For my final project I decided to write a journal from the perspective of a girl named Hailey. The story is set in the year 2073 and Hailey, along with her family, is dealing with a rapidly rising sea level. The sea has already risen to the point where new enormous buildings had to be created to house all the people on the coastlines. The journals detail her day-to-day life and include many struggles and plot twists. I decided to create a journal because I enjoy this format and really liked the style of writing in Diary of an Interesting Year. Here is a journal entry from my final project: Contine reading
#cli-fi
October 15, 2047
Instead of writing one short Cli-Fi story I chose to make my final project into a newspaper. This futuristic newspaper is dated October 15, 2047. It features everything a normal newspaper would such as articles, advertisements, photos, and a comic strip. All the articles I wrote describe how the world is being affected by climate change. Some of these articles are completely fabricated but others have a large possibly to actually occur in the future around the time of 2047. Although, I tried to make the newspaper somewhat realistic. Here is an example of one advertisement I created and included in my newspaper:
I thought it was important to incorporate some hope into my newspaper not just negative stories. Most of the stories we read in class had a negative ending due to climate change and I wanted to show that there still is some hope for the future. I think the future is going to revolve around technology way more than it does today so I created this ad to show the possible technological advances we could have. Making futuristic voicemails is what inspired me to write a newspaper. I’ve created newspapers before for other classes and have always found the process of making them really fun and creative. I originally had the idea to write a story about one rare aquarium in the world that is home to the last living shark. Instead, I turned this story into an article for the front page of my newspaper. Deciding to write a newspaper was a good idea because I like writing a bunch of mini works of Cli-Fi in order to make one large project. I was able to incorporate multiple plot ideas I had instead of just focusing on one. Plus, I feel like this work of Cli-Fi will be very affective to those who read it because it causes people to think. If you were to read this newspaper on October 15, 2047 would you be okay with the headlines?
Education is key
After taking this course I have a whole new perspective on how our planet is being polluted; I’ve learned extensive amounts about water pollution and how that, in the long run, is going to defunct a multitude of animal species and eventually destroy our planet’s ability to sustain life. I never thought someone else was as interested in this topic until I talked to a close friend of mine and found out that she grew up in an area that banned water pollution near recreational swimming zones. Of course that didn’t stop her city from dumping the pollutants into the water just further up the coast, but it was a step in the right direction. She spoke about how beautiful and pristine her beaches were; how, even during the rainy season, the water was still clear and fish still swam near the coast. Thats how beaches are supposed to look; however, the unfortunate truth of this story is that this is not a common reality for most coastal areas. Many beaches are polluted to the extent where they are closed off to the public because if someone swam in the contaminated water they could get extremely ill or even die. So why is this still legal? Why is it legal to pollute water to the extent that it may kill people if they swim in it? Why don’t we consider marine animals’ lives when creating these laws? My friend and I asked ourselves these questions and tried to come up with reasonable explanations as to why humans have created laws and norms that put human beings at the top of the pyramid of life. Contine reading
Some Thoughts on “Room for Debate”
The article by the New York Times entitled, “Room for Debate”, discusses different views and thoughts about the genre cli-fi and what it’s purpose is in the eyes of six different writers. Half of the writers were in agreement that climate change fiction can possibly lead to solutions and a stir of emotions created in the reader while on the other hand, the other half of writers stood by the viewpoint that cli-fi would enable discussion about the various issues tied with climate change, but that is about all individuals could expect. I will be discussing three writers who stood out to me the most from this article.
The first writer, Sheree Renee Thomas believes that an imagination is crucial in the solution making process. She states, “As we learned from Hurricane Katrina and Sandy, it is not enough to simply predict extreme weather. To survive and thrive, we will need to have the fortitude and the commitment to imagine community-based solutions as part of our shared future” (NYtimes.com). I completely agree with this viewpoint because I feel that without having a wide imagination for change, change cannot take place. Just like how sometimes we imagine crazy, turbulent futures, solutions come from imaginative scenarios as well. The second writer, George Marshall, does not agree so much with Thomas. He believes that climate change fiction will not create a change or do anything more to help this issue. He states, “I predict that ‘cli-fi’ will reinforce existing views rather than shift them. The unconvinced will see these stories as proof that this issue is a fiction, exaggerated for dramatic effect. The already convinced will be engaged, but overblown apocalyptic story lines may distance them from the issue of climate change or even objectify the problem” (NYtimes.com).
