Weaving climate change themes into fiction
by League founder Lauren James
Ajji walked past the tamarind tree, inviting Ara and Chhaya to do the same. “We never changed our methods. We still farm like my grandparents did. And my parents. Our trees – we worship them. They welcome birds and animals and us; they provide shade to the coffee plants. Even more important now that the summers are so hot and dry. We grow millets and coffee, vegetables and rice. All one big happy family.”
“It’s called intercropping,” Chhaya chimed in.
“Don’t show off, Chhaya!” Ajji clucked at her.
from The Drongo’s Call by Bijal Vachharajani
I’ve spent the last few years working hard to use my platform as a writer to promote climate action. After publishing several climate fiction books like Green Rising and The Deep-Sea Duke, I set up the Climate Fiction Writers League, a group of 200+ authors.
I advise people on how to write hopeful climate fiction, and have consulted with museums & production companies and worked with the Society of Authors’ Sustainability committee to represent the interests of British authors. I have also participated in the Hollywood Climate Summit Pitchfest and spoken at the Movers and Makers Conference at BBC Television Centre.
This week I am releasing an anthology of stories set in a positive future world, for readers age 9-12. Future Hopes features stories by Eli Brown, L. R. Lam, M. G. Leonard, Rebecca Lim, Oisín McGann, Tolá Okogwu, Neal and Brendan Shusterman, Louie Stowell and Bijal Vachharajani.
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Why mention climate change in books? It is proven that hope and optimism will inspire more action than anything else. Fiction can inspire a huge amount of empathy, and that’s a force that we can use collectively to inspire change on a global level.
62% of people say they hear much more about the negative impacts of climate change than they do about progress towards reducing climate change, resulting in a perceived Solutions Gap.
A great example of something doing climate change discussion properly is the TV show Ted Lasso, which is about a football team in the UK. In an episode, it is discovered that the football team kit sponsor Dubai Air is owned by Cerithium Oil, who have refused to clean up oil spills in player Sam's native Nigeria. He sets out to get the team to find a new sponsor.
The plot is uplifting and joyful, being focussed on Sam’s character growth as he stands up for his beliefs. It doesn’t shy away from politics, and shows the true ways to act involve finances, such as changing to a green bank/pensions scheme. It is a relatable, contemporary issue that people can connect to, and shows the connections between countries’ climate issues.
Helping writers weave in climate issues is done in the TV/Film industries through initiatives such as The Albert project, which shows production companies how to weave climate themes into their storytelling through ‘planet placement’. There is also the Good Energy Playbook and Climate Story Labs.
It needs to be more of a focus in publishing too, so I try to help authors see how they can be promoting activism in any type of novel. To create more of the kinds of hopeful stories I want to see, I pitched a ‘positive’ climate anthology for children to my publisher.
It’s especially important for children to see hopeful visions of the future world they are going to grow up in.
“Climate anxiety and dissatisfaction with government responses are widespread in children and young people in countries across the world and impact their daily functioning. A perceived failure by governments to respond to the climate crisis is associated with increased distress.” - The Lancet
With my publisher, I worked to create the Future Hopes anthology. Nine authors pose ingenious and thought-provoking solutions to the climate crisis in this anthology of climate fiction, such as skyscraper farms, insect food and guerilla gardening.
“Hundreds of people are going to be swimming in the sea,” I said, in my talking-to-nerds voice. “Including me. And there’s a big-assed squid out there. In the sea.”
“Squids don’t really have asses,” Dad replied.
from Eyeballs, Tentacles and Teeth by Oisín McGann
The authors were given a list of solutions believed to combat climate change most effectively, based on science research from Project Drawdown.
For example, green city planning such as rentable electric car-pooling, electric bike-sharing, secure cycle and pedestrian lanes, free buses, free insulation upgrades. The importance of rewilding urban areas – roadside fruit and nut orchards, verge allotments, vertical skyscraper farms, rooftop gardens for cooling. Types of sustainable agriculture – tree alleyways in crop fields, perennial crops, free-roaming livestock, no tillage, no fertilizers.
The level of science was based on the Campaign CC’s teaching resources:
I was buzzing. I took a large wooden spoon from the cutlery drawer and waved it like a magic wand. “Let the mixing begin!”
I dumped a heap of flour into the bowl. I wasn’t sure how much was needed, so I added a bit more. A puff of flour wafted up my nostrils, making me sneeze into the mixture.
“Snot is sustainable!” I shrugged.
from Food of the Future by M. G. Leonard
Once the first drafts were written, I then helped the writers to increase the climate content. This included suggestions to provide more of the characters’ thoughts on the future world they live in.
