Imagine Bainbridge Island in 25 years. What do you see?

Are people eating different foods? Using different energy sources? Traveling in different ways?

Earthstory 2050, a new writing contest focused on the future of Bainbridge and Camano islands, asks residents to explore those ideas in an ecofuturistic short story. Writers are prompted to consider a future where their island has addressed a critical social, economic or environmental problem by choosing to live in a civilization that “embraces our responsibility for the health of our home and each other, where we honor the fact that we are a part of, not apart from, our Living Earth.”

The stories are limited to 3,000 words and must explain the steps the island took to achieve its harmonious reality. Submissions will be accepted until Jan. 31, 2025, and winners will be announced on Earth Day 2025, April 22. The BI contest will be judged by BI climate activist John Kydd, BI councilmember Leslie Schneider, New York Times editor and Pulitzer-prize winner Kim Murphy and national economist John Perkins.

The contests are separate and each have youth and adult categories. The best stories from both will receive a limited-edition print from Susan Cohen Thompson, a Camano artist.

“The base premise is to go deep into what we have here, to see what sort of sustainable ecological civilization we can dream up for ourselves. This invites writers to face the fundamental social inequities of the day with a visionary frame nested in the future,” Kydd said.

The contest is intended to inspire residents to think creatively about the fundamental issues that are affecting their home, and how they may be empowered to effect change. Rather than tackling the issue of affordable housing through a technical proposal, a forward-thinking story could, Kydd said.

For details go to www.earthstory2050.org/bainbridge.