It is the year 2050, time on earth ran out in 2044 when all of earths natural resources were used up by humans, the earth could no longer sustain life……so we are now in space, looking for a new home and adjusting to life on spaceships….
I was born in 2017 so I was lucky enough to live my childhood and early adulthood on earth! My mom was a teacher for 22 years before we all had to escape our dying planet and live on these spaceships. I was just finishing up my teaching degree when we all had to leave so now my mom and I are teachers on the Canadian ship.
Most countries have a spaceship that their citizens who survived are on, and there are a few spaceships that are global as some countries did not have the technology to build their own ships. We are all hovering around earth, waiting for the scout ships to send word of a new planet we could live on. It has been 6 years and still no news of a place to call home.
Beginning my teaching career on a spaceship was a learning curve for sure. I loved being outdoors, I was an avid hiker, and I loved the ocean! When I was working through my teaching degree on earth I dreamt of taking my students on wonderful field trips to the beach or to the forest to observe the amazing biodiversity of our beautiful planet….I thought the changes we were making to stop global warming and resource depletion was working, but it was to late, the damage had already been done and there was nothing we could do anymore. Now, I take my students to a virtual reality. They all have their own microchips that are inserted when they enter public school to allow for teachers to upload information so students have easy access. It is their choice to keep it once they graduate or not…..I don’t know if I would have kept it. It was certainly controversial when it was introduced the year we had to evacuate earth, but I think parents were too scared for their childrens futures so they were willing to do whatever they needed to do in order to support their kids. If parents don’t want the microchip inserted they are able to ‘homeschool’ their kids, but most parents send their kids to our school. The students in my class have figured out a way to hack into their microchips and send messages to each other during classtime…..my mom tells me that she used to pass notes written on paper to her friends during classes…..I guess this is the new way students are passing notes!
Some of the kids that started school on earth have struggled to adjust to the new way of education, but most of the students are adjusting well and thriving, kids really are amazing! One student in my grade 12 inovations class developed a way to 3D print food after digging into the archives of entertainment and watching a show called Startrek the Next Generation! My dad tells me he was a Treki and loved that show, he told me it was called the replicator. I watched an episode and it was entertaining, but the technology seemed basic compared to what we have developed today!
There are parts of me that wonder, if we hadn’t developed all of these inovative technologies and continually created new products, would we have used up all of our resources on earth? I am grateful that we have the technology to live on spaceships, but is that the reason why we are living up here now and not on earth?
