鈥淓VERYTHING is happening way faster than it happens in The Ministry for the Future,鈥� says Kim Stanley Robinson of his latest novel, set in a world where an international agency is tasked with fighting for future generations on climate change. That vision was imagined mostly in 2018, which the US science fiction writer says now feels like 鈥渁nother geological age鈥� because so much has happened, from Donald Trump鈥檚 election defeat to the covid-19 pandemic.
鈥淐limate change seems to be the main topic on the table now, with all the storms, droughts, fires, freezings 鈥� the climate weirdness that has begun and looks like it will never cease in our lifetimes,鈥� he says. Stanley Robinson 鈥� or Stan as he is often known 鈥� has repeatedly tackled climate change in his work, which is studded with heroic scientists and nods to scientific papers. His focus has increasingly moved beyond the problem of a rapidly warming world to what we should do about it. New York 2140, his 2017 novel, is a salutary warning of the risk of a drowned world if free market economics keep trumping the environment.
hops from Switzerland to India and Antarctica as it mulls every climate fix imaginable, from the titular agency to legal and financial incentives, all the way to activists who are so desperate that they resort to extremism.
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Real-world versions of the ministry, such as Wales鈥檚 , have suffered from a lack of clout. Does Stanley Robinson think his fictional one would work in reality?
鈥淚t would be a great thing, but it wouldn鈥檛 be simple or in any way easy to incorporate, because we鈥檙e so present-orientated,鈥� he says. Moreover, it would be no panacea. 鈥淧eople would love to have the idea of a single fix, one thing will make everything right,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 just not going to happen.鈥�
Nor is he comfortable with the answer being violent extremism and illegal 鈥渂lack ops鈥�, which some of the book鈥檚 characters resort to. 鈥淚鈥檓 sure that there鈥檚 going to be people around the world who are really angry in coming decades and they will commit violence hoping to make a better situation, calling it resistance,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 think it would be better if we managed to forestall that with legal reforms that are really fast.鈥�
So where does hope lie? In top-down efforts such as international diplomacy, in grassroots local efforts by citizens and everything in between, says Stanley Robinson. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an all-hands-on-deck situation. The idea of either/or, or one鈥檚 better, one鈥檚 worse, all that needs to be thrown over the side,鈥� he says. It is for this reason that Stanley Robinson thinks research into geoengineering methods, such as temporarily reducing the amount of the sun鈥檚 energy reaching Earth, is worth pursuing. All that matters is what works and is fast, he says.
He is also clear that our economic systems need reform. 鈥淚t鈥檚 one of the reasons we aren鈥檛 reacting faster [on climate] than we are, because we鈥檙e locked into an ineffective system,鈥� he says.
Stanley Robinson thinks the 鈥渃apacious鈥� nature of novels makes the form good at tackling the subject of climate change. He says its two strengths are giving readers time travel 鈥� 鈥測ou are suddenly in a different time and space and really living it鈥� 鈥� and telepathy. 鈥淵ou are in someone else鈥檚 head,鈥� he says. But there are limits. 鈥淵ou can only push a novel so far. I don鈥檛 even believe in futurism or futurology 鈥� I鈥檓 a novelist.鈥�
Yet he follows new science more closely than most novelists. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change鈥檚 recent report on the state of climate change science was 鈥渢he ultimate in alarms going off鈥�, he says. 鈥淭he scientific community has been ringing that alarm since the late 90s. And the response has been slow and the resistance has been high.鈥� But he fears the warning is being drowned by the noise of others, from pandemic disruption to 鈥渟o-called political divides鈥�, he says.
One of Stanley Robinson鈥檚 worries is a real-world equivalent of the deadly heatwave that opens his latest novel. 鈥淚 fear that something like that is going to happen,鈥� he says. He suspects such an event might topple a government but fail to affect global action. 鈥淭he rest of the world will say, 鈥榦h, that鈥檚 what happens in the tropics鈥�. We鈥檙e very good at ignoring stuff that happens elsewhere and saying 鈥榠t can鈥檛 happen to me鈥�.鈥�
Stanley Robinson says he sees opportunity at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, UK, where he will give a speech. 鈥淢y hopes are high COP26 will come up with something striking. Progress will be made.鈥� He is also a big fan of US president Joe Biden. 鈥淗e has been surprisingly good on climate. And I say this as a leftist.鈥�
And what next? More climate change-themed novels are in the offing. Stanley Robinson has already written novels set in Antarctica, including The Ministry for the Future, and now he wants to head to the other pole. 鈥淚鈥檓 looking at the Arctic 鈥� can we keep an ice sheet over the Arctic? It鈥檚 so important,鈥� he says. If the idea grows into a story, it will explore a melting Arctic鈥檚 impact on governance, ecology and culture, not to mention the global climate as the region鈥檚 reflectivity changes.
鈥淵ou can only push a novel so far. I don鈥檛 believe in futurism or futurology 鈥� I鈥檓 a novelist鈥�
Sixteen years ago, Stanley Robinson told New 杏吧原创 he liked novels with happy endings. Does he hope for one on climate change? 鈥淲e could have a good 21st century, we could have a good dealing with climate change, we could have a good Anthropocene,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his is what I charge the young science fiction writers with: you have to write that story so people can imagine it in advance 鈥� and then try for it.鈥�
