Noah was about 29. His beard was short and reddish-brown. He worked in a customer service call center, but longed for a simple life in the country with all his friends and family. Global climate change had caused some major changes in the weather, but people weren’t really noticing, or they didn’t want to notice. Noah settled in Seattle after a boating accident while on duty in the Coast guard. He wasn’t a god fearing man, but was tolerant and understanding of others and his values aligned closely with religious norms. The daily grind of the call center left him feeling like a zombie, and so to fulfill his free time, Noah began building a wooden rowboats in the garage. It was challenging, relaxing, and he enjoyed watching the progress from a pile of boards.
In April, something strange happened. The weather had suddenly shifted, and his first crop of bell peppers died from a surprisingly late frost. In a domino-like effect, devastating events began to occur exponentially fast. First, it was the rapid melting of Greenland’s glacier that changed the Atlantic conveyor current. Just as winter came to a close, it seemed to come back again. Temperatures fell just below freezing as April came to a close. May brought close to an inch of snow. Surely, people would start marching in the streets about environmental issues and demanding change, but the snow brought nothing more than criticism about the department of transportation’s readiness plans. It’s just another weird weather pattern. The news blamed it on a little boy or a little girl from Mexico. Ah, that old La Niña was always messing with his plans.
Finishing the boat was his 2nd greatest accomplishment. The hull was itching for water, but the daily grind kept Noah from giving her a proper christening. He had all the gear ready for a week long adventure near the door. Semper Paratus. The vacation request was pending approval.
Then it happened, June 3rd, 2012. The tide flowed into the Puget Sound like it did every day for the past thousand years, but today was completely different as the tide failed to ebb. The slow rise of water sent the city into an instant turmoil. Emergency broadcasts went unnoticed after being played for hours. Noah was himself panicked, but at the same time felt a sense of relief. That $50 donation to that climate change non-profit was not in vain.
The water finally rested at 47 feet above sea level, far beyond the estimates of climate change scientists. Downtown Seattle was destroyed. Up on the hill, Noah was safe for now. After rescue operations ceased and the closest thing to normality returned to the streets, Noah started a water taxi service, immediately quitting his customer service position. Three years later, he began building boats full-time for residents living in the now permanently flooded landscape of Seattle. As he rowed away from the city he was shocked that he could be completely at peace. The city that resembled the projects of Venice, Italy, but now had the heart and community of a small town.