Teacher: Lowrie

A Frightening Future

In the winter of 1917, in a deep forest, miners were working hard to find gold. They found some gold which encouraged more digging. Then they found a secret road very deep underground, surprisingly. They looked down and hoped for more gold and diamonds, curious about what they might find. They saw a lot of diamonds, but suddenly the exit disappeared and they were trapped.

They descended slowly into the darkness with only torches to light the way. Soon they found a huge cave. People probably lived there before, but there was nothing to eat or drink and they thought they were trapped. The road had ended. They explored the cave, looking for animals. After 2 hours, they found a plain stone door. They opened it. Inside, there was a strange light and then they were back above ground, but now they found out that they were in the future! 

Earth was destroyed by natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, and hurricanes. The men went out to look for someone to talk to, to ask about what happened to planet Earth. They found an old grandfather. The grandfather said, “People threw trash away and polluted the air, they caused global warming on Earth and many natural disasters came next. The seasons disappeared, and so from then on it was always winter. People left the land to live under the ocean, they built a city there to keep away from the monsters.” 

“Monsters! Is this true?!” Said the miners. “Yes,” said the old man sadly. 

So the miners went to visit the city. The city was deep under the Pacific Ocean. It was in a thick glass bubble. People who visited the city rode submarines. It was sparkly, shiny, and very clean. The buildings in the city were blue skyscrapers, making them hard to see from far away. There were no plants anywhere but people ate fish and different kinds of sea plants. Nobody could even remember what rice tasted like. The miners asked people, “Where is the cave we came from?! We want to go home!” But the people didn't know, because they lived in the deep sea. 

After a week, the miners went back to talk to the old man. The old man said, “Walk three days north to the mountain and you will find the cave.” They walked for three days and then they found a huge cave. They went inside and saw a mirror. There was a bright light and they returned to the present. 

They were so happy to be back that they decided to change the future. They thought about saving resources and invented recycling! They saved the Earth!

Discussion questions:

Retell the story 

1. What were the miners looking for at the beginning of the story? What did they find?

2. What happened when the miners came out of the cave?

3. What does the future look like?

4. They came back to the present. What did they decide to do to change the future?

5. What do you do to save the world from pollution and climate change?