Marshall goes on further to say that in order for people to want to make a change and start creating solutions, authors need to write about stories that entail successful struggles, that shares resolutions in a more promising world. I am not sure as to how I feel about his views on cli-fi. I can see his point when he says that cli-fi reinforces existing views, but I also believe that while cli-fi may do that, it has the possibility to shift views depending on the intensity of the novel and how much background knowledge one already has on the issue of climate change. Contine reading
“Climate Change is Not My Problem”
Before taking this class based on the subject of climate change I never really looked into the weather patterns as factors of global warming so I didn’t expect my sister to either when I asked her input on climate change. I described to her the plot of the novel we read in class, Odds Against Tomorrow, and what Cli-Fi is. Prior to trying to strengthen her knowledge of climate change she claims the only thing she really knew was that major ice caps are melting and polar bears had the possibility of going extinct in the near future.
Thinking about a possible natural disaster that could destroy part of the world is scary. My sister has a prominent fear of the ocean so when she found out the major cities could flood, even our hometown of San Diego, she freaked. She was unaware that so much damage could be done to our planet overall. She only believed that the temperature would probably increase a few degrees and that animals such as polar bears would suffer greatly. My sister seemed worried by all these possible events but not worried enough. Frequently I would hear my sister say, “but this won’t affect me I won’t be alive then” or “if I don’t have to experience it then it’s not my problem”. In reality, it is her problem. I am worried about these type of reactions she had because climate change is affecting all of us right at this moment.
Friend Learns of Cli-Fi
As we have gone about this course we have discussed many aspects of climate change fiction, but what do others in society think. This weekend I called a friend of mine who is an English major to hear what she thinks of this newer genre of climate change fiction. She had only heard of the genre because I have told her about this course that I have been taking. She said that she had never put much thought into climate change and the effects that it would have on the lives of people. I explained to her a few of the stories that we have read in class such as “The Tamarisk Hunter.” We discussed how in this society the world basically became a desert and the need for water when someone does not have water rights. She found it very interesting that they would pay someone in water in order to kill plants that take up water. This was when she realized how important water is to society, to life, and how much we take for granted the water supplies we have. We then discussed what the Mark Maslin book, Climate Change: A Very Short Introduction, says about adaptation to climate change as a ‘solution’. She said that she has always heard about the sea levels raise and that the weather is getting warmer, but not that we may have to change our lifestyles or move where we live in order to adjust to climate change. She suggested jokingly that someday we may just have to start hoarding water in preparation to the possible great droughts. This of course got a few laughs, but if we look at many of the themes of climate change fiction, if they were to come true, water becomes a rare resource and may need to be on hand once the climate change has created a new type of environment. This conversation really showed me how much people do not realize how climate change can change how we live our lives and the world around us. As someone who is extremely into looking into different aspects of literature she now plans on looking into more climate change fiction and seeing what other aspect of life authors of this genre have warned about the changing climate. It felt great to spread the information about how climate change can affect our lives. Even I did not understand until reading some examples of climate change fiction just how climate change can affect our lives. We can learn about the facts of how the climate is changing, of warming sea temperatures, but until it was put into perspective for me though climate change fiction, just as with my friend Melissa, it was not clear just how climate change can affect our lives. Climate change fiction has the ability to help us have a better understanding of the effects of climate change, and how it can affect our lives in a greater way than one may realize or understand.
Interpretation of the Future Coast Project
I have to admit that when I first found out that we were making voicemails from the future for this Future Coast game, I thought it was a little weird because I didn’t understand the point of it and how it would be beneficial to the players of the game. When I went outside to make my voicemail, I didn’t want anyone that wasn’t in our class to hear me because I knew they would wonder what it was that I was doing since I was talking about how we ran out of water. So I tried to go where there was the fewest number of students possible.
Although after I listened to some of the voicemails I realized that it actually was a fun, entertaining idea. Once I started listening to other people’s voicemails I felt so embarrassed because other people got really creative with their voicemails, whereas I wasn’t very creative with mine. After listening to some of the voicemails, I started to realize what the actual point of the game was. The game is about getting people to think of the future and what it will look like with climate change. So in my case, I picked the first thing that I could think of would happen in the future due to climate change and that was running out of water. I noticed that a few other people used a similar idea of being short on water, but some people chose ideas that I would have never thought of either, which was really interesting.
