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
Lepši planeta a život jako dřív
I would like the country to get right no disputes people would be good to each other and for me the most important thing animals not to die out and live freely have a beautiful life and people do not pollute the environment . That people would treat our country beautifully and respectfully and appreciate being here. I imagine life in the year 2040 so the earth will be beautiful full of beautiful and healthy nature and there will be no ugly and evil things destroying the planet so that electronics will remain as it is in this year so that they don't invent more crap , because if the world improves in technology the planet will die out stupid air and so on . I hope you understand how I wrote it
hallo
Schöne neue Welt
We have a transparent and fair legal system, without corrupt judges, where all citizens get their rights. The EU has also been restructured and corrupt politicians have just as little room there as lobbyists. The bureaucracy and bureaucracy in Germany have been successfully dismantled so that the country can breathe again and tax money can be used for social purposes. The tax system has also been simplified and everyone now only pays 15% tax, regardless of whether they are rich or poor and regardless of their legal form. And the Emperor of Bavaria is now our Federal Chancellor and his name is Markus Söder.
hallo
Konflikt
In a better future, I would like to see more greenery, because at the moment there is a lot of deforestation and nature is declining. I also hope that the current conflict in Ukraine will be resolved and that everything will turn out well and not affect our next generations visibly. I think the war that is going on is almost unnecessary. In general, I think that in theory all the current problems, whether they arise or are ongoing, could be solved.
hallo
Věda a technologie
People in 2027 started getting chipped, everything was already technologically developed. In 2030, cars started flying, so people didn't have to wait in queues, everything was faster. We started growing crickets for food, there are different farms. In 2040, scientists developed the dinosaur gene, so they started appearing and breeding them as pets.
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