In 2025, the second pandemic of that decade spread rapidly around the world. H5N1 led to devastation for farmed and wild animals, and the food chain, as a result. Governments worldwide came together to do what they hadn't done for covid - implement mitigation measures including isolation, testing, vaccination and, most importantly, improved indoor air quality. Looking back, it seems incredible that we breathed each other's exhaled air for hours on end, trying to work and learn in stuffy, unventilated spaces as the CO2 increased. Kids missed so much school, and adults missed so much work - things are so different now. We know that viruses, pollutants and mold float around in the air but that it's easy to remove them, and now kids, who are much more affected by dirty air due to their body size, are much healthier. We also know that whilst germs do help our immune systems learn, there are no viruses that are good for us, and we'd never knowingly allow them to spread as they can cause long term illnesses and immune dysfunction. This is what we learned from covid, and hopefully we will have cures for all the illnesses it caused (before we eradicated it) soon. Around the world, indoor and outdoor air quality have improved so much, and the heating of the planet now seems like something we might be able to slow down, because we know governments can work together for the benefit of their citizens, especially since we banned billionaireism and put all their money to good use.

2040 is not so bad.

One day in Europe in 2050 In the morning, the sunlight slowly filtered through my window. The streets of Budapest were silent as self-driving electric vehicles glided silently over the green plant-strewn roads. The energy came entirely from renewable sources, with houses powered by their own solar panels and wind turbines. In the last twenty-five years, Europe has been radically transformed. The fight against the climate crisis has been a success: industry has gone green, cities have been managed by smart systems that have reduced waste and optimised resource use.