Is the difference between mad science and genius the success of the project? That’s what one researcher believes, for a new breakthrough could solve global warming. Or it could freeze the planet. Success or failure, genius or madness. Only results will tell which is which. -- Deathshead419
The saying goes, If it's stupid and it works, it's not that stupid. Some people feel inclined to test such expressions to the snapping point. Some have a mad idea and would rather seek forgiveness than permission. Because nobody in their right mind would condone this.
Step one was seeding rainclouds with a very specific chemical. One that would bond together all the microplastics in the environment and meld them with inorganic surfaces. Thus painting all the rooftops it met a blindingly reflective white.
All the roads being painted white was already solved by chemically altering the road markings to be black. Thus preventing any potential accidents.
Step two was a nationwide flashmob scattering seed bombs all over any neglected land. Any patch of otherwise idle soil was fair game. Anywhere that might be overlooked was a target. Those seed bombs didn't merely grow wildflowers. They also grew trees.
Trees gengineered to grow as fast as possible, and to lock down as much carbon as they could. They would sink a deep taproot and fill it with stable carbon. Compact carbon, if possible. It may also be melded with other toxins in the environment. It would be years before anyone discovered what was down there.
By then? a lot of problems would be solved.
Theoretically.
Desertified areas would need a lot more work, but the trees would definitely break up cemented soil. Help the rest of the wildlife along in finding a place to take root. And for all other places, there were dandelions. Dandelions could make their home anywhere, and frequently did. They could also create biomass for the next level of plants to move in.
Of course the people who made profit out of disaster called it a terrorist action. That was in their nature. They couldn't stop it, they couldn't buy or sell it, and they couldn't get shareholders to invest in it. Therefore, it had to be evil.
Jessie had done her homework. Taking the best odds for survival out of all arborial genes and binding them to this one plant. It would grow only where no other trees would grow. Attempts to set it on fire would result in fire suppression tactics. It was immune to weed killers, defoliants, and quite a lot of toxins. And its fruiting bodies were nutritious as hell.
Some found the trees growing inside abandoned and decaying structures. They called it Hobo's Blessing in those towns. The homeless encampments saved the seeds to plant in other neglected areas.
But the only way to get rid of those trees was by hand, and the people against them were cheap with their hiring policies. The people they wanted to exploit were more in favour of the trees than they were with the offered wages to be rid of them. Further, some had worked out that they could make money from the same tree.
Take several offers to get rid of the trees, chop them down as expected, and plant some seeds by the roots. In a year or two, the job would be open again.
Some people were growing them on purpose in their backyards. With the fruit left in baskets with "Take what you need" signs.
It was a green revolution and they couldn't arrest everybody. They tried to arrest Jessie, to make an example of her.
That was where the real revolution began.
[Photo by Samuel Holt on Unsplash]
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