The crumbling remains of a fortified sea wall rose out of the water in the distance, the remnants of a last ditch attempt to stop the ever rising waters of the Charleston harbor. Radius wasn’t supposed to be in this part of the city, since it had been abandoned very shortly after the crisis began. Once, he knew, this was where the rich elite lived. There had been palmetto trees and actual sidewalks made of old, uneven cobblestone. Once, tourists used to stroll down the streets to see the sights.
Not anymore, though, this whole area was condemned now. Dangerous, the council said. Not really any more dangerous than the rest of the city, in his opinion, but what could you do? There was no arguing with the council.
He cranked the throttle of the handmade engine attached to his old stand up paddle board and turned away from Broad Canal and headed back up towards the center of the city. As he went, the decaying houses, that must have once been beautiful, transitioned into the concrete blocks of the new “flood proof” buildings that now took over the old historic city. Each house was shaped like a box, including a flat roof to allow for outside leisure replacing what used to be called backyards. Once you got passed the uniformity, it was kind of beautiful. Every house had flourishing plants on the roof, in window boxes, and floating gardens. Bright blue barrels, made of recycled plastic, collected rain on the top of each roof. Collecting water was the only way to get clean water in the city. The light building with their bright adornments were a stark contrast with the brown, reeking water below.
Surprisingly, the odor coming from the contaminated water wasn’t as bad today. Maybe they were making strides over at the Filtration Plant. His grandfather told him that when the wall failed, all the harbor water rushed into the city, harbor water that had been polluted by an incessant parade of cruise ships and tankers for decades. And if that wasn’t bad enough, surrounding industrial and even a nuclear plant nearby was destroyed by the floods and the waste was carried downtown.
Factories and cruise ships weren’t an issue in Charleston today though. Surprisingly, the city had gotten its act together after being nearly destroyed twice- once when the floods began, and once when the wall failed. The people had turned roads into canals, sent their cars to a recycling center in mainland South Carolina, and gotten kayaks. Kayaks in every color- greens, blues, pinks, purples- kayaks made from the remains of old soda bottles and wasted plastic goods. “There’s no waste in nature,” Grandfather always said. Which was true enough, Radius supposed.
Speeding down King Canal, he quickly arrived at the Charleston Civic Center, which was where the council met and many of the adults in the city worked. There was the Recycling Center, back on mainland South Carolina, which employed a few Charleston residents, the Filtration Center, which churred the black water near what had once been Wentworth and East Bay St and the various farms and clean energy projects around the city. For some reason, the Charleston Civic Center was colloquially referred to as “C of C” but no one really remembered why- except Grandfather, in one of his rants, but Radius had stopped listening as years of living in a contaminated city had greatly impacted Grandfather’s brain.
As he passed the George Canal, Radius realized his mistake in traveling through the center of the city. It was Monday evening and the entire council, as well as politically ambitious students and active community members (which was most of the community) were gathered for the weekly city meeting. Every week the board, which was comprised of the 10 district leaders, met and discussed new issues, listened to citizen complaints and suggestions, and, last but not least, dealt with law breakers.
He quickly hopped onto a nearby dock, turned off his engine and flipped his board over. But it was too late. Reznor, head of the sanitation organization, had already heard the illegal rumbling of the motor and was paddling over. Without a word, he parked his kayak, grabbed Radius by the arm and hauled him into the atrium.
“Distinguished council members, pardon the interruption.” Reznor began, projecting his thin voice with all his might. Radius stared at the familiar surroundings- a half destroyed mural on the wall, rows and rows of seating and the raised platform on which the council was seated. Unfortunately for Radius, he was familiar with this building, and it wasn’t because he cherished an ambition to become a councilmember one day.
“Radius, Radius, Radius,” The Head of the Council, Apoch, sighed from his seat, shaking his head.
“Yes, council members, this young man has attached another motorized engine to his paddleboard. Which means he’s been stealing gas from the tank at the Recycling center, again.” Reznor inhaled, preparing to go on one of his long rants about the environment and what caused the flooding and the people who had come before but, thankfully, a councilmember cut him off.
“Assign him another public apology and let’s be done with it. There are more pressing matters at hand than one young man who doesn’t seem to understand his impact on the Earth.” This was Sona, the head of the Medicine district. She was in charge of the healers who tried to keep the danger of the chemicals at bay.
Apoch nodded, paused, looked at his fellow councilmembers to see if they had anything to add. When no one else spoke up, Apoch issued his decision. “At the next council meeting, Radius will deliver a public apology to the community and explain his bad decision making. And in preparation for that apology, he will spend this next week in my office with me.”
A whole week? In Apoch’s office? Radius groaned at that misfortune and left the council meeting. Screw Sona and her pressing matters, and screw Apoch and his stern punishment. He would have to paddle back to his home, to the north in the Recycling District, and tell his parents he was once again on the wrong side of the council.
