Back then, almost everyone was concerned about climate change and global warming. Scientists around the world had warned about the potentially catastrophic effects of rising temperatures. Summers were getting hotter, storms stronger. Fires were ravaging the planet’s critical ancient forests, while glaciers were rapidly melting, causing sea levels to rise precipitously.

But world leaders and politicians didn’t listen to the scientists. It was too inconvenient, too burdensome, too expensive to address the threat to our existence that climate change posed. And so we continued to burn fossil fuels and to deforest the planet for development and mining.

As a result of inaction on the part of those in a position to address and reverse the impact of climate change, more frequently and significantly stronger hurricanes and typhoons, propelled by warmer ocean waters, began to pummel islands and coastal regions around the globe. When the President of the United States proposed nuking these massive, devastating storms while they were still out to sea, everyone thought he was making a joke. But he wasn’t. He was deadly serious.

Having effectively taken full control of the American government, Trump, against the advice of the world’s scientific community, unilaterally implemented his insane plan and ordered the military to drop nuclear bombs in the middle of hurricanes, secure in his belief that doing so would break up these storms and save the lands and property in their paths.

Instead, these nuclear explosions churned up and heated up the ocean waters significantly. They also spewed high levels of lethal radiation into the Earth’s atmosphere and polluted most of the planet’s potable water, resulting in the painful deaths of billions of people and of many animals. Fires consumed forests across the globe, and between the smoke from the fires and the atomic clouds that resulted from dozens of nuclear blasts, the planet ultimately was engulfed by thick, gray clouds that choked out the sun, creating what scientists warned would be a nuclear winter.

Dozens of years later, one of the sentries of a small band of human survivors went to the surface to take atmospheric and temperature readings. Amazed by what he saw, he descended quickly down the deep chute and excitedly reported to the elders. “The clouds have parted,” he shouted. “The sun is rising on the horizon.”

This dystopian post was written for this week’s Thursday Photo Prompt from Sue Vincent.