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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#90: Down to Earth

On April 22nd 1970, the first Earth Day was celebrated in the US. More than 50 years later, this annual event unites millions across the globe, as we turn our attention towards climate action and building a safer home for ourselves and all life on Earth.

Earth Day provides an opportunity for each of us to reflect on our relationship with the planet — and what better way to do that than by writing about it? Whether you follow in the footsteps of the Romantics, who believed in the rehabilitating powers of nature, or the SFF giants whose dystopian novels have long forewarned the demise of Earth Prime, let’s join in the spirit of Earth Day and get closer to nature with this week’s prompts!

This week's prompts

Write a story that weaves together multiple lives through their connection to a particular tree.

Spring – 246 stories

Write a story in which an endangered species (of plant or animal) plays a central role.

Middle School – 94 stories

Set your story in a world living with the consequences of a climate apocalypse.

Science Fiction – 133 stories

Write about a community that worships Mother Nature.

Summer – 82 stories

Start your story with someone sitting on a crowded train and end it with them looking out over beautiful natural scenery.

Spring – 258 stories

Stories

“Pandemic Bliss” by Julia Abelsohn

Submitted to Contest #90

The train is so crowded it’s hard to believe that we are still in the midst of a pandemic. The mask-wearing people are all engrossed in their electronic devices and hardly making any eye contact at all so other than the noise of the train, it’s quiet. It’s hard to communicate with the masks on and if you want to be heard over the din of the train you have to shout which is not considered socially acceptable now at all. I’m traveling home to visit my father. When my mother phoned yesterday to tell me that he’d had a fall, I was worrie...

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“Smoke the Hive” by S.D. Siegel

Submitted to Contest #90

Dust settled in thick moats on the river, running sluggish like honey. In a month, rain would stop diluting it and it would become the type of mud you could never pull your feet out of without losing a boot. Gwen and Fran rode a four-wheeler over a creaking wooden bridge, electric engine humming with effort. They were coming from the sun-stricken forest into the scrubland hauling dead wood back for tomorrow's smoke. Dirt kicked up behind the vehicle as they sped across the arid landscape. Over mounds of dry grass the only patches of green th...

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“ Everything is Poison, Everything is Medicine” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #90

“How beautiful!” Karen exclaimed, looking over the valley stretched before them. The sun topped distant mountains. Layers of mist still settled in the hollows. She looked at her children, Tim and Amy, straddling their bikes.“This is why I wanted to get out today. You can’t see this on a phone screen.”Tim nodded, though his expression betrayed doubt.“Looks like there’s a meadow there. Let’s ride down and check it out. Maybe picnic there.”Karen rode down the fire road trailed by eleven year-old Tim and seven year-old Amy. The girl wobbled a bi...

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“Too much is never enough” by Blue Green

Submitted to Contest #90

Tanya leaned against the metal frame supporting the glass viewing window, her weight resting on her arms folded in front of her, her forehead pressed lightly against the cool glass. She had been observing the creatures for months now, measuring, monitoring, sampling, and to her great regret also dissecting and probing these creatures. Molecular analysis, DNA sequencing, structural genomic breakdown, she had tried everything, and still they weren’t giving away their secrets. She sighed, pushing herself up heavily, then walked to her stool and...

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“Little Things ” by Isabelle Saadatmand

Submitted to Contest #90

“Sarah!” My mother managed to say through her coughing, though her words were muffled by the barrier. “Sarah I can’t breathe! Let me in!” She banged on the walls but the glass is too thick, too strong. I wanted to let her in, to save her, to save my little brother and my father and my best friend and my dog who we had just adopted from the shelter a few weeks back. Tears ran down my face as I pleaded with the others inside to open the door just one last time to let my mother in. The others were far off and ...

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“Weeping Willow” by H.Q. Wakefield

Submitted to Contest #90

I was the weeping willow in your backyard. When your parents first moved in, your father stepped out into the yard and squinted against the sunlight. “That tree will probably come down,” he said. “It takes up half the yard space and it looks sad.” “I like it,” your mother said. She was standing in the opening of the backdoor, on the threshold between the house and the deck. Her hand rested protectively on her round belly. “There won’t be room for a jungle gym,” your father countered. He turned his back to me and faced your mother...

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“ THE WEAVING OF TREES” by Opher 51 2022 REYES

Submitted to Contest #90

"Quite a while past, there carried on an individual who consistently attempted to help individuals of his town. "At the point when the older folks could presently don't chase for themselves, he would bring them food. "A youthful couple getting hitched could depend on him to help make their tipi shafts and accumulate the shrouds expected to cover their hotel. "On the off chance that a youngster's family was executed, he would take that kid in and raise it as his own. "Furthermore, there were a lot more great de...

