I dreamt it was summer 2011 and global warming had happened a lot faster than anyone expected. The ice caps had unexpectedly melted and temperatures had gone up to 110 degrees. At first it just meant we had to keep air conditioners running all the time and dutifully watch news reports about people dying in the streets throughout Africa and Asia. We slept underneath the fan and made jokes about how nice the winter would be this year. Then one day there was a brownout. All the radio signals went dead and the power never came back on. When our food all went rotten we came out of our houses, looking at our neighbors miserably. We went down the grocery store but it had already been looted. Old people and children were being left behind at this point. I lost track of my family and wandered through the streets, looking for water.

Waves of thirst, hunger, and heat came over me. I was in too much pain to sleep. I realized suddenly what a pointless exercise I had been a part of. Ten thousand years of human history had been demolished by a stupid, greedy attempt to outsource all of my suffering. But that was all vanity, and none of it mattered now. The sun came up the next morning, but the temperature had gotten higher. Was it 130 now? 140? People were barely able to move. It was like living in an oven.

I collapsed in the street. My skin was melting and my eyes were dry of tears. Then I woke up.