Editorial – September 2026: Everywhere Carbon Footprints.
Hello everyone,
With 2026 already regarded as one of the hottest periods in recorded world weather history, the number of people acknowledging that it’s all down to global warming is growing. It can’t be delayed for a future generation to solve because we are the generation that is supposed to sort it out. The question now is: have we left it too late to do enough?
Traditionally, mankind has always preferred to decide that something will be another generation’s worry rather than our own. Usually, there’s a presumption that some discovery will come along, wipe the slate clean and allow us to go back to the way we were living before. As we have discovered this year, that isn’t likely to work out well.
Even with the rise in temperature, different parts of the world have different levels of humidity, which changes how people experience the heat. A dry heat is generally more tolerable than one accompanied by high humidity simply because organic bodies, that’s you, by the way, can’t shed their heat so efficiently. Hence, the British Isles can end up with an uncomfortable combination that isn’t quite the same as the summer of 1976. We also have to adapt to these new conditions rather than simply assume that a traditional 9-to-5 working day will always provide the best conditions.
Adapting is all very well, but it isn’t really a solution. There is no magic wand to wave the problem away. The only realistic forecast is that things are going to get worse, with all kinds of changing weather conditions across the world. Wildfires will get worse. So will sudden flooding caused by melting glaciers and extreme rainfall. I hate saying this, but events like these are bound to happen in other parts of the world.
People everywhere need to take a serious look at where they live and evaluate the potential dangers in all seasons, whether from excessive heat, wildfires or flooding. I doubt everyone can simply move, but precautions can be made, even if it’s only creating a firebreak, protecting vulnerable utilities or improving insulation against extreme temperatures.
Even then, it won’t be enough. The continued burning of gas, petrol and other fossil fuels adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Problems such as damage to the ozone layer are separate from global warming, although they demonstrate rather well that human activity can alter the atmosphere on a planetary scale. If anything, education needs to do more to remind upcoming generations to understand this responsibility and vow to do better than we ever managed.
They might look back at us with despair as the world changes around them, but they might not have any better ideas about what to do or how to make improvements last for generations.
Man is a creature of habit, so perhaps it’s more a case of establishing new habits that are economical and from which people can see some benefit. It’s one of those occasions where the resolve of the individual can have an effect collectively, providing enough of us are moving in the same direction.
It won’t happen overnight. Ecological change will take decades to address, but it has to start somewhere, and now is better than later. Some species will probably adapt to changing circumstances, but many will not. Where humans will be on this map, who can say? We probably won’t become extinct because there are too many of us spread across the planet, but climate change could certainly reduce our numbers and make life considerably harder unless we do something.
Global warming is overwhelmingly a human-created problem. It demonstrates our incompetence at taking things from the planet without sufficiently considering what we put back into it. As a galactic issue, and therefore still within our remit here, this is probably one of the ways sentient species on other planets could become extinct. Instead of being a one-off, we might simply become another statistic of lost sentients and not even be missed in our passing.
Even if we can eventually colonise another planet, will we have learnt from our mistakes? The pessimist in me thinks we’ll forget and do it all over again. For a sentient species, we do tend to come across as a bit stupid.
Although I’m not sure that total abstinence from every activity with a carbon footprint is possible, I do think it’s more realistic to plan reductions by thinking through the choices available. In some ways, global warming itself is changing some of those choices. Why holiday abroad, unless it’s for a cooler climate, when it’s just as hot in your own country? It reduces aeroplane use and puts money into the home economy.
In many respects, even allowing for the decades it will take, future generations will see more of the results of changes to our climate than we will. To do nothing will simply leave them with fewer choices.
Thank you, take care, good night and reduce heat.
Geoff Willmetts
editor: www.SFCrowsnest.info
A Zen thought: Life only happens once.
What Qualities Does A Geek Have: Have I said being observant?
The Reveal: There is always some eclipse happening to the Earth.
Computer Observation: For PC users, whenever Windows 11 updates lately, the anti-virus software or password manager icon can vanish from the browser. Rather than hunting around for how to get it back, choose ‘Extensions’, then ‘Installed Extensions’, find the one you need and flip the switch back on, such as Norton Password Manager. Quite why the setting has to be turned back on when so many others don’t need to be reactivated beats me.
