top of page

Beneath the Glass Skies

Anonymous

March 19, 2025

Beneath the Glass Skies

This image was generated with Dream Studio AI.

By 2040, Earth was unrecognizable. The scars of climate change had etched themselves across every continent. Rising seas had swallowed parts of coastal cities, while droughts and wildfires claimed once fertile lands. The Earth, though still beautiful, now bore an eerie, fractured majesty—an intricate mix of human resilience and nature's unrelenting wrath.

In New London, a sprawling megacity built atop the ruins of old London, a young woman named Lena tightened her augmented reality glasses and stepped outside. Above her, glass domes shimmered, shielding the city from the temperamental weather outside—acid rain, superstorms, and the occasional suffocating heatwave. These domes, known as Climate Bubbles, had become humanity's final defense against an environment it could no longer control.

Lena paused at the edge of the dome’s district barrier, watching workers in exoskeleton suits reinforce its joints. Beyond the translucent wall lay the Blightlands, a wasteland of dead soil, skeletal trees, and the ruins of smaller towns long abandoned. The land was barren, save for the scavenger drones zipping around to recover rare metals from old tech and the occasional crew of climate engineers planting carbon-absorbing bio-machines disguised as moss.

Life inside the domes was far from perfect. The air was clean, water was drinkable, and food was plentiful, though most of it came from vertical farms that spiraled skyward in shades of green and silver. But the economy was tightly controlled, dominated by mega-corporations that had stepped in to do what governments couldn't during the late 2020s. The tech giant Solaris ran everything from energy grids to public AI, its CEO seen as a messiah to some and a tyrant to others.

related stories

hallo
Mugavus
Life is comfortable - children have reached upper secondary school age and live at home only on weekends. Quietly independent. It is good to look at the children's independence and remember the kma youth rush. Life has moved away from social media. Real communication is once again important because online life tends to remain in the background. Direct communication is valued and technology plays a routine role in our lives, doing data analytics and most of the ‘excel-based work’ for us. The creative part is our end to do
hallo
Energoefektivitāte
I want to think in the future not only about vision, but as much as possible to fulfil it and how it will affect people of all layers, not only the rich. Thinking of the CO2 and energy sectors does not steer blindly in the same direction, but leaves people a choice. There are internal combustion engine cars available that are not oppressed and are not imposed and lobbied by electric cars, as the salvation of the planet. In the production of electricity, modern electric power reactors are being built that are capable of producing the necessary electricity efficiently.
hallo
Atsigavimas
It's hard to predict what the future might be like in today's world, but I hope that thanks to science, technology, business and charismatic and intelligent heads of state, European and American states will prosper, recovering from the 2022-2027 political strife, military conflicts, armaments and tensions over the threat of attack. I believe that countries will live in the "golden age" of scientific progress and economics.
hallo
Nameti države
Bolja budućnost za mene nisi financijsku neovisnost. Privatni posao, odgovaram za svoje uspjehe i greške, ne podliježem autoritetu, brinem za svoju obitelj i opskrbljujem ju sa svim potrebnim stvarima. Kako bi to sve bilo izvedivo treba premostiti sve poreze,prireze i ostale namete koje država stavlja na teret malim poduzetnicima,a to je isključivo na njima da smanje. Njihovi nameti su svakim danom sve nedostižniji i sve veći.
Join #OurFutures now!

The future is shaped by our ideas and our actions today. Tell us about your visions of the future and help us create a futures narrative aimed at inspiring citizens, policy-makers and foresight experts alike!

Our-futures-banner-coloured_v3.jpg

The European Commission support does not constitute endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained.

ERA_logo.jpg

We support the European Research Area aimed at creating a single, borderless market for research, innovation and technology in the EU.

©OurFutures 2025, All rights reserved.

  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
bottom of page