Earth Day

Guruko and her platypus companion were once again looking, through their magical mirror, at what was happening on a mysterious planet from another universe than their own.

This planet was covered with water, which gave it its blue color when seen from space.

And today, its inhabitants had decided that it was Earth Day, the name they had given to their planet.

Why such a day?

Because since its inhabitants, called humans, had managed to use the fossil resources of their planet, they had at the same time begun to impact the global climate of the Earth.

The use of these resources had brought them an abundance and wealth at a level never known before, allowing their population to grow to levels never seen before, and their economy to expand, now based on an ever-increasing use of machines powered by energy.

But if the picture seemed perfect at first glance, looking at it from a more thoughtful and global perspective had been showing for years that this was not the case at all. Besides the increasingly significant inequalities that this wealth had created for humanity, humanity is not the only one to exist on this planet, and biodiversity, forests, and oceans have been heavily impacted.

The planet will survive, of course.

Humanity too, probably; humans develop extraordinary resilience when they are backed into a corner.

The questions may be more tragic:

Who will survive, in what numbers, and under what conditions?


Our latest tales

  • Reconnecting with Strong Bonds to What Is Essential

    Reconnecting with Strong Bonds to What Is Essential

    The civilization of the Espers had gradually moved away from what was nevertheless necessary to meet their natural physiological needs. Being able to feed themselves had become an ordinary act, with no apparent connection to nature, its resources, or the ecosystem of which they were nevertheless a part. Why was it important, in the eyes…

    Read more

  • Letting Go Takes Time

    Letting Go Takes Time

    Caught up in their own emotions, who has never felt resentment toward someone else, only to later forget even the original reason for the conflict? The new Esperia that the Seven Shapes were trying to rebuild was now founded on principles shared by everyone. Since Shala, the Shape of Time, had become a symbol that…

    Read more

  • Whether to Act or Not

    Whether to Act or Not

    The undertaking begun by the Seven Shapes since the end of the Chaos War, to reshape society in a fairer way for everyone and in harmony with the planet’s ecosystem, was obviously a daunting one. Numerous debates and discussions on a wide variety of subjects had emerged, sometimes themselves branching off into other discussions, either…

    Read more

  • Transcending One’s Own Nature

    Transcending One’s Own Nature

    The primary instincts of the Esper species pushed them to act naturally for their individual survival before anything else. Even though the Espers were now capable of using magic and had developed a civilization that, from the outside, had little left in common with the time when they had been nomadic in search of food,…

    Read more

  • A Sick Society

    A Sick Society

    The world before the Chaos War displayed many symptoms of a sick society, rotten to the core with heightened individual desires. A world where appearances and showing off were the values held up for admiration. Only visible results seemed to matter, regardless of effort or even truth. Many individuals cheated and lied in order to…

    Read more

  • Global Vision of the World

    Global Vision of the World

    For centuries, the Espers of the different elemental regions had developed without understanding that they were part of a whole. It was only recently, thanks to the use of magic and the new technologies that had emerged from it, that the Espers had truly begun to grasp the idea of a single, unified civilization. Just…

    Read more

  • Giving Your Trust

    Giving Your Trust

    The Seven Shapes continued to study the Shadow of the civilization of the Espers that had been perceived when the StarDust was revealed before everyone’s eyes. On an individual level, now that every Esper had the ability to perceive their own Shadow, it had been understood that this Shadow was very fearful and wary. Its…

    Read more

  • Learning to Think

    Learning to Think

    Vati, the Shape of Wisdom, had spent a long time thinking about which pillars were essential for creating a society in which harmony between peoples from different backgrounds would be possible, while also trying to preserve the ecosystem in which they lived. A task that seemed utopian to populations disillusioned by institutions they no longer…

    Read more