T.S Eliot was right. The world didn't go out with a bang. It was a slow and painful process that took years of calculated ignorance. The fight to destroy the earth was hard won, but in the end the greed of mankind prevailed. By the time most of us realized what we had done, it was too late. We had dug our own grave, and somehow succeeded in nailing the coffin shut too. Some cities flooded while others burned. Life disappeared in record numbers. America's amber fields of grain turned to vast swathes of dust, purple mountain majesties became rocky grey out croppings, our fruited plains now blasted heath. Humanity had successfully killed Mother Earth. It was a murder suicide.

No one can point to an exact date. Some people say it really started when the Californian watersheds dried up, or when Cape Cod was covered entirely with water. I happen to believe it started from the very second we choose profit over providence. It was the developing nations that felt it first. Drought and hunger struck hard in communities across central Africa, and southern Asia. Several small wars broke out. To us in what was the United States, it seemed so far away, and so useless to worry about. We called it a tragedy, and donated a few dollars to relief funds here and there, but did nothing to stop it. Then it started happening here.

Our crops stopped growing, so we tried to modify our foods. Genetically engineering them to grow in the new climate of the world. It worked for a time, but eventually we realized that patching a boat that has split in two will not keep it afloat. Health problems started appearing here and there. Apparently jamming soy and catfish DNA together isn't very good for you. It was just as well though, even the hardiest of artificial plants can't survive winters like ice ages, and summers as sweltering as the surface of the sun. Our population fell with our food supplies. Communities turned on each other, and our society broke down. After a few short years, transnational contact was lost. After a few more years, our cities became ghost towns. Life is strong though. Pockets of humanity still exist here and there, trying to get by on whatever crumbs that the old world left behind. It is a pointless endeavor though. Our pride has already torn us down, and all we can do now is whimper out of existence.