“It's just a natural cycle,” argued Mayor Whitman. His white, thin hair swiftly swept across his face, revealing a wrinkled forehead.

I looked away from the television towards the window, rolling my eyes. A ragged wave crashed against the shore of my coastal hometown, evidence of brute reality Mayor Whiteman could never seem to understand.

Maybe if that old hag didn’t need to deny the evidence surrounding us, I would be watching this in my own home.

My home. My brother.

Gone. Spept away in a hurricane.

The effects of climate change, a subtle yet relentless force, had pushed temperatures up by 2 to 3 degrees. Havenridge bore the brunt of the change - its cliffs eroded, buildings standing as testaments to a world undone by its actions. Bringing destruction. Flooding and hurricanes that wrecked everything in its path.

Standing up, my legs sway. A good night's rest did not settle the pit forming in my stomach. Or the pounding headache that seems not to go away.

I step outside the resistance base, the sticky air hitting me like a slap.

“Did you sleep alright?”

I look behind me to see Dr. Rodriguez walking towards me with a half smile.

“Yes,” I reply, looking towards the water, swallowing the thick air that seems to want to suffocate me.

Dr. Rodriguez is a climate scientist who contacted me a while ago. He had asked if I would join “The Resistance.” At the time, he expressed to me that he needed more scientists. My father was a profound scientist who researched climate change. He put his whole heart into our Earth, only for it to break him. For that, I tried to live in solitude, alone with my little brother.

The group contains many people, but none qualified to scientifically speak of the facts surrounding the Earth's climate. The Resistance is a group of people who still cling to hope that our world will one day be better. At the time, I thought it was pathetic. A small group of people could not change the whole world. But as I sat by my brother's side as he clung to his last breath, I thought differently. I needed them to be correct.

“Have you decided?” Dr. Rodriguez says. I look at him, his brown eyes staring right into mine.

“I will join,” I say.

“Clara, you will be the difference in the world,” he says, with a broad smile on his young face.

“Together, we will make a difference. Form a better-”

“I have one condition,” I say, swiftly cutting him off. I tuck my blonde hair behind my ear, giving him a stern look.

“Anything,” he says.

“I want him gone,” I say, not breaking eye contact.

Dr. Rodrigue’s smile falls, then gives a swift nod of understanding.

—-

A couple of weeks have passed since the day I joined The Resistance. I remember how to smile each day that passes, but I will never forgive or forget Mayor Whitman or any other politician who has turned a blind eye to our Earth.

I sit in my new room, shuffling through research papers that were once my father's.

A loud siren then starts to go off, blinking red, making it hard to see.

I shoot out of my seat and run towards the meeting room. As I walked in, many people gathered, each looking nervous and confused.

I search for Dr. Rodrigues frantically. What is going on?

“Clara!” I turn to find Dr. Rodrigus standing by other resistance members. “There is a hurricane about 600 feet out. We need to evacuate.”

—-

Amidst the Chaos, everyone in the resistance was safe. Thanks to the great minds in the force, they made safety precautions to ensure the group's survival. As I sit in my seat, waiting for the town meeting to start, I can’t help but feel excited. We are going to tear Mayor Whitman apart—bit by bit.

The town debated whether to invest in climate adaptation or cling to outdated policies. This time, the devastation was on an unprecedented scale. As the winds howled and the waters surged, Mayor Whitman, trapped in his own flooded home, had a change of heart. Apparently.

“I now understand. I apologize for not understanding sooner.” Mayor Whitman expresses, with a pathetic frown on his shriveled face. "We can't keep denying the truth," he declared.

The Resistance members exchanged skeptical glances. It seemed too convenient, too sudden.

“Mayor Whitman,” I spoke up, my voice steady, “Your apologies won't bring back my brother. We need actions, not just words.”

The room fell silent as I continued, “We demand real change, immediate actions to mitigate the impact of climate change, not just empty declarations.”

Mayor Whitman, now soaked and shivering, nodded solemnly. The town, battered by the hurricane, was not in the mood for half-hearted promises.

As the meeting concluded, Dr. Rodriguez approached me, his expression unreadable.

“Clara,” he began cautiously, “He might genuinely want to change. We shouldn't dismiss the possibility of redemption.”

I looked into his eyes, conflicted but resolute.

“We’ll see,” I said, my gaze unwavering. “But the fight is far from over.”

The storm outside echoed the uncertainty within, but The Resistance stood firm, a beacon of hope in a world desperately in need of change.

I asked ChatGPT to create a short story about climate change. It produced a story following the main character, Clara, and her efforts to improve her world's climate change efforts. It tells us what year it is, and throughout the story, it gives us evidence of the climate. For example, it tells us that the waves are very harsh and that the sea level has risen. Referring to Mark Lynas's book Our Final Warning, the science behind the climate is correct and not exaggerated. This adds realism to the story and creates a story that is very likely to happen. This short story is not very engaging, and the plot is told to us, not shown. ChatGPT did an excellent job with what I gave it; let's see what happens if I feed it more information.

Background added:

In the year 2050, the world bore the scars of a tumultuous relationship with nature. Havenridge, the coastal town where I grew up, was once a haven of tranquility. Now, it stood as a testament to the unchecked power of climate change, with its cliffs eroded by the relentless assault of rising sea levels and its buildings mere skeletons of their former selves.

“Make the story first person and add more depth and background to the characters” is what I told ChatGPT to do. This story is much better than the first because we now have more information about the characters. We know why Clara was inspired to join the scientists and activists, which gives us a background of her character. Something I have noticed about ChatGPT is that it's not very good with grammar. I had to edit this story because it used big words that did not go well with the sentence structure. Also, sometimes ChatGPT places punctuation where it is not needed. Why is there no dialogue? Dialogue can set up the plot of a story and give us a more in-depth understanding of the emotions behind the characters. Let's add Dialogue.

I asked ChatGPT to add dialogue. At first, it gave me a whole story with just dialogue. I then asked it to “add dialogue to add emotion and more character development. The whole story does not need to be full of dialogue, but make it so the reader can understand the characters and the plot better”. In ChatGPT, you can edit your question after you ask it to do something. That is because sometimes, ChatGPT does not know what you are referencing. Also, it's a good tool, so you do not need to re-write your entire question. Now, with dialogue, we have a set plot to follow. Also, we were given more characters, so Clara is not just talking to herself. I then asked it to alter the ending to make it more reasonable. I think ChatGPT was trying hard to make this a short story, making it so the story ended fast.

Add more plot:

“Make it so the world is almost like a dystopian world. Do not exaggerate it; this should be about the climate rising around 2 or 3 degrees. So, while it should be hot, hurricanes and flooding also exist. Also, there should be protagonists who do not want the world to change, just like today. Also, create a plot. Maybe the main character went through something dramatic, like a hurricane or her house being flooded. Be creative with the plot and ending. Perhaps the world can not be changed, but they learn to live with what humans have messed up,” is what I ask ChatGPT to do. While this story is a perfect start, various things would improve it.