Time Capsule Found on the Dead Planet

“Time Capsule Found on the Dead Planet” (2009) by Margaret Atwood is a short story warning about the dangers of climate change and the influence of greed on society. Atwood wrote the story as part of the “10:10” campaign, an initiative by Britain'sThe Guardian newspaper to promote efforts for fighting climate change. Though “Time Capsule” is technically a short story, it doesn’t follow a traditional narrative structure, feeling like a cross between a short story and a poem. Atwood’s premise is that a found relic outlines the history of a planet’s progression from religious expression to money worship and then to death by way of climate change. Like much of Atwood’s writing, the story has many elements of speculative dystopian fiction with a heavy focus on socio-political issues.

Atwood is one of the most popular writers of the past 50 years, so anything she publishes garners significant attention; however, this short story is not one of her more well-known works.

Author Biography

Margaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Atwood spent most of her early life in nature and didn’t attend school full-time until she was 12. She developed a love of reading and writing at an early age, and she pursued these passions at Victoria College in Toronto and later at Radcliffe College at Harvard, where she earned her master’s degree.