Charlie: Grandpa, where did you live when you were a boy?
Grandpa:
I lived in Dagenham, in a house that’s now been washed away as the sea levels have risen. My dad used to work at a big car factory. You won’t believe this, but we actually drove our cars ourselves in those days. Driving was a pleasure, just like when you go to the autodrome to experience manual driving.
Amy: What about you, Grandma, where did you grow up?
Grandma:
My mum and dad were farmers. In those days, we grew vegetables and corn in the fields. And we reared cows and sheep which lived up on the pastures. When I was a girl, I used to milk cows by squeezing their udders with my hands (the children grimace!) instead of the robotic milking we have these days. Honestly, it was great fun! (everybody laughs).
Amy (to both grandparents): It sounds like life was harder in those days?
Grandpa:
Well – yes, that’s true, but it was rewarding. I used to enjoy fixing cars. Grandma’s folks loved tending animals. But I admit, some chores were boring. Just imagine loading the dishwasher yourself instead of leaving it to your personal house robot!
Grandma: You asked about the farm. My brother’s family still live there, but it’s much more like a factory. The weather used to be far more predictable, with gentle showers in spring, and summer sunshine that wasn’t too hot. Nowadays, as you know, nearly all our food’s grown indoors so we can control the conditions. And most meat is made from vegetable protein.
Charlie: Is it true that a lot of animals that only live in zoos nowadays, used to roam wild? Polar bears, for example?
Grandma: Yes, the polar bears used to roam the arctic in the days when there was sea ice spread all around the North Pole. Sometimes I cry when I remember how things used to be. We used to rely on bees to pollinate our crops, and they gave us a lovely sweet spread called honey. Nowadays we rely on artificial pollination.
Amy: Grandpa, why didn’t people stop the carbon building up in our atmosphere? Didn’t they know what was happening?
Grandpa: yes, Amy, people did know what was happening. Scientists – even the Oil Companies’ own scientists – warned them what would happen if they carried on drilling for oil and gas.
Amy: So, why didn’t they stop?
Grandpa: The Oil Companies were only interested in making big profits so they employed people to try find reasons why it was still okay to drill. And they spent a lot of money persuading politicians that nothing needed to change.
Charlie: Really? That sounds unbelievable! A bit like Billy Bates at school who told fanciful stories. We called him Billy Liar…
Grandpa: But it’s so much worse when your ‘fanciful stories’ affect the whole planet!
Amy: Didn’t the bosses care about their own grandchildren?
Grandma: I think the bosses said their children wouldn’t be affected by climate change because they were wealthy. But a lot of ordinary people did care. For Grandpa and I, it was part of the way we served Jesus. We tried very hard to save energy, to stop wasting food and materials, and to protect nature; the birds, the insects, the forests. We protested to the government and wrote letters to the Oil Companies.
Amy: So, who saved the planet from burning up?
Grandma:
There were other scientists who worked long and hard to find clever ways to reduce carbon. Huge banks of wind turbines were built at sea. Vast arrays of solar farms sprang up. Gradually, we began to replace burning carbon with renewable energy.
Grandpa:
But it needed a bigger breakthrough. This came in 2036, when scientists found a way to fuse atoms together safely. It took 20 years to design and build power stations to meet the world’s needs.
Grandma: Unfortunately by then, the damage was done. Lots of countries had become too hot and dry to live in. Refugees started to come in large numbers to cooler countries like ours, so many that nobody could stop them.
Charlie: And were the people of Britain happy about this?
Grandpa: No!! Many came out onto the streets to protest that the refugees needed to be sent back. Buildings were torched, cars set ablaze. But that was when the great worldwide revival of 2048 took place.
Amy: you mean the year lots of people looked to their faith for answers?
Grandma: Yes, exactly! It seemed the whole world was doomed to tear itself apart. Like many Christians, our church cried out to God. Then out onto the streets poured an army of men and women whom God had touched. They tended people wounded in the violence. They set up welcome shelters for the refugees. And in the end, the government acted; craftsmen and new arrivals were put to work building new homes.
Grandpa: Anyway, it’s a blessing that Britain’s got so many people, as we need an army to clean up when we’ve had storms and floods. That’s one job the robots can’t do!
Charlie: So, Grandma, do you think it’s a better world now than it was before?
Grandma: I’d say it’s a shame that so much of Creation’s been spoilt so it’s not here for you to enjoy, but you’re living in an age when you can see how faithful our God is.
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