The 2025 Imagine climate fiction contest collection
Explore 12 brand-new climate fiction short stories that invite us to imagine the future we want — futures in which climate solutions flourish and we all thrive.
Climate Fiction
About Imagine 2200
Imagine 2200 is Grist’s climate fiction initiative, engaging writers across the globe in envisioning the next 180 years of climate progress. Whether built on abundance or adaptation, reform or a new understanding of survival, these stories serve as a springboard for exploring how fiction can help us build towards a better reality.
Explore past winners and collections
Latest climate fiction stories
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![Illustration of woman crying, surrounded by bioluminescent flowers]()
![Illustration of woman crying, surrounded by bioluminescent flowers]()
And Now the Shade
A bioengineer grappling with a challenging problem finds the answer in the dreams of her dying grandmother.
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![Illustration of three people working in a tea field]()
![Illustration of three people working in a tea field]()
Seven Sisters
As hard times and broken bots threaten a collective tea farm, the women keeping it going must decide whether to add another to their ranks.
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![Illustration: A Black man in tattered clothes sits atop a tree in the middle of a small island. A black bird sits next to him and an unrealistically large purple snake with yellow eyes encircles the tree.]()
![Illustration: A Black man in tattered clothes sits atop a tree in the middle of a small island. A black bird sits next to him and an unrealistically large purple snake with yellow eyes encircles the tree.]()
The Lexicographer and One Tree Island
After an “oceanic rapture,” a lone survivor adapts to his new reality in ways both mental and physical.
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![Illustration of woman and man waiting on boat, watching whale sharks swim below]()
![Illustration of woman and man waiting on boat, watching whale sharks swim below]()
By the Skin of Your Teeth
Amid the sharks and waves of Hawaiʻi, two people discover something important about themselves, and each other.
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![Illustration of Black woman surrounded by colorful fish, one overlapping with her face, aligned with where her eye would be]()
![Illustration of Black woman surrounded by colorful fish, one overlapping with her face, aligned with where her eye would be]()
The Metamorphosis of Marie Martin
A Jamaican woman takes more than she gives, until the sea teaches her a valuable lesson with implications for everyone around her.
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![Illustration of dolphins and people swimming]()
![Illustration of dolphins and people swimming]()
Tidings
Tiny robots eat plastic, tattoos livestream video, we all swim with dolphins, and more amazing vignettes from a better future.
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![Illustration with vibrant colors depicting images of a human, a Greenland shark, a doe, and an eagle, connected by water]()
![Illustration with vibrant colors depicting images of a human, a Greenland shark, a doe, and an eagle, connected by water]()
The Secrets of the Last Greenland Shark
The last four creatures on Earth make an amazing discovery as the oldest of them finally returns home.
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![Illustration of a woman sitting in a canoe amid water and vegetation]()
![Illustration of a woman sitting in a canoe amid water and vegetation]()
El, the Plastotrophs, and Me
During a journey upriver, a young couple comes to terms with receiving a priceless gift, only to have it suddenly taken away.
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![Conceptual illustration of a figure on her knees in a vertical farm. Another figure floats above her head.]()
![Conceptual illustration of a figure on her knees in a vertical farm. Another figure floats above her head.]()
When It’s Time to Harvest
An elderly couple struggles to let go of their successful farm — and the only way of life they’ve known — before it’s too late.
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![Illustration of a woman writing and looking out a window]()
![Illustration of a woman writing and looking out a window]()
A Worm to the Wise
When an aspiring journalist goes digging for a scandal, she finds a community — and a calling.
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![Imagine 2200]()
![Imagine 2200]()
Imagine 2200: The 2021 collection
Immerse yourself in 12 hope-filled stories of abundance, adaptation, and progress.
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![Illustration of two people standing in front of a barong statue]()
![Illustration of two people standing in front of a barong statue]()
The Case of the Turned Tide
Two detectives face an ethical dilemma as they solve a mystery for a corporate client with the power to improve the lives of millions.
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How Imagine 2200 came to life
A group exercise to envision a clean, just future became a climate-fiction contest to create stories of life in that future.
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![Illustration of a woman walking among spirits in a forest cemetery]()
![Illustration of a woman walking among spirits in a forest cemetery]()
The Tree in the Back Yard
A woman with a gift for communing with spirits struggles to hear her own father in a forest of the dead.
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![Cloud Weavers]()
![Cloud Weavers]()
The Cloud Weaver’s Song
In a city high above the desert, a dew harvester and her friend sacrifice everything to prove the end of the Great Drying is at hand.
