Once upon a time, a woman was hired to infiltrate a group of environmental activists who lived in a series of shared homes and apartments and trailers in the Pacific Northwest.
A climate change novel that really addresses climate change and proposes solutions is Kim Stanley Robinson's The Ministry for the Future. The thing is, while it's fascinating and terrifying and even hopeful -- it's not really a very good novel, and I'm not sure it wants to be. I think it wants to be a call to action, and it's pretty good that that.
There was definitely a time to write call to action novels! But now, in 2024, do we believe in action on climate change? Just seems like such an unbelievably remote possibility.
I do think climate fiction is moving in a good direction, as evidenced by the rise of subgenres like “hopepunk” and “solarpunk”: https://lithub.com/hopepunk-and-solarpunk-on-climate-narratives-that-go-beyond-the-apocalypse/. Unlike the Black Death, addressing climate change seems within our grasp, and I think climate change has a role to play in combatting the apocalyptic media narrative.
I talked a bit about optimism and pessimism in climate fiction w/ a climate activist in this podcast episode!
I largely agree but would amend to say it's impossible to write a good novel about climate dystopia -- the topic is played out and demoralizing -- but climate change itself as a topic is ripe for interesting ideas and stories. As in, how people react to and respond to the problem in an agentic way. I wrote more about this here: https://climatefictionwritersleague.substack.com/p/how-to-write-climate-fiction-without
in that essay I don't dive too much into the types of stories about climate change I don't like -- partially because I'm trying to put into practice my philosophy of focusing on the positive. But I do have many more opinions about climate fiction that doesn't work, lol. Another frustrating trend I've seen lately is books that claim to be about global warming/climate change but are just... not. Climate change just happens to be in the background and mentioned in a shruggie-emotion sort of way, without having any bearing on the plot or characters.
My impression of climate change in narrative (I'm thinking mainly of Don't Look Up, the Netflix film, which is very much Not Good) is that it slides into the same tone as the stories a bad parent tells their child in order to get them to knock it off (whatever 'it' might be).
Like, for example, if a child is constantly getting up in the night, the parent might lose it and, throwing out all regard for the psychological wellbeing of their child, might say something like "there's a monster in the hall, if you wake up and leave your room in the night it's going to eat you." These stories don't come from a place of inspiration, they come from one of exasperation. I don't doubt that the people who make them think we need to do something about these problems. I don't think they're all misanthropes. But it is a topic that veers so deeply into the abstract -- what if there were no humans *at all* -- that it loses the proper range for a story and becomes a kind of noise.
I think if there were to be a good climate change novel, it couldn't be just *a* novel, but would have to be a novel cycle, something in the line of Zola. You have to conjure up a whole human climate to counter the global climate.
But with climate change...the monster might be there! Like, it's not impossible that modern technological civilization could end because of climate change. If people genuinely don't think that's possible then I think they're fooling themselves.
My experience reading all about this topic for my October newsletter led me to similar conclusions, based on CREATION LAKE, PARABLE OF THE SOWER and also THE MONKEY WRENCH GANG. BIRNAM WOOD was a better experience because Eleanor Catton put the story first and showed how all the different actors had some similar human motivations and the story depended on small choices each character made in relation to each other propelled the chaos— leaving open the possibility that things could have turned out differently.
I agree that Birnam Wood was the best eco-terrorist-y (don't need to spoil it too much) of any of these books. Catton really cares about story. There's plenty of characters that use smartphones and the internet, but in a way that isn't so actively distracting and insistent as many recent books "about" phones and the internet. Books "about" phones and the internet are all mediocre to bad.
The ending was slightly annoying in its all-the-pieces-are-now-coming-into-place-ness, but she definitely answers Naomi's critique in other newsletters that authors of literary genre fiction just leave things unresolved to be artful.
