The 2024 Imagine climate fiction contest
12 brand-new climate fiction short stories feature vivid, hope-filled, diverse visions of climate progress. Discover this year's winning stories now.
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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![Abstract illustration of a person looking up amidst underwater plants, with whales in the background]()
![Abstract illustration of a person looking up amidst underwater plants, with whales in the background]()
The power of climate fiction and the ethos of Imagine 2200
A note from Grist's Imagine 2200 creative manager on the importance of hopeful, authentic climate fiction storytelling.
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![Illustration in dark, muted colors shows a man and a woman standing outside a run down building covered in vines]()
![Illustration in dark, muted colors shows a man and a woman standing outside a run down building covered in vines]()
When We Are Ruins, Dance on Us
It’s been over a century since anyone has stepped foot in the former Supreme Court of Singapore. The building isn’t pleased.
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![An illustration shows a teen girl dressed in 1960s attire, with '60s memorabilia around her. In the foreground, her father looks back at her with concern. In the background, dilapidated houses are swallowed by the sea.]()
![An illustration shows a teen girl dressed in 1960s attire, with '60s memorabilia around her. In the foreground, her father looks back at her with concern. In the background, dilapidated houses are swallowed by the sea.]()
Replay Boomer
With climate change making the future look bleak, a father struggles to understand his teen’s participation in a movement of young people intent on reliving the past.
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![An illustration with a soft color palette. A Black man in the water wrestles with a sturgeon fish in a net. A white man looks on from a boat.]()
![An illustration with a soft color palette. A Black man in the water wrestles with a sturgeon fish in a net. A white man looks on from a boat.]()
You Only Love Rivers That Kill You
Two young men navigate grief and rivers in a Kansas City that is showing signs of healing from climate change, toxic contamination, and racism.
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![Grid of four Imagine 2200 story illustrations for]()
![Grid of four Imagine 2200 story illustrations for]()
Listen: Climate fiction to imagine a better world
Immerse yourself in these short audio cli-fi stories, from our Imagine 2200 initiative, and find hope in unexpected places.
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![Illustration of a young South Asian man holding an antique brass horn that once was mounted on a ship. He stands against a vibrant backdrop of swirling colors.]()
![Illustration of a young South Asian man holding an antique brass horn that once was mounted on a ship. He stands against a vibrant backdrop of swirling colors.]()
Sweet Water From Salt
A grieving son protects his family’s beehives as he steers them home aboard his parents’ ship.
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![Illustration of a man on a jet ski. He is looking at a faded pink hotel that just pokes up above the water's surface.]()
![Illustration of a man on a jet ski. He is looking at a faded pink hotel that just pokes up above the water's surface.]()
Ocean Bikies Take Cyclone Season
Despite rising seas, a band of coastal-dwelling Goori honor their traditions surfing monster waves.
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![Illustration of a young Maori man sitting on the roof of a shipping container home.]()
![Illustration of a young Maori man sitting on the roof of a shipping container home.]()
Starlight Is Kinda Bright
On the day he is to marry, the son of a Māori chief questions his place in his community.
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![A futuristically dressed Black woman holds a basket of fruit and looks down at a picnic scene below. Wind turbines float in the air and a city can be seen in the distance.]()
![A futuristically dressed Black woman holds a basket of fruit and looks down at a picnic scene below. Wind turbines float in the air and a city can be seen in the distance.]()
Imagine 2200: The 2022 collection
Read the winning stories from our second-annual short story contest, envisioning the next 180 years of equitable climate progress.
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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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![A futuristically dressed Black woman holds a basket of fruit and looks down at a picnic scene below. Wind turbines float in the air and a city can be seen in the distance.]()
![A futuristically dressed Black woman holds a basket of fruit and looks down at a picnic scene below. Wind turbines float in the air and a city can be seen in the distance.]()
We are what we nurture
Imagine 2200's second year offers lessons on how art fosters hope.
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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: 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 Black mother and daughter holding hands, surrounded by rain clouds and waves]()
![Illustration of Black mother and daughter holding hands, surrounded by rain clouds and waves]()
The World Away From the Rain
In post-warming Rwanda, a family learns to move past the trauma left behind.
