Burn: The Beginning

The future is not as bright as it seems.

One thousand years ago, the planet was known as “Earth.” It was the year 2000. People believed that their time was the zenith of human existence. In one hundred years, technology had developed from huge computers to ones that could fit into a pocket. As such fascination was set on the development of modern technology, Earth was slowly disappearing. Animals, which had once been abundant a century before, were gone and other species were gradually dwindling. Forests, tall in their prime, were gone to make way for more cities and homes. The waters were choked with sludge and nuclear waste, poisoning all possibilities of fishes and other sea creatures living there. The air was as tainted as the waters, choking and filled with unbreathable fumes from the modes of transportation. In the midst of all this, global warming, caused by the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, instigated freezing winters, harsh summers, and terrible weather.

            Soon, the planet Earth, once known for its abundance of life, was stripped bare and killed by those who inhabited it. Within the span of five hundred years, there was very little land that was habitable. There were random, beautiful patches of oases throughout the barren world. Outside these paradises, the rest of the Earth’s land was made up of red-orange land, synonymous to that of Earth’s cousin Mars. Any animals left alive immediately fled into whatever oases were left over. Otherwise, all species perished outside of these special zones.

            Time passed and man fought valiantly over these sparse patches of heaven. Those who won were made the ultimate leaders of the tribes of people who survived Earth’s deterioration. Of course, man built cities in these oases. They took the oases and built protective walls around them. They discarded the elderly and the sick outside of their walls to wither away in the hot, red desert. These few cities that were erected were the greatest and brightest on the planet. Or so they thought of themselves.

            In the year 2999, the world outside of the cities burns as the people inside flourish and develop.

Author's Note

A kind of prologue to introduce the world in which my character Crimson Misery lives.
Readers, if you have anything to suggest for editing, please do tell me. This feels very much unfinished.

Reviews

[Weaver]

Don't put "Earth" in quotes.
"As such fascination was set on the development of modern technology" - This is unclear and awkwardly worded.
"Earth was slowly disappearing" - ?? - Do you mean that the natural world was being wiped out, or that the planet itself was disappearing?
no comma after "Animals" - You mean that some animals that had been abundant weren't any longer, not that animals in general were gone by the year 2000. (I know this isn't true - I have a few climbing on me right now as I try to type.)
no comma after "a century before"
comma after "were gone"
"Forests, tall in their prime, were gone" - I suggest using something other than "were gone" again here
"waters were choked"... "choking and filled with unbreathable fumes" - change one use of "choke" to something else
"the modes of transportation" - It's actually the fuels used, not the modes of transportation, that cause the problem - cars that didn't burn fossil fuel wouldn't hurt the environment any more than, say, horse-drawn wagons. (Possibly less, since horses make methane.)
"In the midst of all this, global warming, caused by the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, instigated freezing winters, harsh summers, and terrible weather." - First, this is rather vague. You could give it more impact by including some detail of what "terrible weather" means. Second, the whole sentence reads like a lecture/propaganda - and if someone who agrees with you sees it that way, someone who isn't convinced about the whole climate change issue is going to be annoyed and stop reading.
no comma after "Soon"
"there was very little land that was habitable" - try "very little land remained habitable"
"red-orange land, synonymous to that of Earth’s cousin Mars" - First, Mars isn't red because it's dead; it's red because of all the iron. You can see the same thing in parts of the US that also happen to have abundant plant life, people, etc. (Georgia, for example) Second, "synonymous" isn't the right word here. I think you mean "similar."
"Any animals left alive immediately fled into whatever oases were left over"- Would put quite a strain on the environment there, wouldn't it?
comma after "Time passed"
"Of course, man built cities in these oases" - ...And, one hopes, had learned their lesson well enough to avoid making the same mistake all over again with no second chances this time.
"They discarded the elderly and the sick outside of their walls"- Really good way to ensure the death of a civilization - get rid of all the people old enough to remember stuff from before.
The sudden change to present tense in the last sentence is jarring. You may want to try "the cities burned" instead.
I like the concept in this opening, but you need to be more careful with how you describe/explain things. If that part isn't believable, the rest of the story will suffer.