side, I was able to find John Brunner’s “The Sheep Look Up” and John Steinback’s “Grapes of Wrath” thru other means; they’ll be delivered to the usual address.
Also, I’ve a friend up in Yuba that was finally able to fix the oldworld laptop you sent, and somehow that teck wizard managed to recover something useful from that hunka crap. Hope that makes up for the lack’a material I’ve sent your way the past couple weeks.
Attached you’ll find a description’a the files from the laptop that I think are’a interest to your line’a work. Seemed whoever owned it was some top dog pre-Collapse.
PS — maisure that payments arnt sent by express mail, that just makes it more likely to be stolen by raiders. Still need around 300 platas from our last exchange.
LIST’A RECOVERED FILES
-A sorda news report about some long deadlanded city, dated 2021
-Again, nother news report, this time about food shortages (wouldint even count as news now), dated 2021
-A third news report, something about a military op in the tropics, dated 2021
-A map’a Hawaii, c. ~2010s
-A map’a Korea, dated 2021
Come down to Sacto and I’ll show you the files in person. Be quick tho, the battery isn't likely to last all too long.
Arcavist,
Disculpas for the long interval tween messages recently. I’ve had troubles with the post and seems my correspondense sometimes gets lost on the way to Santa Rosa (prolly thanks to those degens in Vallejo). If this letter doesn’t arrive by next week, it’s prolly better for you to visit inperson.
Now, onto bisness. Part'a the roof at Sacto’s Central Library was caved in when I visited, so that means I cant get most'a the books you requested. On the other side, I was able to find John Brunner’s “The Sheep Look Up” and John Steinback’s “Grapes of Wrath” thru other means; they’ll be delivered to the usual address.
Also, I’ve a friend up in Yuba that was finally able to fix the oldworld laptop you sent, and somehow that teck wizard managed to recover something useful from that hunka crap. Hope that makes up for the lack’a material I’ve sent your way the past couple weeks.
Attached you’ll find a description’a the files from the laptop that I think are’a interest to your line’a work. Seemed whoever owned it was some top dog pre-Collapse.
PS — maisure that payments arnt sent by express mail, that just makes it more likely to be stolen by raiders. Still need around 300 platas from our last exchange.
LIST’A RECOVERED FILES
-A sorda news report about some long deadlanded city, dated 2021
-Again, nother news report, this time about food shortages (wouldint even count as news now), dated 2021
-A third news report, something about a military op in the tropics, dated 2021
-A map’a Hawaii, c. ~2010s
-A map’a Korea, dated 2021
Come down to Sacto and I’ll show you the files in person. Be quick tho, the battery isn't likely to last all too long.
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