Life on Earth in the 21st Century

Life on Earth in the 21^st Century

As the Martian colonists have prospered during the 21^st century, the people of Earth have suffered under the political strife and ecological destruction brought about by a planet whose population has far exceeded what it can support. The 21^st century has brought war and suffering to much of its residents as the nations and later security blocks strive to secure the resources required just to maintain what is now acknowledged as the extravagant life styles of the late 20^th century. In this struggle the forward moving technological development has stalled under the weight of massive domestic problems faced by all the nations and security blocks. Human rights and the environment were the first casualties in this struggle with many of the freedoms guaranteed in the 20^th century and early 21^st century being stripped away by governments seeking to insure their future at any cost.

The Environment

The impacts of the massive build up of CO2 in the atmosphere have produced fundamental changes in the Earth’s environs making it much less hospitable to the human race. Rising sea levels and major shifts in global temperatures have produced refugee, famine and disease problems inconceivable in the late 20^th century. In addition the accumulation of almost two centuries of industrial pollutants in the air, soil and water has left few places on the planet free from contaminants. As these problems weighed on the world populations, nations sought safety in trade and security blocks forsaking their own national independence for the survival of their populations.

The Rise of the Security Blocks

These trends produced the security blocks, groups of nations geographically near to one another willing to band together under a common government for survival. The first security block, North American Security Block (NASB) comprised despite its name all of the nations on the American continent with the United States forming the central hub. The creation of the NASB forced other similar arrangements to come into being in Europe and Asia. The European Security Block (ESB) consisting of the European nations and western Asian nations specifically Russia was created. The Pacific Security Block (PSB) consisting of East Asia and South Pacific with a central hub in China was created nearly simultaneously. Only the Middle East and African continent remained as a collection of independent nations. Once the blocks were created, these unfortunate independent nations became the pawns in a new cold war that was driven by resource demand reasons rather than ideological ones.

The End of the United Nations

The United Nations soon became a victim of the New World Order being replaced by the World Political and Commerce Council (WPCC) in 2055. The WPCC was dominated by the three security blocks and had a charter to try to resolve trade and political issues. Instead of following its charter, the WPCC frequently served as a banner under which the exploitation of those nations outside the security blocks was carried out.

The New Cold War and the Exploitation of Antarctica

The latter half of the 21^st century was riddled with proxy wars as each security block attempted to secure the resources available in the independent nations. Nuclear war surfaced as a new real threat despite the destruction in 2033 as each security block possessed a significant nuclear arsenal that was expanded in an attempt to exploit the mutual assured destruction (MAD) policy of the 20^th century. Inevitably the Antarctic continent became a focus point for all three major security blocks. The creation of African Security Block (ASB) in 2061 made the exploitation of the previously independent nations much more costly militarily and no agreement could be reached that would allow the ESB, PSB and NASB to unite against it and absorb the components.

The Antarctica Resource War

As the ESB, NASB, and PSB expanded their resource collection on their assigned portions of the Antarctic continent it was soon obvious that all portions were not created equal. The NASB sought a redistribution of the lands that was denied by the ESB who had received the most resource rich portion. The subsequent war between the ESB and NASB quickly brought the PSB in on the side of the ESB. As the NASB lost territory to the combined might of the ESB and PSB it unsuccessfully sought peace, the ESB and PSB both seeing an opportunity to secure the entire continent for themselves. As the ESB and PSB forces drove the NASB to the very extremes of its territory, the NASB responded with an all out tactical nuclear assault destroying not only the advancing armies but also much of their bases and settlements.

The End?

The death of millions PSB and ESB citizens was not an offense that could go unanswered and the ESB and PSB nuclear forces went on high alert with the American continent being the primary target. The emergency meeting of WPCC has the NASB representatives insisting that the action was taken without the consent of the leadership and a rogue insane General was responsible. Despite this explanation, the NASB nuclear forces have entered a high alert state as well. The ESB and PSB facing domestic cries for revenge are considering the NASB explanation but also the prospect of eliminating their competition for good. The world’s scientific communities are clamoring for sanity stressing to leader of all blocks that a nuclear war on this scale will make the Earth uninhabitable.