Why Write Climate Fiction?
Science fiction has long served as a catalyst for real-world innovation. It’s said that Star Trek inspired the mobile phone; Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy presaged the e-book reader; Ender’s Game the tablet. We owe many modern inventions to the imaginative leaps taken by sci-fi writers. And since sci-fi writers extrapolate from the technology available at the time of writing, it can also be said that technology serves as a catalyst for sci-fi innovation. Both drive each other.
(What Is a Cli-Fi Novel, and What Are Some Examples?)
As the genre of climate fiction (cli-fi) emerges, crafting speculative solutions to the world’s most pressing crisis comes with added responsibility. When it comes to the climate, fiction can influence reality in profound and potentially dangerous ways.
In 2021, Alex Blechman wrote a wonderful viral tweet that still makes me chuckle:
Sci-Fi Author: In my book I invented the Torment Nexus as a cautionary tale
Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don’t Create The Torment Nexus
But it made me think: What if the sci-fi author invented a cautionary tale about the potential ravages of climate change if left unaddressed, that used technological solutions that, if implemented for real, caused more harm than good?
In January 2023, the Washington Post reported on an entrepreneur who, after reading Neal Stephenson’s cli-fi bestseller Termination Shock, took it upon himself to conduct solar geo-engineering experiments, firing sulfur into the atmosphere in an attempt to lower global temperatures. Mexico soon banned such tests on their soil, but how can any nation really stop a determined actor? Someone could launch a unilateral climate intervention that, for better or worse, would affect the entire world for years to come, a theme recently explored in Apple TV’s series, Extrapolations.
The climate, after all, is interconnected. It transcends the man-made borders that divide us. If countries can’t agree on strategies to address the crisis, we risk paralysis and catastrophe. There is no single, obvious fix akin to banning CFCs to heal the ozone layer. Tackling climate change will require a multitude of approaches, pursued in concert, many of which challenge the status quo.
Cli-fi writers thus have a vital role to play in envisioning paths forward while also needing to be careful about the seeds we plant. Like sci-fi authors whose tales foreshadow technological breakthroughs, they can help us glimpse possible futures shaped by climate action—or inaction. And just as sci-fi has inspired real-world invention, cli-fi has the power to spur policy, investment, and entrepreneurship aimed at averting the worst outcomes of a warming world.
The best science fiction isn’t about predicting the future, but examining the human condition through a speculative lens.
I believe part of the role of speculative fiction is helping us see the greatest challenges of our time through the lens of tomorrow. Humankind has a tendency to ignore daunting truths until they are too big to ignore, and sci-fi helps us confront them through stories that make this more palatable because we see them through the eyes of others. In 1984, for example, Orwell highlighted the dangers of totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and the manipulation of language and truth, themes that have stayed incredibly relevant in the 75 years since he wrote it.
Climate change is arguably the most daunting existential threat humanity has ever confronted. What makes this challenge particularly formidable is the fact that a significant, powerful, and vocal segment of our population sees the threat as a matter of personal belief or political ideology. Populist politicians, and disinformation over social media, have made all this far, far worse, and seeing the division in the way we dealt with the pandemic, as a species, could not have made it more stark: This undermines our collective ability to take action.
Check out Thomas R. Weaver’s Artificial Wisdom here:
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When I set out to write my own cli-fi novel, Artificial Wisdom, I was interested in grappling with the moral dilemmas and existential questions the crisis poses. If we had to trade some freedoms to survive as a species, would we? If an artificial superintelligence offered a path to salvation, would we place our fate in its hands? There are no tidy answers, but by raising the issues, I hoped to spur the kind of reflection and discussion that might inform real-world choices down the line.
That, I believe, is the core purpose of cli-fi: not to preach or prescribe, but to illuminate the human stakes of the climate crisis and empower us to write a better ending. The genre’s ultimate aim should be to make itself obsolete—to help bring about a future where the climate emergency is no longer the stuff of nightmarish speculation, but a historic challenge we rose to meet.
Getting there will take more than artful storytelling, of course. We need sustained, collective action on a global scale. But by sketching visions of possible tomorrows, cli-fi can fire imaginations and foster the sense of urgency needed to drive transformative change.
I recently came across a social media post that encapsulated the unique responsibility cli-fi writers bear. It read:
Substitute “Torment Nexus” with any number of well-meaning but potentially catastrophic climate interventions, and you can see why it’s critical that cli-fi writers craft their tales with care, foregrounding the hard realities and unintended consequences that might ensue if their scenarios leapt from page to real life.
At the same time, we can’t shy from envisioning solutions. The Jurassic Park franchise, for all its dystopian undertones, has helped inspire projects like Colossal Biosciences’ efforts to resurrect the woolly mammoth in hopes of restoring Siberian grasslands and keeping permafrost greenhouse gases locked away. If brought to fruition, such initiatives could be game-changers.
Balancing aspiration with caution, hope with humility, is essential as we imagine our way out of the climate crisis. So is the courage to look unblinkingly at the civilizational crossroads before us. No other storytelling mode is better suited to the task than cli-fi. As the 21st century unfolds and the plots of our tomorrows grow ever more improbable, the genre’s greatest chapter may be just beginning.
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