~~~
After an excruciating first day of his punishment, where Radius spent a full twelve hours in Apoch’s office sitting and “reflecting,” Apoch planned an excursion. They hopped in a double kayak and paddled all the way to the east side of the city to the Filtration District. Radius had been told his whole life how pollution and poor waste management and the overuse of fossil fuels in earlier generations had doomed the city and had caused all the ills of his current society. But he had never been to the filtration plant. It smelled even worse than the rest of the city and was filled with workers in hazmat suits trying to filter the water, run experiments, and ultimately find a solution to the contamination.
Having never seen clean water except that which had fallen from the sky, Radius had never really understood what Charleston could be. But seeing the sludge, grime, and indistinguishable waste that was being sifted through the plant put things in perspective. Apoch and Radius went into the laboratory and listened as one of the workers described the newest idea for the city wide water decontamination project. Radius ignored him at first, tried to keep up his aloof persona, but soon found himself caught up in the excitement and dedication he could hear in the worker’s voice. These people were spending their whole lives trying to make Charleston beautiful, clean, and safe again. Radius had been told since childhood how dangerous the water was and how harmful the chemicals were…but seeing it was different and understanding the effort going into change was inspiring. The innocence of childhood was no longer an excuse and Radius realized he might have to start thinking about more than just himself.
~~~
Apoch was elected leader of the council because he was perceptive and practically evangelical in his environmentalism. Sona was elected to the council because of her technical ability. Together, they were the heart and the head of the city council, and so they decided for Radius’s last day working for Apoch, he would travel to the Healing Center. Apoch realized the perspective offered at the Recycling Center had gotten to his young charge, and he was hoping the Healing Center would have a similar impact.
Radius had spent the days in between his two trips in Apoch’s office, collecting citizen information and complaints. The residents of Charleston were not shy about making their opinion known, and the leaders of the community encouraged each citizen to be active and engaged with everything the council was doing. Thus, there were a lot of complaints to be dealt with. Funnily enough, Radius found that there was less tedium hearing about his fellow citizens lives than he expected. There were many challenges trying to live in a murky, underwater city but the resourceful citizens were finding solutions. Radius liked being a part, even a small part, of that process.
He was a little dismayed, however, when he learned he was going to the Healing Center. He did not like sick people-he spent enough time with his old crazy Grandfather as it was. Now we was going to spend a whole twelve hours following around some stuffy old healer and probably catching a cold. He’d much rather continue his work at C of C. But orders were orders, and this whole mess did come from his inability to follow community standards, so he woke up early on Sunday and paddled his way southwest towards the Medical buildings.
He was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by Nova, a twenty year old Healer-in-training. He was instantly much more excited to be following someone around all day. Nova was funny and smart but also dedicated to the community and willing to risk her own health to improve the lives of others.
Following Nova on her rounds demonstrated the horrible impact the flood has had on community members. There were many people sick with infections carried through the water, struggling with the minimal antibiotics the Medicine district was able to produce. The chemicals caused babies to be born small and sickly, and mothers to fight the infection which threatened their every step in the watery city.
Radius remembered, again, his Grandfather’s reminder: There is no waste in Nature. But at the Healing Center, there was so much waste. People were wasting away on the cots around him, and all he could do was try to ease their discomfort. Instead of contributing to the community, these folks would struggle to make it through the day. Some might recover and resume their lives as a part of Charleston, but others wouldn’t. Wasteful practices literally caused human death and near destruction- and his actions hadn’t done anything to alleviate it, and in fact, might have in their own small way, made the situation worse.
~~~

Radius woke up on Monday morning feeling tired but ready for his meeting with the council and the city. He had been up most of the night thinking about what he would say, knowing that it was going to be the last time he had to apologize to his community. He paddled his motorless SUP board down Rutledge Canal towards CofC, parked on the dock, and walked into the old theater packed with Charlestonians and the council, front and center.
“Council members and people of the community, I would like to formally apologize for undermining community efforts to improve our city. My actions were ignorant and selfish and I understand now what I did not before, and what the generations before the flood did not understand either. Although it was just one engine on one paddleboard, every action makes a difference. Charleston has proven that even in the most adverse conditions, we can thrive as a society, but only as long as we value community and find our place in the ecosystem. There is no waste in nature, and that fact has been made abundantly clear to me this past week. We have to work together so that we do not waste anymore of our precious resources, or our lives. I thank you for the opportunity to rejoin the community and will not make the mistake of indulging in wasteful practices again.”
Apoch smiled, and put his hand on Radius’s shoulder as the younger man left the stage and went to sit with the rest of his community. This time, he would stay to hear the rest of the pressing matters.