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“The Root of All Suffering” by Sharmila Shankarkumar

Submitted to Contest #90

Let it not be said that nothing good ever came of a case of the runs, as on the morning that Manoj Singh hitched up his dhoti, pulled down his underpants and squatted at the edge of a field in Bodh Gaya, bare bottom kissing the air, to release the putrid contents of his small intestine, amongst other excreta, a seed was also expelled and a tree was born. Later on, people would make all kinds of grand claims about this tree. That it had been planted when Hanuman, the monkey god, made a pit stop to pick up a flower when flying Sita around. Tha...

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“The Meaning of Life” by Roxanne-Lou AMINIAN

Submitted to Contest #90

When I was little girl, I didn't want to be a firefighter because I considered that their big ladder on their big red truck was way too short to reach for the stars. When I was little, I wanted to become an astronaut. The vastness of space fascinated me, and from the age of five, I knew by heart the eight planets of the solar system, nine, if we counted Pluto. This obsession shaped my life until I was ten years old. My parents were very happy, because, thanks to this superb carrot (without the stick), they made me learn everything they...

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“The Cheeky Possum and the Bush Fire Triangle” by Dana Melody

Submitted to Contest #90

Possum was sunning himself on a branch enjoying a ray of the winter sun. He rubbed his furry belly as the sun’s warmth coated him like a blanket. Just as he was about to stretch and go to sleep, a lizard rushed passed. Possum turned over onto his four feet and chased Lizard along the branch wondering what he was in such a hurry for. “Lizard”, he said, “what’s the rush? Why have you climbed so high up the tree? Are you ok? Can I help? Are you in danger?” Lizard stopped and as he turned to Possum, he was puffing so hard. Lizards don’t often cl...

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“The Bravest Whale Alive” by Amy Utami

Submitted to Contest #90

Dear Mr. Adventure, I am Brevicauda*, the mightiest and the bravest whale alive. As wise advice given by my buddy, Bottlenose, I decided to write you a letter. the one and only in water, air, and land that wise enough to answer all of my questions, I know Mr. Adventure, it’s hard to find you. Because only one with the bravest soul can touch you, but I believe I have it. So, I think this letter will find its way to you. Before that let me tell you a story about me and my brave journey. Although sometimes Bottlenose said that it was the stup...

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“The Lost Girls” by Christine Kopp

Submitted to Contest #90

She didn’t decide to go until the last moment, sitting in the car line waiting to drop off the boys before heading into work. It washed over her, that sudden tsunami of need, and she phoned into the office, fingers shaking as she punched the lurid green contact on her screen, citing an unforeseen family emergency, and Beth Ann, always so suspicious of sudden sick days, didn't even pause to question the urgency in her voice when she told her to go, take care of whatever was needed.The drive to her childhood home was as familiar and interminab...

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“My letter to the world” by Y. W

Submitted to Contest #90

Dear who ever’s reading this, How did we get to a point in life where we have to wear gas masks to survive? When did it become a norm to fight for food and survival? How did the books I've read every night about dystopian wasteland become my reality? How did the survival of the fittest become our lives? Those were all questions I think about daily as I fight for my survival and place in this dying world. It was utterly ridiculous how I - no we as a world got to a point in life where these were the norms, where these gas masks were mandat...

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“Lost ” by 日宁

Submitted to Contest #90

"I'm so sorry, excuse me! Excuse me, sorry," I tapped a man on the shoulder and asked him to move. "Sorry miss," He scooched over and I walked past him. "Thank you!" I thanked him, making my way back to my train seat. This was already the 7th business trip, and it had only been 3 months. COVID ended, and everybody was allowed to go back to work. Luckily for many others, that didn't mean "business trip." Business trips used to be exciting, because I was allowed to explore and travel while I worked. After a while, I noticed that the lu...

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“Unlikely Stranger” by Jennifer Burrows

Submitted to Contest #90

The sun warped off the land in waves of heat, sending the arms of a dry, dead tree shimmering in the distance. Some days were cooler, but today was a close cousin to hades. Through scalding heavy downpours and heat spells, we climbed from the south in search of a place cool enough to exist long term. It was Dad’s idea to hide in the shade of Terrible Mountain. We lived because of him. Not much else survived. A cockroach skittered across my boot. Nothing killed them, not even the end of the world. I couldn’t squish him...

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$50

Prize money

813

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 23, 2021 EST

Won by Nina Chyll 🏆

Title: The Tree Surgeon's Dictionary

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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