2052: The War on Resources

Many believe that this decade will mark the beginning of World War III. This war, unlike the WWII, will not have anything to do about religion or an elite race. Instead, this war is the fight for the basic resources necessary for human survival. Over the last few decades, what we had feared in the early 2000's has been coming true. The pools in the Las Vegas desert have dried, grocery stores clear their shelves each day, the price of gas is at $8/gallon, and the students at Wofford are only allowed to shower once a week. Many parts of the west look like McCarthy's apocalyptic setting; the sun sets on gray, burnt, ashen landscapes day after day. As riots have been erupting across the country, the government is being pressured to invade our neighbors in hopes to obtain more water and food. China and India began using force to get resources for their combined 4 billion people five years ago. 

 

Americans were hopeful that the massive Eco Rights movement of 2040 would have been enough to keep our country from entering a resources war. The ecoists demanded a cap of five children for each family which has helped to decrease our population growth; but, because of the leap in medical technology our mortality rate is coming to a creep. The only people who are dying are the poorest of inner-city seniors who suffer from malnutrition. Also, the taxes placed on over-consumption of water, energy, and precious metals finally forced the last 50% of US companies to switch to Green Working. Although the majority of the country has left our glutenous ways behind us, many fear that it was too little too late. The group to be hardest hit by the decrease in resources has been the middle class. This group was too use to the modern way of living and relied on gas, water, and food the most. Studies have shown the lower income class were more used to saving and cutting back and using public transportation as a means to get to work. It has been the middle class who has pushed for a war on resources. The lower class doesn't have much of a voice and the upper class doesn't mind seeing the middle class dwindle in the years to come.