Gaea lives with her roommate, a guy named ManKind. Gaea loves to keep her home tidy and full of life and love, and at first so did Man but that quickly changed. As Man got busier with work and life outside the home he began to care less and less about the state in which he left the living space. He became a slob, leaving messes all over the place and never cleaning up after himself. Seeing as Gaea worked from home she was always left to clean up after Man.
It got so bad that the mailman and Gaea’s long time friend Hermes became seriously concerned. He noticed how constantly drained Gaea was from having to clean up after and basically take care of Man. But whenever Hermes mentioned Man’s slobblish behavior to Gaea it was almost like she didn't see the problem. Hermes decided he had to find a way to get Man in check on his own because he knew that things would only get worse for Gaea.
Hermes went on to make a groupchat with all of Gaea's other friends to enlist their help in dealing with ManKind. Ares being the brute that he is texted the groupchat suggesting that they go and beat some sense into the Man guy. However, Zeus had another idea in mind, he suggested that they take every chance they’ve got to make life just a bit more miserable for Man to hopefully cause him to change his actions for the better.
Demeter offered to poison the soil of Man’s precious organic vegetable garden, destroying his crops for the season. Poseidon offered to repeatedly flood Man’s and adjust the plumbing to mess up the water pressure. Finally, Zeus offered to jam the helios button on Man’s thermostat so that his room would become unbearably hot and sticky. Another thing that he offered was to hack the sprinkler system in Man’s room so that he could flood his bedroom if worst came to worst. Now that the group had a plan but they were just missing a discrete code name for it, that's when Zeus suggested they call it Climate Change because of the nature of their torment.
The next time the friends went to visit Gaea, Climate Change was set into motion, and each time they returned to her home and did not see any improvement in Man’s behavior the severity of their actions increased. This continued on for a good while until Man finally realized that Gaea’s friends would not stop tormenting him until he changed his slobbish ways. He realized that his actions were having a greater effect on those around him and most importantly they were hurting Gaea. Slowly, Man began to improve, he began cleaning up after himself and even taking care of Gaea whenever he had the chance. Gaea’s friends were so glad to see him learn from his mistakes and improve if not for himself at least for Gaea. (500 words)
Analysis
The purpose of this myth is to provide a creative and mythologically themed explanation for climate change. The myth modernizes both the gods as well as their powers and traits to make it more relatable for the modern day reader. The myth takes mythological figures such as Gaea as well as the various gods of olympus and humanizes them in order to creatively and simply explain climate change. The myth follows the story of a pair of roommates and how the negative actions of one roommate led to climate change. Opening up this myth is a general description of the two main characters Gaea and her roommate Man Kind. The myth goes on to explain that Man is an inconsiderate and sloppy roommate and that Gaea is often left picking up after him. Gaea’s friends notice how drained she has become due to constantly having to take care of herself and Man so they devise a plan. Her friends come up with ways to make Man's life just that much more difficult until he chooses to correct his behavior. Their methods are the myths parallel to the real life effects of climate change.
As aforementioned, there are two main characters, Gaea and Man Kind. Gaea in this myth is a modernized parallel for Gaea in classical mythology. In Hesiod’s Theogony it is explained that first came Khaos and then Gaea-Earth (Hes. Th. 116). Gaea is the wife of Uranus and the mother to the titans including Kronos who later fathers Zeus and his siblings. In this myth she is portrayed as the roommate to Man. Coexisting and taking care of him just as Gaea in mythology is mother earth and the caregiver for humanity seeing as humans live upon and depend upon the earth. Gaea is simplified to a regular woman with a bad roommate who she feels obligated to take care of. Making her into such a modern and simple character serves the purpose of both humanizing her but also creating the opportunity for the reader to easily relate and sympathize with the actions and struggles she endures. As well, the notion that Man Kind is draining Gaea by making her his caregiver is a parallel to how the human race is draining and slowly killing the earth.
Furthermore, Man Kind in this myth is an all around horrible roommate. Using this description for Man Kind is a parallel for the human races are horrible and destructive habitants of planet earth. Simplifying such big issues all the way down to slobish behavior is once again used for the purpose of humanizing and creating a sense of relatability between the reader and the character.
Another mythological parallel which can be observed is with the character of Hermes in this myth. Hermes in this myth is presented as both a friend of Gaea’s as well as the mailman. These traits would be a parallel to Hermes’ godly roles within classical mythology. As written in the Hymn to Hermes, Hermes is the son of Zeus and he is the messenger of the gods (HH 4). Other roles Hermes takes on are that of a psychopomp, trickster god as well as being the god of commerce. It is for that reason that it makes sense for his more humanized and relatable counterpart to have the mundane job of being a mailman while also being a friend to Gaea. Hermes in the myth also goes on to make a group chat with the rest of Gaea’s friends who are the greek gods, paralleling even further how Hermes in classical mythology is the messenger of the gods.
