HOPE is a young girl, far more interested in clothes, boys, friends, and Starbucks than climate change and its effect on the environment. She’s sweet, innocent, and totally dependent upon her cell phone.
CHAD is a handsome surfer and president of the Environmental Club at Hope’s school. He is considered “a total hottie” by Hope and her friends, but also a bit of a nerd for his concern for the environment.
CHIP is a futuristic smartphone who openly admits to having a learning disorder. “It just takes me longer to be smart.” Chip accompanies Hope on her journey and serves as her obviously, under-qualified defense attorney during her trial. His voice sounds remarkably similar to Chad’s.
WOODY is the majestic Sycamore Oak tree in Hope’s front yard. Hope meets Woody on her journey and instead of his verdant foliage, his branches are charred and bare from a forest fire.
WAWA is the last drop of water on the planet. She’s tainted with pollutants and other contaminants. She wonders why Hope had wasted so much water and used the planet’s lakes and oceans as a garbage can.
MS. QUITO, owner of The Mosquito Supper Club, a popular hangout for insects that survived the Sixth Mass Extinction. She’s defensive about being blamed for infecting humans with malaria.
CARMEN D’OXIDE is a gaseous cloud in the form of a shapely jazz singer. Carmen sings about her love of automobile exhaust and other greenhouse gas pollutants.
TERABYTE is the comical leader of the three Cyber judges. He conducts the farcical proceedings in the Tribunal of the Super Computer. His opening comment to Hope, a striking indicator of the court’s bias, is “Justice is kind if you can pay.”
FATE, a futuristic tablet, is the powerful, prosecuting attorney. Daunting, egotistical, and the idol of the members of the gallery, his mere presence intimidates the judges into a guilty verdict.
SUNNY, the Sun, is sensitive about getting blamed for global warming. His upside to climate change is, “If the ice caps melt, you’ll be closer to the beach.”
PHYTE O’PLANKTON is an Irish, single-celled, photosynthetic organism who lives in the sea. He’s a bit miffed that the rain forest gets all the documentaries on The Discovery Channel for creating oxygen when phytoplankton produce 70% of the air that we breathe.
OLD SPARKY is the charming and well-meaning electric chair. He appears in a fantasy sequence when Hope despondently realizes she has no chance of winning. She dreams that she’s in a dance club with pounding electronic music and Old Sparky is taunting her to a sit-down dance!
POLLY ETHYLENE is a plastic bag who wants to be recycled. She’s insulted at the concept of being used only once yet is grateful to humans for creating plastic.
LADY JUSTICE is the iconic symbol of justice. She’s smudged and battered from courtroom battles against injustice and boldly sings, “There Ain’t No Justice!”
RICHARD is Hope’s father. He is White, in his mid-40’s and is a sales manager at San Clemente Plumbing and Heating. His perception of climate change is, “Well, it’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter.”
PRIA is Hope’s mother. She is Asian-Indian, in her mid-30s with a post-doctoral degree in biochemistry and works as a research associate at CRISPR Biotechnology. Hope would describe her highly educated, science-minded mother, as “a great cook”.
THE GREAT PACIFIC GARBAGE PATCH is a punk rock band that includes lead singer/guitarist, JUNK, bass player, DEBRIS and drummer, WASTE. They rage about their need for more trash for their floating island in the North Pacific Ocean.
THE INSECTS AT THE MOSQUITO SUPPER CLUB:
- STINKY is a stink bug who is the doorman at the Mosquito Supper Club. He’s a no-nonsense bouncer with the biceps and gas to prove it.
- JOE, the centipede, is a myriapod who plays soulful blues on an upright piano. He often uses eight-plus feet to tickle the ivories and dazzle the patrons.
- COCKY is a cockroach who has seen better days when raiding homes and restaurants of humans was easy game.
- PAULY, the praying mantis, is a self-proclaimed music connoisseur. He often pontificates on the lyrical philosophies of The Beatles, The Monkees and The Partridge Family.
- GOTCHA is a Tsetse fly and a master assassin. One sting from him and you go to sleep for good.
- JILL, a ladybug, is a good time show girl, who never met a guy she doesn’t fancy. A former dancer with the Folies Bergère, her promising career came to an abrupt ending after injuring three of her six legs in an after-hours game of Twister.
- SILLY PICKLE is a black widow spider who asserts innocence despite the disappearance of her last nine husbands. Irresistibly sexy, the bugs at the bar know to avoid her seductive, fatal glance.
- LARVA, the caterpillar, is originally from Shanghai. An anxious, introverted writer whose career nose-dived after the Sixth Mass Extinction.
