Imagine a place where women must average seven children in their lifetime while risking infection from a fatal sexually transmitted disease (passed to the human population by eating other primates) that has left almost seven percent of those children orphaned.

This place experiences extreme climate shifts, cyclically throwing vast numbers of people into chronic starvation.

This place has been ravaged by constant civil war, wherein rival religious factions like the Lord’s Resistance Army enslave and rape the populace while others cajole them to stop using contraception.

Reader support helps sustain our work. Donate today to keep our climate news free. All donations DOUBLED!

This place is home to some of the last of the 380 wild mountain Gorillas, two of which were just eaten.

Grist thanks its sponsors. Become one.

This place has a ruler who is about to turn over to developers nine more tropical forests to grow biofuel stock (sugarcane and palm oil) instead of food.

Welcome to Children of Men in real time.