One other example of Cli-Fi that we talked about in class this term that I thought related very similarly to Future Coast was the Global Weirding website. I found a connection between these two because Global Weirding gets people thinking about how we will be affected by climate change in the future except rather than people coming up with their own ideas, the ideas are provided to them. They are both also interactive versions of Cli-Fi. Future Coast is a little bit more interactive than the Global Weirding website since people actually make up their own ideas of the future effects of climate change rather than having those ideas provided to them. However, I think that both versions of Cli-Fi are very beneficial to not only students, but everyone. Future Coast and Global Weirding can both be used in schools to help get students engaged with talking about climate change and the possible effects it will have on our futures, which is extremely important. Contine reading
The Genre To Change The World
I think that Climate Change Fiction is a great new up and coming genre of literature that has the power to change the world. We are at a time right now where the decision we make as a planet will determine the fate of Earth. Either we try to rescue it by cutting carbon dioxide emissions, or we just keep doing what we’re doing and destroy it. The beauty of cli-fi, however, is that is has the ability to influence people’s decisions.
In an article by Sarah Holding, she talks about her motivations for writing cli-fi. What I find most interesting, and applicable to what we have talked about in this course, is how she wants to connect children with the environment and mother earth. Because we can’t all go and see the polar ice caps melting first hand, by writing cli-fi short stories, she can convey the same message to her audience. This is crucial to the health of our planet because the involvement and passion from the younger generations is the future of our planet. By connecting these children with cli-fi, it will help motivate them to make a positive impact on the world. I also enjoyed the fact that Holding uses her work as a contribution to stopping global warming. Throughout this course, I have had the image that in order to stop global warming everybody needs to physically contribute in one way or another. After reading this article, I discovered that there are so many ways in which people can help prevent global warming from getting worse. From making videos, to writing novels, to leading campaigns, there are so many different ways to contribute to the cause. Contine reading
Some Thoughts about a Climate Fiction Class
I remember coming into the first day of class not knowing what to expect. All I knew about English 104 was that it was an Intro to Fiction class that would have an assigned topic on which we would focus, and on which our class would be revolved around. To my surprise the topic was Climate Change and I had no idea what to expect.
My initial thought was to get myself out of the class as soon as possible. All of my knowledge about global warming and climate change could be wrapped up in a couple Al Gore videos I had to watch in high school, and even then I couldn’t tell you much other than the fact I remember him saying the words “global” and “warming.” Yes I knew to recycle and to walk as much as possible and leave the lights off when I wasn’t using them and all that jazz.
I knew that global warming was in fact a real thing, and I knew that it was/is happening, but at the same time in my mind, I kept thinking “but nothing is happening.”
But still, I wasn’t sure as to what global warming really was, and to be completely honest I’m still no expert. But this I do know, after reading and being involved in a class that focuses on post-apocalyptic settings having experienced the consequences of something that has happened DUE to climate change, today, I sit up a little straighter and pay attention when I hear the words “global” and “warming.”
Since being introduced to Cli-Fi, I’ve found myself thinking about some serious issues that I’d never thought about before. Not actively thinking in a state of paranoia like protagonist Mitchell Zukor in Odds Against Tomorrow by Nathaniel Rich (the novel we just read in class), but at random times, zoning out in class, drifting in thought in the comfort of my own home, I would think;
“What if I had to hunt, like physically sneakily hunt, for WATER?”
“What if something bad happened, an accident, a fire, a night when I’d had one too many, and I needed to seek medical attention, and there were no hospitals?”
“What if they were unable to create a vaccine for this strain of meningitis that has recently hit our campus and already killed on of our students?”
All very real illustrations of things that have happened and that are happening in these pieces of climate fiction. And the worst part? No one is able to do anything about it except keep on carrying on until they eventually die, or there is some form of resolution.
That is another thing that has ignited some sort of response in me, the lack of a resolution. A lot of theses stories end with a message of hopelessness. It seems in most genres of literature, and in most forms of entertainment, there is an ending where everything falls back into place and for the most part, everything is “how it should be” again.
That is the issue with cli-fi, it makes you feel as though something is missing. But when you think about it, that makes sense because nobody knows how to totally resolve the issues that have arisen from global warming. So when writing about it, it would be untrue and a bit too fictitious to have a “and they all lived happily ever after” ending.