June 1926
Etta feels the chill as she stands and waits on the landing field. The wind is relentless, and she stoops slightly to hold down her skirt, the heaviness of the fabric no match for the forcefulness of the worsening wind. This is an opportunity, she has been told, and one that she should consider herself fortunate to experience. To fly through the air: an experience open only to the privileged few, and rarely to a woman. This is the future, thought Etta, as she watched the low flying propeller plane heading towards her, and she prepared to board her first and only flight.
June 2026
Jess was excited when she saw the subject of her email: Global Scholarship Confirmation. She forced herself to take a few breaths to stop her mind from running away with what the message may contain. Opening the email she let out a shriek: she had been awarded a scholarship, and she was going to China! For one month! Opening a new window on her phone she looked at photos of Hangzhou: a huge and beautiful city. As she opened her travel app Jess began searching for flights, and as she booked she saw in the bottom right corner emissions: tCO2e 2.8. A wave of guilt washed over her…A scholarship could erase her travel costs, but it couldn’t erase the cost to the planet. Jess took a deep dive: 2.8 tons of co2 equals 7000 miles driven in a car! And airline flights account for 2.5 percent of global emissions. But she was just one person, and what difference would her one flight make, Jess reasoned. But everyone was just one person, and so she paid £90 to offset her carbon footprint, and researched how she could further temper the cost to the earth. Jess had chosen the most fuel efficient aircraft, and she would ensure to pack lightly as advised. She hoped that it was not too little too late.
June 2126
Hilary had chosen to attend a summer school in Iceland, and her departure date couldn’t come soon enough. She was looking forward to new experiences, a new culture and new relationships. But mostly Hilary was looking forward to some respite from the remorseless heat and humidity of an English summer. It was the beginning of June and the outside temperature was hitting the 40s – stepping outside gave Hilary a headache, and a walk to the shops in the high humidity left her t-shirt clinging to her saturated skin. Hilary preferred to stay indoors in this heat, but today she had ventured out for an iced matcha from koi the local kiosk. The initial refreshing relief of being out of the sun soon turned to annoyance as she shivered in the brutally icy air conditioning. In Iceland the temperatures were in the mid 30s – a more manageable heat for Hillary. The air taxi would depart the following day at 8am, and Hillary couldn’t wait.
