Enmity : a scattershot Future History as a Collection of short sto...

Excerpt from A Concise History of the 22nd Century by the Borlingrad subgroup.

Secondmost in the effects which led to the extinction of human live on Earth, after the Emily asteroid strike, was the century of wastrel consumption and poor planning that preceded it.

A dependence on fossil fuels was the obvious error, but less obvious and more important were the jumbled discarding of vital raw material which had been excavated with oil, manufactured into goods with oil, even discarded with a huge expense in oil. A century of full population (8- 12 billion humans) at full consumption with insignificant recycling resulted in a complete evacuation of easily obtainable metals, rare earths and energy fuels.

Further, a dependence on irrigation and fertilization of 90% of the arable land meant that those lands were deserts waiting to happen. In the first season after the Emily Event, most of the farmlands in Africa, Asia, Australia and the Americas turned to dry sand.

The desperate millions of southern Europe and Southeast Americas were the first hit by famine, with Asia, Africa and Australia one year or less behind. When that death toll was fully counted less than 0.03% of humanity remained alive on Earth. As the century progressed, that number dropped further as enclaves failed, until in the early days of the 23rd century, there were more humans living in Space than lived on Earth or the Colonies.

Efforts to assist by Outward food drops were sporadic and futile. As there were no available mines to sustain their level of technology, food distribution was impossible and while small areas thrived, the vast numbers died. Noticeable human life on Earth ended by 2300 Old Era.