Man's folly - The 'HAIL MARY' clouds.

New visitors to the chronicles from the future may first wish to visit the past, by reading the earlier hologramletters. (see the older listings on the right, go to the bottom and click the link to the earlier hologramletters)

NOTE The following is an adaptation from the soon to be released book ‘Letters From 2030’. To register interest on its release, or to order a copy email Bob Williamson via this link.

January 7th 2030

He had more time to reflect on the hologramletters from Anthony and Suzanne than he had planned.

He was eager to write back and answer their questions and learn of their thoughts to his as to why our global population had stopped caring for those we held most dear; our children and theirs.

His solar recharge had been slow all day, with the blackish yellow rain clouds blocking out the sun for almost the entire day.

Man's folly once again.

The reckless geoengineering of the atmosphere in 2015, the ‘Hail Mary Project’ had not been the silver bullet to avert catastrophic climate change. All it had done was to allow the ‘business as usual polluters’ more time for more distraction. More time to pollute. The 2 billion dollar annual funding from industrial polluters for the five year project was channelled via US federal funding under the control of the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency. The lunatic brainchild, of the Nobel Prize—winning atmospheric scientist Paul Crutzen, that resulted in the release of vast amounts of sulphurous particles into the atmosphere to create a haze that would keep the planet cool, did little of what was promised, but had the effect of increasing air pollution to unimaginable levels, killing millions through the second and third decade of the 21st century. Now the yellowish rain clouds, when they did come to provide the much needed water of life, required his water purification plant to be working without fault. The sulphurous rains had done much to kill off the Amazon in 2017 and devastate the remaining croplands in the Midwest of the US that was now home to a parched desert with life of any form unable to survive.

Time for transmission; time to reach out; had finally arrived:-

Anthony, you may have worried that this message may not arrive. My power supply as you know is limited. The solar mirrors I have angled at the base of this multi-story building that is now my virtual confines are nearly ready for commissioning. The flexible ducting to draw the solar heated air upwards to run the air turbines are in place, so hopefully I will soon have additional energy supply. Yesterday and most of today the Hail Mary clouds have blocked out the sun, but power has gradually built and I can now send this hologramletter to you. I am forwarding also my transmission from Suzanne. Her happiness at her survival is infectious and a source of great hope. She asks questions from her isolation that may be able to be answered by one of the scientists you mentioned. I store all incoming hologramletters in the library files that one day others who survive these times may come across, so if the relay is garbled I can attempt to send you another copy.

Anthony, I see your thoughts, hopes and dreams as if played out in reality on the screens before me. I know this technology isn’t available at the HAARP compound or to Suzanne. Maybe that is all for the better. As you walk through your memories to me and talk of the past; I can see them played out as if I were looking through your eyes. As Suzanne giggles I can feel her hope. Your journey to Alaska was an amazing achievement of great courage. The J team boys are true heroes but I would imagine their suffering and memories as a result of ill fought wars for oil across international borders still plague them. The scene you recalled of the women and children picking berries before they were mercilessly attacked was horrific. I wept for the memory and for your loss.

Do you remember where you were when the Big Thunder struck? Rosa you mentioned read my book, she may recall when I wrote it, I warned that the ‘best available science’ of climate change wasn’t keeping up and our policy makers weren’t getting the message. Although not widely understood by the everyday person, I penned.

...They could see the permafrost line moving up the mountains. They could witness the accelerated melt in Greenland where once it was thought that it would take 10,000 years for surface melting to penetrate down to the bottom of the icesheet, now observed as swirling rivers disappearing in the blink of an eye, in just ten seconds. They could predict an ice-free Arctic where air temperatures had risen several times above the global average by 2–3 degrees over the last thirty years. Some of those self-interested nations, including the United States, Russia, and Canada, were even perversely arguing over who should have the oil rights as the Arctic thawed. Greater reserves of carbon to burn!...And

...Jakobshavn Isbrae glacier on its 700 kilometres journey to the coast whose speed since 1997 has doubled and now at 15 kilometres per year it claims the world land speed record for glaciers discharging melt-water of somewhere in the region of 50 cubic kilometres per year into Baffin Bay.

