Setting

The events described in the short story “The Disaster Store” by Helen Phillips take place in a dystopian future, where society deals with the aftermath of climate change. Several clues reveal climate change and pollution are responsible for society’s state.

First, the narrative mentions the tricky weather that can become dangerous in the blink of an eye. Although the day starts up innocently warm, the evening brings a superstorm that affects the town’s safety. As well as this, since the short story mentions “Christmas trees”, showing that the events take place in December, the warmth of the morning turns out to be unnatural, as this is not usually normal weather for December.

Secondly, the narrative refers to various natural disasters, including three superstorms that the narrator’s family has already faced: “However, the salesman (…) continues to rattle off statistics related to icebergs, the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales, tsunamis, wildfires, earthquakes, superstorms, quicksand”.

Thirdly, people change physically because of pollution. The narrator’s daughter, although six years old, “lost too many teeth, precociously”. Moreover, the doctor that the narrator consults hints that “more...