The City of Camalafern

Daniel Zhang Baganz

The City of Camalafern is one where the people love to feel wealthy and be surrounded by beautiful ornamented cast iron streets. They are adorned with natural motifs like birds, flowers and spiralling branches. However, not all is as it seems, and though the folks enjoy the company of their floral podiums they do not consider the consequences of the production of all this iron. Ironically, the follies created to capture and immortalise the beautiful natural surroundings of their city in fact damage the real fauna and flora that the decorations draw influence from.

The large mines needed to collect the raw materials to make this iron are formed by clearing forests. The Macfarlane company, the largest and proudest providers, in processing the materials pollute and darken the skies and the surrounding land. Also, what the people have yet to know is that in only a few decades, most of these follies shall also disappear like the woods that have been taken away. You see, because of wars and neglect, the iron would be needed to form weapons and slowly these streets' grand details would fade away.

In the end, all the flamboyant decorations would be gone leaving only a few humble benches left overlooking dusty streets. There is hope, however, for the people will come to look beyond the artificial and come to appreciate the natural lands they have. Green movements would form to create more parks and gardens within the cities and birds would slowly come back to nest. If you visit some of the parks now, you can see an elegant swan gliding across the pond and smell the fresh air from the simple shrubs that dot around.