This is the Way the World Ends

So… this week’s Twitter poll has me a little shook. To the point that I’m sort of regretting choosing the topic.

It was a simple question. “This is the way the world ends, with a ______.”

The doom choices were bang, mass virus, and ecological collapse.

I really thought it was going to go bang or zombie infection.

Nope.

Right to the heart. The world will end with ecological collapse.

I find this to be interesting as an author with a dystopian series that has the world ending through ecological collapse yet terrifying as a human who requires clean air, clean water, and sustainable food for survival.

There are horror stories all over the world. From water shortages in Cape Town, to massive wild fires in California. If you really look at the news, the environment is actually really scary at the moment.

I do my best to be environmentally conscious. I try not to waste anything from water to plastic. I try to keep peppy in my apocalyptic thinking and tell myself we’re all going to be okay. And hopefully we will. Science will prevail, and we’ll clean the plastic out of the oceans, get the smog out of the air, and find a way to farm enough food to feed the planet’s population and not ruin the soil for generations to come.

But what if we don’t? What if the world doesn’t end with a bang or zombies. What if the world ends with a whimper on tainted wind that people are too hungry to hear?

I’m a little terrified right now.

I think all of us hope Dystopia never arrives, but there is no happy prologue to The Hunger Games or Maze Runner. There is no good way to begin the end.

So when the world ends, how do you think the prologue will go?

On a much lighter note, head on over to my Twitter page for this week’s poll: What kind of magic do you seek in your books? Wands and wizards. Dragons and beasts. Knights and sorcerers.