Alterna 1: Legacy of the Shrinking

After centuries of exploitive behavior against our very earth, mother nature appeared to finally be having enough.
As in the summer of 2042, devastating natural disasters were reaching their peaks, and not only threatened to erase our entire existence from the face of the planet. But also caused a near halt to every technological advancement if it wasn't for the cause of combating climate change.
However, no matter how hard it was tried to appease nature, all that was effectively achieved was just to slow down the inevitable, and for humanity to slowly succumb to their despair.
Until around a decade after the 21sts centuries end, a near miracle of a machine was finally revealed to the public's eye, managing to yet again spark just an ember of hope.
But what at first seemed to indeed be the long-awaited savior of mankind, soon after also turned out to just be hosting yet another slumbering catastrophe within its mechanical core.
Which was destined to be suddenly released in the spring of 2137, and forever shake up the structural integrity of human society as we know it.
As through this devilish machine, half of earth's population was now doomed within mere moments to forever roam within the realm of insects.
And forced to experience the dark corruption of desire and greed that has been hiding within every of their unaffected kin.