If Rachel Kushner had wanted to write a novel about climate change or American activism, she would indeed have failed. But she didn’t. She wrote a book about a disgraced FBI agent who has left the US and is paid by unknown clients to infiltrate a small group of French environmental activists in rural France while spying on a corrupt French sub-minister ; and the emotional journey she makes towards a personal change. The builders of magabassines and their opponents aren’t even really arguing about climate change: they are debating two types of farming - small farmers vs corporate farmers - and their access to resources.
As for climate change novels - I agree. They are more difficult to write than climate change is to reverse. The subject is so vast, it’s hard to contain in a single novel. Sixty years ago, J.G. Ballard made a decent fist of it with The Drowned World. If it’s a failure, it’s an honourable one and a jolly good read.
Nowadays, most realistic writers explore the effects of climate change and the anxiety it provokes on a character or group of characters. Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behavior does that. I was reminded of it when the disaster in Asheville and the NC mountains struck recently. Clear cutting probably had something to do with it, as in Kingsolver’s novel.
I love how probable your story is-- except for the part where Terra and Girard are actually competent enough to pull off a series of judge hits. The depressing incompetence of radicals is one reason I never veered too far into their world. If you can't clean a kitchen, how are you going to arrange an assassination? A new world is possible? Yeah, one where every couch smells musty.
I agree that these two people would be unlikely to manage this op in real life, just because in practice--it's very hard to kill people, unless you're sick or you have an organization in place to encourage you to do it. If two people could really maintain cohesion and not talk to other people about it, I think they _could_ get away with doing these hits, but two people who were able to do that would likely be sick in other ways that would make them fall apart.
A climate change novel that really addresses climate change and proposes solutions is Kim Stanley Robinson's The Ministry for the Future. The thing is, while it's fascinating and terrifying and even hopeful -- it's not really a very good novel, and I'm not sure it wants to be. I think it wants to be a call to action, and it's pretty good that that.
Yea same thoughts. Edifying and inspiring, but not a great plot outside the first few chapters
There was definitely a time to write call to action novels! But now, in 2024, do we believe in action on climate change? Just seems like such an unbelievably remote possibility.
I do think climate fiction is moving in a good direction, as evidenced by the rise of subgenres like “hopepunk” and “solarpunk”: https://lithub.com/hopepunk-and-solarpunk-on-climate-narratives-that-go-beyond-the-apocalypse/. Unlike the Black Death, addressing climate change seems within our grasp, and I think climate change has a role to play in combatting the apocalyptic media narrative.
I talked a bit about optimism and pessimism in climate fiction w/ a climate activist in this podcast episode!
https://synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/p/i-climate-fiction-w-isaac-olson
If there's a climate novel that won't make me horrendously depressed, I'd be happy to hear about it.
it’s not the most gripping novel in the world but “a half-built garden” by ruthanna emrys scratched that itch for me
I largely agree but would amend to say it's impossible to write a good novel about climate dystopia -- the topic is played out and demoralizing -- but climate change itself as a topic is ripe for interesting ideas and stories. As in, how people react to and respond to the problem in an agentic way. I wrote more about this here: https://climatefictionwritersleague.substack.com/p/how-to-write-climate-fiction-without
in that essay I don't dive too much into the types of stories about climate change I don't like -- partially because I'm trying to put into practice my philosophy of focusing on the positive. But I do have many more opinions about climate fiction that doesn't work, lol. Another frustrating trend I've seen lately is books that claim to be about global warming/climate change but are just... not. Climate change just happens to be in the background and mentioned in a shruggie-emotion sort of way, without having any bearing on the plot or characters.
My impression of climate change in narrative (I'm thinking mainly of Don't Look Up, the Netflix film, which is very much Not Good) is that it slides into the same tone as the stories a bad parent tells their child in order to get them to knock it off (whatever 'it' might be).
Like, for example, if a child is constantly getting up in the night, the parent might lose it and, throwing out all regard for the psychological wellbeing of their child, might say something like "there's a monster in the hall, if you wake up and leave your room in the night it's going to eat you." These stories don't come from a place of inspiration, they come from one of exasperation. I don't doubt that the people who make them think we need to do something about these problems. I don't think they're all misanthropes. But it is a topic that veers so deeply into the abstract -- what if there were no humans *at all* -- that it loses the proper range for a story and becomes a kind of noise.
