Moon Dust

By Dana E. Donovan

A short story:
The Earth is warming at an alarming rate, faster than any estimates previously predicted. Diminishing arctic ice is swelling the world’s oceans, flooding millions from their homes. A million species of earth’s creatures face extinction from disappearing habitats, changing ecosystems and acidifying oceans. Earth is on a collision course with destiny and the end is near. But one man has a plan.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dana E. Donovan
• Release date: Nov 8, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452323695

Dana E. Donovan

Dana E. Donovan grew up in New England where folklore and superstitions can mold a town’s history as much as its people. Such is the phenomenon Donovan exploits in all his books, perpetuating the enigma of small town life and the belief in all that dies is not dead.

Book preview

MOON DUST

Dana E. Donovan

Smashwords Edition

When you think of great men in history, you probably think of Galileo, Sir Isaac Newton, or Archimedes. I think of George Marshall.

I first met George in 1984 at the International Workshop on Climate Changes in Villach, Austria. We hit it off immediately and have become good friends since. In 1991, we served together on the IPCC, assessing scientific, technical, and socio-economic factors leading to climate change. Later, I took a job teaching at Cambridge University and didn’t think about George again until I saw his name on a roster of co-authors framing the centerpiece of the Global Warming Treaty in Brazil. Five years later, he was advising the U.N. on matters concerning the Kyoto Protocol.

His subsequent work in multi-national conferences like the 2009 Copenhagen summit solidified his reputation as an indisputable expert in his field. Yet, by the dawn of humankind’s self-destruction, world leaders were still unwilling to heed his warnings and make serious sacrifices to save the planet. For many, the prophecies were unfolding. Said one televangelist to his faithful, Make your peace with God. Armageddon is near.

In June of this year, I slipped into the Thornton Room of the Hyatt Regency on a spear of light and pressed my back to the door as it closed. It was dark again, and except for the figure at the podium bathed in a downwash of narrow spots, I saw only the silhouettes of heads turning to look at me, their glimpse unrewarded in the returning veil of shadows.

Dozens of neo-conservatives and ultra-capitalists sat in theater-style seating, dismissing as statistical dogma the words of a speaker whose passionate voice carried like a sermon on righteous wings.

One hundred million, the speaker proclaimed, his fist striking the deck of the podium for emphasis, One hundred million people living within three feet of mean sea level are now displaced, their homes forever flooded by rising oceans. Fifty percent of Australia’s crops were lost last year due to desertification. The decline of arctic sea ice in the last three years surpassed thirty percent, and the first arctic ice-free summer, originally not expected until 2040, has already occurred.

A mix of hissing and murmurs percolated from the audience before stalling again in a rustling of polyester skirts and pants. The speaker waited for the rumblings to subside before continuing, the pause seemingly incorporated into his presentation by design.

These last twelve years have been the warmest on record with spring-like climates arriving two weeks earlier and winter climates two weeks later throughout the northern hemisphere. Coral reefs around the globe are bleaching and dying off at a staggering rate. Glacier melts are causing water shortages for tens of millions of people, and a million species of life face immediate extinction from disappearing habitats, changing ecosystems, and acidifying oceans. As we speak, the phenomenon of positive feedback effects are taking its toll. Rising temperatures are releasing greenhouse gases by unlocking methane in permafrost and undersea deposits, freeing trapped carbon and increasing evaporation exponentially.

As I listened, I could not shake the feeling that the resolute young man I met in Austria was now making his final stand against an establishment that had turned its back on him time and again and that with the extinction of a million species, so too would go this last true crusader of environmental salvation.

The presentation ended with a polite round of applause, a gesture granted more out of respect than of appreciation of content. I waited in the wings for the crowd to wane before approaching the thin, gray-haired man. His back was to me as he collected his notes and stuffed them into his satchel. The carpeted floor hushed my footsteps, and I fear I startled him near to death when I tapped him on the shoulder and said, Nice presentation. I see you still have it.

He turned with a start, his defensive instincts sizing me up before his eyes settled upon my face and he recognized my smile. I saw the chill melt from his bones as he let out a breath and smiled back uneasily. David, he said, his smile growing by degrees. Dave Chandler, you old son of a gun. How the hell are you?

Hello, George. I put my arms around him and we hugged the way men do sometimes when they haven’t seen each other in years. I’m well, I said, and you?

He shrugged and cast a broad sweep of his hand across the empty room. You tell me. Have you been here long?

No, but I’ve heard you speak before. You still have the passion.

He picked up his satchel and pulled the strap over his shoulder. When he looked at me again, I could see a man who had all but given up. It’s a polished act, he admitted and shook his head. People listen but they don’t hear. The world is dying and no one cares.

Not so. I glanced at my watch and gestured toward the door. Do you have a few minutes? I’d like to buy you a cup of coffee.

He grinned. You? You never buy coffee, not unless something’s up.

I tapped his sleeve and tugged on it gently. "Something is up, but I think you’ll