For example, intergenerational conversations can give a lot of insights – what was different when the characters’ parents/grandparents were growing up? Do young characters remember how the world used to be? What changes do they appreciate and what goes unnoticed?
Other advice was to describe the setting more – this naturally leads into opportunities to mention things that are different in infrastructure from our world.
I encouraged the writers to use more dialogue where characters are actively complaining about something about the world they live in, or trying to decide how to fix a problem, since this is a more natural way to give information about the world than in exposition in a chunky paragraph.
It’s important to make sure the world sends the right message – it doesn’t have to be a positive world, but it shouldn’t leave readers feeling guilty about their carbon footprints.
We want to inspire people, not panic them. Writers should use anger and frustration to drive writing, but not write an angry book - people don’t want to read that.
Try to convey the seriousness of the situation without making it seem futile. Show that climate change is solvable. It’s not imminent and long-term, but it is happening right now.
The messaging needs to avoid blaming individuals for their emissions. People won’t engage if they’re just going to be made to feel guilty about not recycling! There is also a lot of space for positivity connected to nature.
Stetson was doing his jackhammering, moving at a nice clip, when he suddenly broke through to another cavern – one that wasn’t on the map [of the landfill]. Warm, fetid air spilled out. It was awful, smelling so strongly of ammonia it hurt Zak’s eyes. He – all of them – immediately put on their gas masks.
A flood of furry creatures pouring out of the hole. Dozens of them.
“Oh no! We hit a Dump Devil nest!”
from Dump Devil by Neal & Brendan Shusterman
I want to encourage writers try to show that industry, economics and political factors are to blame. Call out the companies who have been specifically working to slow climate activism. For example, this ExxonMobil internal document from 1989 shows their work over decades to spread climate denial:
Similarly with this 1991 newspaper advertisement run by a coalition of large fossil fuel advocacy organizations.
Please read the incredible stories in Future Hopes to see how the authors have envisioned our future world. It’s an uplifting reading experience. Another great example of climate fiction done well is A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers.
The novella is set in the future. Centuries before, robots of Panga gained self-awareness, laid down their tools, wandered, en masse into the wilderness, never to be seen again. They faded into myth and urban legend.
The climate solutions in action in a peaceful and harmonious world, but these are incidental to the main plot.
“The City was beautiful, it really was. A towering architectural celebration of curves and polish and colored light, laced with the connective threads of elevated rail lines and smooth footpaths, flocked with leaves that spilled lushly from every balcony and center divider, each inhaled breath perfumed with cooking spice, fresh nectar, laundry drying in the pristine air. The City was a healthy place, a thriving place. A never-ending harmony of making, doing, growing, trying, laughing, running, living. Sibling Dex was so tired of it.”
Find out more about Future Hopes.
Lauren James is the Carnegie-longlisted British author of many Young Adult novels, including Green Rising, The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker and The Loneliest Girl in the Universe. She is a RLF Royal Fellow at Aston University and the story consultant on Netflix’s Heartstopper (Seasons 2 and 3).
Lauren is the founder of the Climate Fiction Writers League, and member of the Society of Authors’ Sustainability Committee. She works as a consultant on climate storytelling for museums, production companies, major brands and publishers, with a focus on optimism and hope. She runs a Queer Writers group in Coventry.
Resources
The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis by Christiana Figueres & Tom Rivett-Carnac
Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming by Paul Hawken
This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate by Naomi Klein
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Inkcap Journal newsletter
Green Light by The Guardian newsletter
How to Save a Planet podcast, Drilled podcast and Hot Take podcast
https://www.hollywoodclimatesummit.com/2022-pitchfest
https://www.creativebc.com/reel-green/tools/training/
https://climatestorylabs.org/toolbox
https://earthjustice.org/features/climate-justice-collective-story
https://wearealbert.org/
 | A guest post by
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One of the problems with getting climate fiction into the publishing world through books is that there isn't a cli-fi category or even an eco-fiction category to direct readers to our books, at least in the U.S. This needs to change. When I tried to pick subject categories for my book, The EarthStar Solution (which weaves in plenty of positive climate actions readers could take including political canvassing) I found it impossible to find categories to place the book into on any online store or in the libraries. This is something Climate Fiction Writers League authors could collectively work on.
What an inspiring article! I'm going to share with my colleagues at the Center for Sustainable Futures at Teachers College, Columbia University (in NYC/Turtle Island) and the international sustainability educators I'm connected with. I'll also ask our library to order at least one copy of Future Hopes.