Exodus Earth

   We thought we could escape all our problems if we could just reach the stars. Interstellar flight was the key to our future. It would bring us closer together as a whole; provide us with endless potential, and the brightest of futures.

   The first Generation Ship launched to a staccato of cheers and verbalized fears for the loved ones being lost to Earth forevermore. That was a hundred and sixty years ago. Twenty years later, Earth was entering the final stages of a massive climate change. A new ice age had begun to encase the equator to the dismay of scientists and theorists alike. They couldn't understand how they could have been so wrong about how the Earth works after so many centuries of constant study. To me, that's the beauty of life in this universe. For everything we think we know, there are ten things that surprise us.

   A massive exodus from Earth was inevitable. There simply wouldn't be enough space for the remaining populace to relocate to the polar circles and although the technology to build subterranean living shelters was advanced enough, no preparation had been made to counter nature's wrath.

   Of the nearly eight billion people that called Earth home, seven remained surface side. Best estimates for the remaining ships already built or being built in orbit, could house another five hundred million people. The Mars and Moon colonies could take another two hundred and fifty million each if they put all their efforts into expanding living and agriculture domes. That left nearly six billion souls to fight for survival as the remaining population attempted to cram as many as they could into the polar circles while maintaining adequate sustainable food, water, and waste management systems. To say it was ugly would be putting it in the most positive light possible.

   Nearly half of the remaining Earthers died of exposure or in the fighting that broke out over who would get to live in the polar circles over the next ten years. Fanatical groups that were pro-apocalypse sprung up in ever increasing numbers and frequency. By the time the last seven generation ships were ready to leave orbit, only two billion people remained surface side. My grandparents were two of them, and they were the remaining leaders of the southern polar circle.