Moving forward to the mythological parallels observed within Gaea’s friends in these myths. The friends Hermes contacts are modernized versions of the gods of Olympus, although not all 12 gods are mentioned. Among those that are mentioned however are Zeus, Poseidon, Demeter and Ares.
The first God to be mentioned in this myth is Ares and here he plays the role of the overprotective friend. When Hermes alerts the group of how badly Gaea is being treated, Ares immediately jumps to her defense. This defensive and violent behavior is a parallel to Ares’ godly traits throughout classical mythology. Ares is the god of war who is known to be rather bloodthirsty and quick to act when conflict arises (Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 7. 400 ff ). Thus, explaining why in this myth the modernization of Ares results in him being a quick tempered brute who wants to protect those he cares for at any cost.
The second God to be mentioned in this myth is Zeus. Zeus immediately takes control of the conversation and guides the group on what they should do next. This is the first mythological parallel. Zeus taking control of the situation and coming up with a plan for the group parallels Zeus’ mythological role as king of the gods. His leadership is also demonstrated through him having the final say of what the code name shall be for their plan. The name of the plan being Climate Change is derived from the fact that all of their tormentful tactics will affect Mankind's living climate. The naming of the plan was an element that could create a sense of relatability with the reader because every friend group at a time has come up with little code names for things that they are doing or saying.
Moreover, Zeus’ contribution to the plan parallels his abilities throughout mythology. Besides being the king of the gods, Zeus also rules the sky and weather as well famously wielding lightning (OH 15). These powers are paralleled in the myth through the jamming of the thermostat thereby raising the temperature in Man’s room, and the hacking of the sprinkler system.
The hacking of the sprinkler system is both a parallel to his control of the weather/storms but also to his ability to create floods. In Pseudo-Hyginus’ work it is observed that Zeus casts floods in order to punish those who he feels have done wrong and often aims to kill using those floods (Hygin. Fab. 153). In the myth, this idea is paralleled through Zeus creating both storms and floods (on a smaller scale) using the sprinkler to punish Man for mistreating Gaea.
The jamming of the Helios button is another small parallel on its own. Helios is mythologically known as the god of the sun (HH 2.19). In this myth he is modernized to the name of the heating button on a thermostat adding a small mythological parallels solely for details.
The next god to be mentioned is Demeter who offers to poison Man’s private garden. In mythology, Demeter is the goddess of harvest and grain, she is also the sister to Poseidon and Zeus (OH 40). In this myth Demeter's powers of the harvest and grain are demonstrated simply through the fact that she is choosing to destroy Man’s crops. The destruction of crops parallels the events of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter in which Demeter destroys the crops because of the loss she feels after her daughter's abduction by Hades (HH 2).
The final god mentioned in this myth Poseidon. Poseidon is mythologically known as the ruler of the sea, as well as the god of earthquakes and horses (HH 22). In the myth, Poseidon offers both to flood Man’s toilet as well as mess up his water pressure. These actions are parallels to Poseidon's known ability to both cause floods as well as control water levels. Poseidon’s flood creating abilities are key in Pseudo-Apollodorus’ story of Deucalion and Pyrrha which is the ancient greek myth that parallels the story line of Noah’s Ark (Apollod. 1. 7. 2-3 ). The story demonstrates that Poseidon like his brother Zeus is more than capable of starting a flood. Furthermore, the adjusting of Man’s water pressure the modernized version of Poseidon's ability to manipulate water at his own will (OH 17).
The myth ends with the gods ensuing torment upon Man Kind until he realizes how his actions are negatively impacting those around him. This is the story’s way of addressing how humans need to realize that their actions are causing so much harm to the planet and that it would be better for everyone if we changed our destructive ways. Which highlights one last parallel, which can be drawn between this myth and the story of Deucalion and Pyrrah. Both myths, entail the wrath of gods on man which results in a change of man's behavior for the better, concluding with a gift of sorts from the gods. For Deucalion and Pyrrah it was the ability to create more of their kind and for Gaea it was a better roommate and a happier life (Apollod. 1. 7. 2-3 ). (1460 words)
References
Hesiod, Theogony. 116
Homer, Homeric Hymn 4 to Hermes.
Homeric Hymn 22 to Poseidon.
Orpheus, Orphic Hymn 40 to Demeter
Orpheus, Orphic Hymn 17 to Poseidon
Pamphos, Homeric Hymn 2 to Demeter. 19
Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 153
Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 7. 2 - 3
Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 7. 400 ff