The Imaginative Climate Change Solution

How sci-fi could help solve climate change

Zoe Sayler, February 18, 2019 (Grist)

“…Is there science fiction out there right now, sitting on some library bookshelf, that could pave a yellow brick road to a better future? And, if there isn’t, shouldn’t there be?...[W]hile dystopian fiction can be a jarring wake-up call…scholars and writers are increasingly calling for stories that help us rise above our most intimidating challenges…[We have H.G. Wells to thank for the rocket. Star Trek inspired the first mobile phone. Climate fiction could] dramatize our hopes and offer us different visions of the future…[In “Better Worlds,” The Verge’s recent series of optimistic science fiction short stories and videos, several stories] explore themes of climate and social justice…

...[Arizona State University’s] Center for Science and the Imagination has published anthologies spotlighting climate literature, optimistic sci-fi, or both, and is set to release a new anthology this spring called The Weight of Light, which pairs visions of a solar future with scientific essays that describe and analyze the premise behind the prose…[We need more big, risky, earth-shattering ideas from science fiction writers. Sci-fi author Neal Stephenson blames a dearth of forward-looking science fiction for what he calls “innovation starvation”… But does optimistic climate fiction sell?...Journalist Dan Bloom, who coined the term cli-fi in 2008…[Others think] sci-fi video games could have a positive impact…[Thunderbird Strike, a game by Elizabeth LaPensée about the harms of oil drilling,] makes an overwhelming problem feel like a game that anyone can win.” click here for more

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