āEVERYTHING is happening way faster than it happens in The Ministry for the Future,ā 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 āanother geological ageā because so much has happened, from Donald Trumpās election defeat to the covid-19 pandemic.
āClimate change seems to be the main topic on the table now, with all the storms, droughts, fires, freezings ā the climate weirdness that has begun and looks like it will never cease in our lifetimes,ā he says. Stanley Robinson ā or Stan as he is often known ā 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 Walesās , have suffered from a lack of clout. Does Stanley Robinson think his fictional one would work in reality?
āIt would be a great thing, but it wouldnāt be simple or in any way easy to incorporate, because weāre so present-orientated,ā he says. Moreover, it would be no panacea. āPeople would love to have the idea of a single fix, one thing will make everything right,ā he says. āThatās just not going to happen.ā
Nor is he comfortable with the answer being violent extremism and illegal āblack opsā, which some of the bookās characters resort to. āIām sure that thereās 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,ā he says. āI think it would be better if we managed to forestall that with legal reforms that are really fast.ā
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. āItās an all-hands-on-deck situation. The idea of either/or, or oneās better, oneās worse, all that needs to be thrown over the side,ā he says. It is for this reason that Stanley Robinson thinks research into geoengineering methods, such as temporarily reducing the amount of the sunās 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. āItās one of the reasons we arenāt reacting faster [on climate] than we are, because weāre locked into an ineffective system,ā he says.
Stanley Robinson thinks the ācapaciousā nature of novels makes the form good at tackling the subject of climate change. He says its two strengths are giving readers time travel ā āyou are suddenly in a different time and space and really living itā ā and telepathy. āYou are in someone elseās head,ā he says. But there are limits. āYou can only push a novel so far. I donāt even believe in futurism or futurology ā Iām a novelist.ā
Yet he follows new science more closely than most novelists. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changeās recent report on the state of climate change science was āthe ultimate in alarms going offā, he says. āThe scientific community has been ringing that alarm since the late 90s. And the response has been slow and the resistance has been high.ā But he fears the warning is being drowned by the noise of others, from pandemic disruption to āso-called political dividesā, he says.
One of Stanley Robinsonās worries is a real-world equivalent of the deadly heatwave that opens his latest novel. āI fear that something like that is going to happen,ā he says. He suspects such an event might topple a government but fail to affect global action. āThe rest of the world will say, āoh, thatās what happens in the tropicsā. Weāre very good at ignoring stuff that happens elsewhere and saying āit canāt happen to meā.ā
Stanley Robinson says he sees opportunity at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, UK, where he will give a speech. āMy hopes are high COP26 will come up with something striking. Progress will be made.ā He is also a big fan of US president Joe Biden. āHe has been surprisingly good on climate. And I say this as a leftist.ā
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. āIām looking at the Arctic ā can we keep an ice sheet over the Arctic? Itās so important,ā he says. If the idea grows into a story, it will explore a melting Arcticās impact on governance, ecology and culture, not to mention the global climate as the regionās reflectivity changes.
āYou can only push a novel so far. I donāt believe in futurism or futurology ā Iām a novelistā
Sixteen years ago, Stanley Robinson told Ā鶹“«Ć½ he liked novels with happy endings. Does he hope for one on climate change? āWe could have a good 21st century, we could have a good dealing with climate change, we could have a good Anthropocene,ā he says. āThis is what I charge the young science fiction writers with: you have to write that story so people can imagine it in advance ā and then try for it.ā