Observation: I’m puzzled why the Jedi Order thinks of itself as a noble order when its members use its most deadly weapon, the lightsabre, to chop people up. Well, maybe it cauterises the wounds so there is no blood.
Feeling Stressed: Just think, we have autumn, winter and then a repeat of this year’s weather. Stress away.
Submissions:-
If you think having free books to review isn’t enough, how about reading them months ahead of everyone else? I mean real months. Beats a time machine.
I did think that having a lot of text about submitting material to SFcrowsnest would attract those with a compulsion to read and understand things the geek way. The main problem with the Internet is that it tends to encourage less reading, so it’s time to take a different approach. The original notes will be left on the July 2009 editorial, although the links aren’t likely to work.
With your covering email, tell me something about yourself so I don’t work in a vacuum. The boss in the tower, also called Stephen Hunt, describes me as a ‘Dutch Uncle’, in that I’m good with advice and can explain when I see something that is wrong. Egos should be left at the door, as I’m only interested in your talent and how to improve it.
Reviews:-
I always have a clarion call for new reviewers, and if you have the yen to learn, you’ll quickly get the hang of it even if you’ve never done it before. However, you must show me a sample, especially if you can follow my guidelines. We can usually get paper-based books in the UK, but if you live abroad then you might have to stick with ebooks. If you’ve picked a book we haven’t reviewed, then it stands a better chance of being used, so use the SFC search engine to check first. Either way, I need to see how you would write for us.
The obvious qualification is a desire to read regularly and to tell others about a book without giving away too many spoilers. The benefit is access to free books for the price of a review.
I want to give you the opportunity to get things right, so look up the Review Guidelines here: https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/so-you-want-to-write-reviews-for-sfcrowsnest-what-you-need-to-know-by-geoff-willmetts/
Fiction:-
Although we can’t pay for submissions, what we do make up for is exposure. Only the Sci-Fi Channel gets more hits than us, so it’s worthwhile getting us onto your writer’s CV. Please avoid samples from books you might be writing or have already had in print elsewhere, as I do check. New, original work is best and, whether I accept or reject it, you will be told about any problems I see so you can make your work look its best and bring the grammar up to the standard expected in the professional world. Even the boss finds me scarily accurate.
Flash Or One-Page Fiction:-
Speaks for itself. The shortest fiction possible is also amongst the toughest to write, as no word should be wasted.
Details here: https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/one-page-stories-or-flash-fiction-submissions-instructions-by-gf-willmetts/
Short Stories:-
The definition of a short story is generally anything up to around 30 pages before you start moving into novella territory. Bear in mind that you want other people to read it online, so somewhere between 5-20 pages is probably more practical. At least digitally, you don’t have to use double-line spacing as HTML handles presentation differently, but think about being concise. If you want to send an attachment, ask first and send it as a TXT file, as this removes most troublesome embedded code.
Look up the Short Stories guide here: https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/so-you-really-want-to-write-an-sf-story-an-update-by-gf-willmetts/
Finally:-
The worst problem I see in submitted samples is poor grammar. Although I don’t want you to think I seek perfection, the less work I have to do, the easier it is to focus on other problems you might have. It will also stand you in good stead if you ever approach paper-based publishers because badly written samples are likely to come straight back. It simply isn’t worth an editor’s time fixing elementary problems.
Good grammar is one of the essential tools of any writer. Don’t depend solely on what you remember doing at school. There are plenty of decent grammar books out there, so remind yourself of the rules. If you think there are far too many to remember, get the major ones right first before moving on to the next, until they become second nature.
This guide covers many of the common problems: www.sfcrowsnest.info/the-guide-to-better-grammar-from-the-harrowed-hand-of-gf-willmetts/
To submit, use our email address by joining the spaces as shown here: letters @ SFcrowsnest.info and use the subject line to say what you’re submitting.
If you have any pastimes that can be used to pass the time in captivity, let me know and we’ll see if they can be turned into an article.
Comments directly on reviews should still work as before.
Good luck
Geoff