I think if there were to be a good climate change novel, it couldn't be just *a* novel, but would have to be a novel cycle, something in the line of Zola. You have to conjure up a whole human climate to counter the global climate.
But with climate change...the monster might be there! Like, it's not impossible that modern technological civilization could end because of climate change. If people genuinely don't think that's possible then I think they're fooling themselves.
Your story reminded me of Overstory, which was both readable and kinda worked in making me care more about trees. So it’s possible?
I should consider reading that one
Does this mean I should be using my political distress to write something ridiculously horny?
Harrow
by Joy Williams great climate book I’d say. it’s all so painfully sad though
This is pretty good https://www.simonandschuster.com.au/books/Unsheltered/Clare-Moleta/9781761104886
T.C. Boyle has written at least two very good climate change novels, A FRIEND OF THE EARTH in 2000 and his 2023 book, BLUE SKIES.
My experience reading all about this topic for my October newsletter led me to similar conclusions, based on CREATION LAKE, PARABLE OF THE SOWER and also THE MONKEY WRENCH GANG. BIRNAM WOOD was a better experience because Eleanor Catton put the story first and showed how all the different actors had some similar human motivations and the story depended on small choices each character made in relation to each other propelled the chaos— leaving open the possibility that things could have turned out differently.
I agree that Birnam Wood was the best eco-terrorist-y (don't need to spoil it too much) of any of these books. Catton really cares about story. There's plenty of characters that use smartphones and the internet, but in a way that isn't so actively distracting and insistent as many recent books "about" phones and the internet. Books "about" phones and the internet are all mediocre to bad.
The ending was slightly annoying in its all-the-pieces-are-now-coming-into-place-ness, but she definitely answers Naomi's critique in other newsletters that authors of literary genre fiction just leave things unresolved to be artful.
Yes, that ending was unbelievable!
If Rachel Kushner had wanted to write a novel about climate change or American activism, she would indeed have failed. But she didn’t. She wrote a book about a disgraced FBI agent who has left the US and is paid by unknown clients to infiltrate a small group of French environmental activists in rural France while spying on a corrupt French sub-minister ; and the emotional journey she makes towards a personal change. The builders of magabassines and their opponents aren’t even really arguing about climate change: they are debating two types of farming - small farmers vs corporate farmers - and their access to resources.
As for climate change novels - I agree. They are more difficult to write than climate change is to reverse. The subject is so vast, it’s hard to contain in a single novel. Sixty years ago, J.G. Ballard made a decent fist of it with The Drowned World. If it’s a failure, it’s an honourable one and a jolly good read.
Nowadays, most realistic writers explore the effects of climate change and the anxiety it provokes on a character or group of characters. Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behavior does that. I was reminded of it when the disaster in Asheville and the NC mountains struck recently. Clear cutting probably had something to do with it, as in Kingsolver’s novel.
I love how probable your story is-- except for the part where Terra and Girard are actually competent enough to pull off a series of judge hits. The depressing incompetence of radicals is one reason I never veered too far into their world. If you can't clean a kitchen, how are you going to arrange an assassination? A new world is possible? Yeah, one where every couch smells musty.
I agree that these two people would be unlikely to manage this op in real life, just because in practice--it's very hard to kill people, unless you're sick or you have an organization in place to encourage you to do it. If two people could really maintain cohesion and not talk to other people about it, I think they _could_ get away with doing these hits, but two people who were able to do that would likely be sick in other ways that would make them fall apart.
Had to look up when 'The Drowned World' was published, still slightly taken aback that it was 1962.
Is the para you quote in footnote 2 representative of the rest of the book? If so, I'll give it a miss.
More or less.
I am a Ballard fan, but I never actually read that one!