Do the scientists you have with you still maintain an ultra conservative pursuant for advice, or are they now more directly observant and reality based in their guidance in giving direction to you?

In your hologramletter you retell many of the problems you still face. You are too modest in your claims to be winging it Anthony. We go back too far for me to not know how resilient and resourceful you truly are. If there is anyone I know; you are up to the challenge of leadership in the face of adversity.

Until then….Stay safe – stay indoors. Much hope to you all.

Suzanne you uplift me. Please don’t stop the laughter in your voice and thoughts when you next write, they ease many deeper troubles that plague our ordinary days.

I remember that ad you spoke of, "The last computer you'll ever need, with infinite power and infinite speed." It made me laugh then and again now. They failed to say for its 10 kilos of weight they had milled, mined, distilled, and consumed some 18 tonnes or so of finite and fossil reserves. Or that the 250 watts an hour of power need to run it, emitted ¾ of a tonne of CO2 in greenhouse gases each year. But then if they had, maybe some would have thought twice about biannually upgrading ‘The last computer you’ll ever need, with infinite power and infinite speed’ and then where would their pursuit of infinite growth and profits have been?

The time you took to view your wonderful find of old alkaline batteries, and solar panels was fabulous. I want you to be very careful with the alkaline batteries though as they may no longer be safe. You see, over time alkaline batteries are prone to leaking potassium hydroxide, a caustic agent that can cause respiratory, eye and skin irritation. In an alkaline battery the anode (negative terminal) is made of zinc powder and the cathode (positive terminal) is composed of manganese dioxide and to work they use the potassium hydroxide. If you can see a feathery crystalline structure leaking from the seams of the battery leave them well alone. Back when they were made they also contained a small amount of mercury amalgam. We now know that these heavy metals and compounds were the cause of some of the toxic contamination to landfills in our throw-away society back in the late 20th and early 21st century. Just one more legacy we were leaving for others to clean up.

On your solar panel find, I’m afraid I can’t be of immediate help. I would like you to go back when it is safe to venture out again and send me some more images through your eyes. I noticed that the cartons are sealed. It is very likely that the installation instructions are in those boxes. If so, I can relay them as you view them through to Anthony in Alaska. I am forwarding his recent letter to me, through to you. Some of his memories are very sad; but don’t let them cause you sadness now, there is also much hope in his voice. As you’ll see, he has some colleagues at the HAARP compound that may be able to help with some of your technical issues.

Your memories of the earlier years when we first met are still strong and brought back much to me. I remember you telling me how you wanted to join the ‘army of change to a safe future’ after you were inspired by reading my book back then. You told me it offered many alternatives if we should choose to follow them and provided for a different future to the one we now face. Had only more made the same choice as you. You were a tireless and unflinching ‘comrade in arms’ Suzanne. Do you still have your copy?

I still have two copies. As it happens I had them framed in a display box when the proof copies first arrived from New York in October 2008. I had found the tail feather of a Red Tailed Black Cockatoo on my property in the Perth hills back then, and framed the quill along with an antiques inkwell with the books in the display box. As I now look out on those hills from this building the trees are now dead and the cockatoos long since extinct. One day when my time comes to join them, some others may come along, and as I do, reflect on the outcome for collective humanity if more had headed ‘the call to arms for the good of earth’ that the book endorsed.

Until I see though your laughing eyes once more ….Stay safe – stay indoors. Much hope to you all.


As the hologramletters left on their journey to Suzanne and Anthony the incoming transmission light flickered. Was it Anthony with more news or Suzanne with answers to his questions. The face of someone he vaguely remembered came to the screen. The voice seemed to stir a distant memory.

Bob, you may not remember me my name is Mathew from……… and then it was gone. The hologram faded as quickly as it had formed. Who might that have been he thought?

The light flickered once more. This time it was Anthony from the HAARP complex. As the power supply gauge was quickly reaching zero he flicked the switch to store the message in the library files, this would have to wait. Maybe tomorrow the Hail Mary clouds would clear and his batteries could be returned to full power.