Mars Climate Change
About 4 billion years ago, Mars had water and an atmosphere. The countries on Mars experimented with various forms of government - from dictatorships to representative democracies to direct democracies where the population voted electronically on the passage of law without the need for political representatives.
At the time of accelerating climate change on Mars, there was great debate on what was causing the increase of carbon dioxide. As ocean levels rose and polar caps melted, some countries advocated the need to reverse the natural climate cycles of Mars. It was argued that Martians were producing too much carbon dioxide emission thus accelerating the global warming of Mars. Various global accords were attempted to stem the increasing temperatures. There was tremendous political posturing - weighing off economic prosperity for friendliness to the environment. One country took bold steps to exit the latest accord while continuing to reduce carbon emissions. This had the effect of the other Martian countries taking a stronger stance to up their fight against global warming. These countries condemned the country that exited the accord while forging new fights within the membership on what was fair in terms of economic sacrifice versus goodness to the environment. They had their annual photo ops, assuring the people of Mars that progress was being made on the fight against climate change. Climatology had become a religion for a great many.
One country which was leading the adoption of direct democracy had enough intelligent people to make strides towards space exploration for the eventual need to leave Mars to go to other planets within the solar system. The third planet from the Sun was the target. Without a bureaucratic government encumbering decision making and progress, this country forged ahead with its space faring program - to boldly go where no Martian had gone before.
As Mars grew warmer and warmer, despite the political international consortium's efforts to reduce carbon output, it was clear that leaving Mars for the propagation of the Martian species was of paramount importance. As land area shrank while ocean levels rose due to the polar ice caps melting, there was tremendous struggle to find habitable land and to feed the Martian population. What used to be prime vacation destinations near the Martian equator were now way too hot to be liveable. Places near the north and south poles of Mars were now the prime targets. There was great migration of Martians away from the equator zones - spreading towards the north and south poles. Countries tried to curb illegal immigration as masses of people swarmed to habitable areas.
As the crisis mounted and Martian temperatures reached unlivable levels and available land became scarce, wars broke out in the final epic battle for survival. The leading countries launched their spaceships on the one-way journey to the third planet from the Sun. Selecting who would go was a big problem. Some countries did it by random selection from the population base. Other countries took a more elitist approach to allow the people with most affluence to leave Mars.
With the eventual boiling away of water on Mars along with the depletion of its atmosphere, the planet went into a deep freeze which was not to be reversed by natural means.
The year is 2090 on Earth. The ocean levels have risen to a point of tremendous land reduction. The equator regions are not inhabitable. Wars are breaking out for the battle to survive. Fresh drinking water is becoming a scarcity for the 13 billion people on Earth. Sufficient food production is at a crisis point. The climate change advocates continue to promote initiatives with the latest world climate accord. Space exploration by the leading countries has reached a point where migration to Mars is being planned. The dictatorship countries have chosen their population for their initial run to Mars. The representative democracies continue to fight over how to select who goes on the first run to Mars. Bribery is at an all-time high for the affluent to reach the front of the line. The direct democracy countries chose randomly. Hollywood with enormous wealth attempted their own expeditions.
The year is 3090 on Earth. Much of the water has boiled away from the oceans. Global population has diminished significantly due to the climate, lack of food and continuing wars. Terrorism runs rampant, now no longer on religious grounds alone - chaos and terrorism dominate existence on Earth. Mars now has an atmosphere and water resulting from technological advances by Earthlings who migrated to Mars.
4 billion years later, Mars is facing a crisis of global warming. They look to the frozen third planet from the Sun as a migration target. With the ability to reach Alpha Centauri, expeditions are also planned for the 100-year one-way trip to planets Alpha Centauri A and B. It remains a mystery to Martians why the third planet is without water and atmosphere, while there are signs that there was once water on that rock.
