Write a post-apocalyptic story triggered by climate change.

Posted in Adults on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 134 stories

“Hopeless” by Jessica Bell

Submitted to Contest #60

When people think about climate change, they think about the slow crawl of our ozone depletion. They think about the smoke pouring out of factories, the waste being dumped into our rivers and lakes. They think about the crap that spews out of cars on the highway. Some people think about the animals that lose their homes and die because of deforestation. They see images of rivers drying up, forests wilting and dying, turning into deserts. What some people notice however, are the effects that nuclear weaponry is going to have on our atmosphere...

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“The Waiting Place ” by Mark Rodseth

Submitted to Contest #60

Damian cradles his head in his hands like a heavy stone. His brow feels cold, depleted of life. Eventually, he looks up and stares at the wall opposite his bed. It flickers to life, a million pixels bursting into existence on the metallic surface. The pixels form the face of a woman. “Damian,” the voice is soft but clinical. “Welcome to your weekly consultation. How are you today?”Damian forces himself up straight, unfurling his spine. His back feels old, stiff - twenty years beyond its time. He breathes in deeply and slowly exhale...

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“An Irreversible Change” by Zoë Westlund

Submitted to Contest #60

The skies were almost a sickly yellow as the young rabbit sprinted through the forest alone. Being alone was all he had ever known really, being forced to run with the gunshots of hunters, the constant floods that seemed to come from nowhere, and the heat of the sky chasing him off from anyone that he would possibly get to know. Water is few and far between his long treks north despite the constant flooding – good water anyway – as he tried to escape the heat that always perme...

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“The American Museum of Hubris” by Danielle Pietro

Submitted to Contest #60

Welcome to the American Museum of Hubris! Established in 2092 under President Spruce Obama-Brady, this museum seeks to preserve what reminders we can of an American past plagued by exceptionalist attitudes and actions that have irrevocably shaped our present. We learn this troubled history in order to make informed decisions that, at worst, do no harm to our collective future. Ticket Prices:*Single Tickets:Adult (12+): 50 mlChild (under 12): 30 mlBaby (under 2): FreeGroup Tickets:Pod of Four: 150 mlThe American Museum of Hubris reg...

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“Sawtooth Settlement” by Donald Bluhm

Submitted to Contest #60

Jim Collins stood on a rocky outcropping and looked west into the Sawtooth Valley, a beautiful, deep coniferous green valley that he remembered as an Eden of tranquility. It had been a wonderful place to visit and maybe retire if the family left Florida, which now was history. Then he turned, once again, to look back at Buckham, Idaho, at what used to be a wonderful small town of log buildings with a million-dollar view of the Sawtooth Mountains. Was it just three years ago that he and Trudy and the three young ones had become nomads, fleein...

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“...phfft....phfft...” by Frank Lester

Submitted to Contest #60

A fog of decomposition swirled about my ankles. You could hear the earth die. Trudging through a wetland that had long ago succumbed to the poisoned atmosphere above it, I hurried to complete the survey for an atmospheric rendering station, the latest brainchild of clueless politicians and hacks to drum up business and take a slap at regenerating the planet. The heavy environmental suit I wore and the inability to see through the death fog at my feet, made walking akin to traversing a lunar landscape, a series of hops and slides. It clung ...

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“And the Heavens Weep” by Patrece Reed

Submitted to Contest #60

When the steady rains came to quench the parched earth, we rejoiced: that is, until ‘The Enlightened One’ beckoned us forth. The beckoning was not unusual. Rather, the sense of urgency superseding his typically stoic presence was.The meeting chamber was massive, suspended above-ground, nestled among the ancient trees; as were our private chambers. Strong nests of interlacing branches imparted the perfect foundation to support the dwellings built upon them.The meeting space offered several points of entry for the populace of Elderwood Keep: w...

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“Acidifieds” by Potato Pizza

Submitted to Contest #60

Your name is Yazmine Rosser. You are 16 years old, and its been 29 days since your acidification day. Your eyes became an unusual lime-green color, your blood gleams with the shade of gold, your body took the ‘DOUBLE-SPECIES’ form in the acidified chart of species, and your DNA transformed to be similar to the one you would find in a lioness and a leopardess. Almost 2 years ago, the seas and oceans were polluted with a substance that turned the water into a powerful acid that slowly started to consume the world. Everything it touches disint...

