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    Global Warming
    Global Warming
    Global Warming
    Ebook48 pages38 minutes

    Global Warming

    By Ian McKinley

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    About this ebook

    This two-short-story presentation of “Global Warming” begins with Ian McKinley’s narrative on “Science Fiction Activism,” whereby writers predict and history reveals. If science fiction can introduce a degree of caution, which guides history to avoid some of the scariest possibilities, then it has served humanity very well indeed.
    The consequences of hitting a tipping point on global warming form the backdrop to “The Blame Game” in which a number of experts are caught up in the chaos resulting from sudden environmental collapse and argue about the root cause. Forced to find a way to survive, they’re treading in new territory but have little to contribute.
    “The Ag-108m lining” is set further in the future, during the post-apocalyptic recovery phase. Ag-108m is a long-lived radioisotope of silver and one of the major concerns in the damaged reactors of Fukushima Daiichi. However, compared to global warming, it’s a trivial local accident with negligible health effects and a possible silver lining for the future of mankind.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTWB Press
    Release dateOct 15, 2017
    ISBN9781944045364
    Global Warming
    Author

    Ian McKinley

    Ian is a Scot living in Switzerland, working in the rather esoteric field of radioactive waste management. He assesses the safety of disposal sites a million years in the future and analyses how the Oklo reactors operated two billion years ago – which is often hard to distinguish from science fiction. Ian’s experience ensures sound backdrops to his hard science fiction. Adult action thrillers showcase the evolution of society in the face of major technological advances and a degrading natural environment. All extrapolations over the next century are credible, maybe frighteningly so, given their dystopian nature. Previously published novels offer offbeat takes on the impact of the collapse of a future, even more ubiquitous, Internet and the emergence of artificial intelligence.

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      Book preview

      Global Warming - Ian McKinley

      Global Warming

      By

      Ian McKinley

      Copyright by Ian McKinley 2017

      Published by TWB Press at Smashwords

      All rights reserved. No part of this story (e-book) may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or book reviews.

      This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidences are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to any actual person, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Edited by Terry Wright

      © Cover Art by Terry Wright

      Background image by Triff, Shutterstock.com

      ISBN: 978-1-944045-36-4

      Table of Contents

      Science Fiction Activism

      The Blame Game

      The Ag-108m Lining

      Extremophile excerpt

      About the Author

      Links

      Science Fiction Activism

      Science fiction authors are a motley crew, which includes a small number of professional scientists but also many others with no particular background in science or technology. There is certainly no correlation between the quality of the literature produced and the technical background of the author – for every example of individuals who excel in both fields, there are dozens of SF masterpieces produced by non-scientists and rather dreadful efforts by highly qualified boffins.

      Personally, being involved in the rather esoteric area of radioactive waste management, one could consider that most of what I write in my day job is a form of fiction – discussing and evaluating what would happen to such stuff over the next million years or so. Over the last three decades, I’ve produced screeds of text for books, technical literature and articles for more general audiences. With this background, why write science fiction?

      Well, undoubtedly I get pleasure out of writing fiction. Despite that, there is also a serious reason, which harks back to a common response I get whenever I talk to non-specialists about radioactive waste. Almost everyone has an idea about what radwaste is – but it seems to come from films, novels and, increasingly, comics, manga and anime. The green glowing sludge that guarantees a horrific death – or transformation into a bizarre mutant – is a far cry from the mundane reality. The biggest risk associated with the material I deal with is dropping heavy packages onto someone’s foot. It’s worrying when politicians try to pass the buck on difficult decisions, by asking the general public to decide on highly

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