Cli-Fi (climate fiction, a derivative of Sci-Fi, science fiction) was talked about objectively in 2007, although science fiction works addressing environmental issues have been published before. Cli-Fi is a very interesting subgenre of science fiction, which is based on theoretically possible or already existing technologies and scientific achievements of mankind that can dramatically ruin our lives. In ecofantasticism, the problems of a conniving attitude of a person to nature and other people are raised.
You may ask how the ecology and the cloud provider Cloud4Y are related? Well, firstly, the use of cloud technology can reduce emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere. That is, concern for the environment is present. And secondly, about interesting literature and telling is not a sin.
Reasons for the popularity of Cli-Fi
Cli-fi literature is popular. Seriously, the same Amazon even dedicated a whole section to it. And there are reasons for that.
- The first is panic . We are moving into a future that is hard to predict. It’s difficult, because we ourselves influence it. World carbon emissions have reached record levels, an abnormally high average temperature has been observed over the past four years (even the winter in Africa has become 3 ° C warmer), coral reefs are dying, and ocean levels are rising. The climate is changing, and this is a signal that it would be nice to do something to change the situation. And in order to better understand the issue and know the possible options for the development of events, you can read climate fiction.
- The second, generational . Young people are actively thinking about the importance of caring for nature. Her voice is increasingly heard in the media, and this is good, it must be supported. And it's not about often letting the now-trendy eco-activist Greta Thunberg to the rostrum, where she can violently expose everything and everyone. It is more useful for young people to read about the next Boyan Slat project, which offers real methods to protect the environment. Having become infected with his enthusiasm, the younger generation begins to study the issue in more detail, reads books (including Cli-Fi), draws conclusions.
- Third, psychological . The peculiarity of climate fiction lies in the fact that the writer can and do not exaggerate, painting a bleak future. Fear of nature and the expectation of possible consequences for a detrimental effect on it have been sitting in people for so long that it’s enough just to rub it with a fingernail. Cli-Fi uses our guilty feelings to make us want to read possible scenarios for future disasters. Post-apocalyptic is now in fashion, and Cli-Fi takes advantage of this.
Is it good? Perhaps yes. Such literature allows you to draw people's attention to those issues and problems that they did not even think about. No statistical calculations of scientists can act as effectively as a good book. The authors come up with different stories, create amazing worlds, but the key question remains unchanged: "What awaits us in the future if we do not find the strength to weaken our destructive influence on the planet?"
What books are worth paying attention to? Now we will tell.
What to read
The Margaret Atwood trilogy (Oryx and the Corncrake - Year of the Flood - Crazy Addam). The author shows us the life of the Earth after the death of the ecosystem. The reader finds himself in a devastated world where, it seems, only one person has survived, struggling for survival with difficulty. The story Atwood tells is realistic, scary, and instructive. The reader in the course of the story may notice details hinting at modern realities - the deteriorating ecology, corruption of politicians, the greed of corporations and the short-sightedness of ordinary people. These are just hints of how the history of mankind could end. But these hints scare.
Lauren Groff and her Florida short storybook are also worth your attention. The book imperceptibly, gradually touches on the topic of ecology, and the idea of ​​the importance of caring for the environment arises only after reading the sometimes difficult and hectic stories about snakes, storms and children.
The novel by American writer Barbara Kingsolver “Flight Might ” (Flight Behavior) makes the reader empathize with stories about the impact of global warming on monarch butterflies. Although the book’s speech, it would seem, is about life difficulties familiar to many in the family and in everyday life.
The Water Knife by Paolo Bachigalupi shows a world in which sudden global climate change has made water a hot commodity. Water scarcity forces some politicians to start their games by dividing spheres of influence. Sectarians are gaining more and more weight, and a young and very lively journalist is looking for trouble in especially soft places, trying to understand the water distribution system.
Eric Brown ’s novel “Sentinels of the Phoenix” has a similar idea. Nature has dealt humanity a retaliatory strike. There is great land on Earth. Few survivors fight for water sources. A small team travels to Africa in the hope of finding such a source. Will their searches be successful and what will the road teach? You will find the answer in the book.
Since we are talking about the road, I want to additionally mention the book, which made a strong impression on me. It’s called “The Road,” by Cormack McCarthy . This is not exactly Cli-Fi, although the environmental disaster and its attendant problems are present in full. Father and son go to the sea. Go to survive. No one can be trusted; the survivors are too embittered. But there remains a ray of hope that decency and honesty are still alive. You just need to find them. Will it work?
If you are interested in how environmental disaster can lead to class and racial issues, then you can read the book Tentacle by Dominican writer Rita Indiana . Not the easiest, and sometimes obsessively tolerant novel ( if anything, I warned you ) tells about the near future, where the young maid was in the center of prophecy: only she can travel in time and save the ocean and humanity from disaster. But first, she must become the person she has always been - with the help of a sacred anemone. The book is similar in spirit to the short film " White " by Sayeda Clark , in which for the sake of a safe birth of his child, a young man sacrifices ... his own skin color.
Odds Against Tomorrow by Nathaniel Rich describes the life of a young specialist who is immersed in the mathematics of disasters. He makes calculations of the worst-case events of environmental collapses, war games, natural disasters. His scripts are extremely accurate and detailed, and therefore are sold at an expensive price to corporations, as they protect them from any future disasters. One day he learns that the worst-case scenario is about to overtake Manhattan. The young man understands that he can get rich on this knowledge. But at what cost would he get this wealth?
Kim Stanley Robinson is sometimes called the genius of science fiction, obsessed with climate change. His series of three independent books entitled “Metropolitan Science” is united by the problem of environmental disasters and global warming of the planet. The action takes place in the near future, when global warming leads to massive melting of ice and a change in the Gulf Stream, which threatens the onset of a new Ice Age. Some people are fighting for the future of mankind, but there are many who, even on the verge of the demise of civilization, are concerned only with money and power.
The author tells how changing the behavior of human society can be a solution to the climate crisis. Similar thoughts are reflected in the recent and most popular work of Robinson: "New York 2140." People here live a normal life, only in unusual conditions. Indeed, due to climatic changes, the metropolis was almost completely under water. Each skyscraper has become an island, and people live on the upper floors of buildings. The year 2140 was not chosen by chance. Scientists predict that during this period the level of the world's oceans will rise so much that it will flood many cities.
Whitley Strieber (he is also sometimes called crazy, but for another reason: he seriously assures that he was abducted by aliens) in the novel The Coming World Super Storm shows the world after a general cooling. Mass melting of glaciers leads to the fact that the temperature of the oceans does not increase, but rather decreases sharply. The climate on Earth is starting to change. Weather disasters follow one after another, and it becomes increasingly difficult to survive. Based on this book, by the way, they shot the film "The Day After Tomorrow".
All books listed above are more or less modern. If you want more classical literature, then I recommend looking in the direction of the British writer James Graham Ballard and his novel Wind From Nowhere. Quite a Cli-Fi story about how civilization is dying due to the persistent winds of hurricane forces. If you like it, there is a sequel: the novels The Sunken World, which tells about the melting of ice at the poles of the Earth and sea level rise, as well as The Burned World, where a surreal arid landscape reigns, which was formed due to industrial pollution that disrupts the precipitation cycle .
It is likely that you also came across Cli-Fi novels that you found interesting. Share in the comments?
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