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“Words to Remember Me By” by Shaelyn Bradle

Submitted to Contest #60

The world didn’t end in fire. Nor did it end in ice. No, the world ended because of science. It started with the growing panic over climate change. Most of the world was up in arms over how the temperature was increasing, how the ozone was thinning, and how the ice caps were melting. Not that I blame them - no one really knew what was going on. Change is scary and we didn’t have the data to determine whether or not what was happening was supposed to happen, let along if it was a good thing. So the world tried to adapt to the changing c...

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“The Bellows” by Hema Nookala

Submitted to Contest #60

The ground was solid. It broke beneath my fingers but didn't blow around by gusts of wind. Good. It was the perfect condition for sensor replacement. I checked the small monitor strapped around my forearm, there were 58 displaced sensors in Tarrow Fields. I could almost hear my joints groaning under the weight of the replacement sensors in the rucksack over my shoulder. If I was lucky I could get in and out before the sun falls. Being a Seeker is a tough enough position with the sun up. I huffed, watching the wide rows of corn blow...

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“Poisoned world” by Apollo Kronfeld

Submitted to Contest #60

It just got worse and worse, till the air was poison and the world was in chaos. There are constant natural disasters. No plants or animals can survive. How did it get to this? well, that's it's own story. It started just 10 years ago. A man named Thomas Cross Became president. No one quite understands how, but he did. As soon as he was sworn in he managed to destroy our constitution. The few people who supported him let it happen. "For our government to work properly everything should go through one person," he explained in a ...

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“It never rains but it pours” by Yusuf Ahmed

Submitted to Contest #60

The white walls contrasted the mahogany flooring and table-tops. The room functioned as a kitchen and a dining room and felt too big for just three people, as if they were incomplete as a trio. Two islands existed in the room, one near the oven, which had drawers filled with chopping boards and cutlery. The other was a painted-over wooden-table; this table was square-topped and had four chairs, one at each side, with four white plates and sets of mahogany-handled silver cutlery. On the wall closest to the table hung a flat-screen TV showing ...

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“Crater” by Vincent Cruz

Submitted to Contest #60

El Restaurante del Cráter is at the center of the largest crater in Mexico. The state of Guerrero, like the entirety of the globe is in ruins, desolation, and ash. The fires that have engulfed the vegetation of the world have mostly burnt out. The old refineries and destroyed pipelines still spit out their fuel like dying dragons across charred landscapes. The sky is black, the sun, blotted into a red orb is a symbol of what has become. The human population, decimated and delivered into the state of a previous era when the hunter gatherer ru...

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“Day Zero” by Megan Walsh

Submitted to Contest #60

Ramona unwraps a piece of gum and places it on her tongue. Her fingers leave brown ovals on the inner liner of the wrapper which she notices for a second before discarding it back in her pocket. Ray lays on the rock across from her, panting like a tired old dog. In five minutes they’ll have to get back in the golf cart and pick up feces from the bison, then the bears. But for now, they enjoy the vanilla scent of ponderosa, the quiet of a sparse forest interrupted only by the caw of a wren. “Too hot,” Ray says. “Too dry,” Ramona answers. Th...

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“Pilgrim” by Finn Charlton

Submitted to Contest #60

Dawn broke across the horizon, and the light of the sun woke me from my fitful rest. I sat up in the sand, taking in the pitiful sight of my tiny campsite. Set up on what used to be a beach, sand stretched for miles where there used to be a shoreline. I was surrounded by desert where I should have been underwater, dead coral reefs rearing up in ruinous structures around me. My camp was made up of a flimsy canvas tent, a now cold campfire, and my amateur filtration set up. Water was a precious commodity, and I had long since gotten used to dr...

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Write a post-apocalyptic story triggered by climate change.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 134 stories

“Hopeless” by Jessica Bell

“The Waiting Place ” by Mark Rodseth

“An Irreversible Change” by Zoë Westlund

“The American Museum of Hubris” by Danielle Pietro

“Sawtooth Settlement” by Donald Bluhm

“...phfft....phfft...” by Frank Lester

“And the Heavens Weep” by Patrece Reed

“Acidifieds” by Potato Pizza

“Words to Remember Me By” by Shaelyn Bradle

“The Bellows” by Hema Nookala

“Poisoned world” by Apollo Kronfeld

“It never rains but it pours” by Yusuf Ahmed

“Crater” by Vincent Cruz

“Day Zero” by Megan Walsh

“Pilgrim” by Finn Charlton

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a funny post-apocalyptic story.

Write a post-apocalyptic story that features zombies.

Write a post-apocalyptic thriller.

Write a post-apocalyptic romance.

Contest #60

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

762

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: