In the first episode of our two-part finale of our season on climate data, we’re going to focus on fiction, not facts: specifically, on the world-building, future-crafting writers who tell stories to warn us, teach us, inspire us, and motivate us to work for the future of our choosing. In speaking with authors Eric Holthaus and Kim Stanley Robinson, they discuss how hope, empathy, and, of course, climate science and climate data, informed their most recent work, Eric’s The Future Earth and Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future.

You can find a link to a full transcript of this episode on our Medium page:

https://ourwarmregards.medium.com/building-our-climate-futures-through-storytelling-part-1-feat-5b2a8077e4b1

You can follow Eric Holthaus on Twitter:https://twitter.com/EricHolthaus

You can read more about and purchase his book, The Future Earth, here: https://bookshop.org/books/the-future-earth-a-radical-vision-for-what-s-possible-in-the-age-of-warming/9780062883162

Finally, you can subscribe to Eric’s newsletter, The Phoenix, here:https://thephoenix.substack.com

Kim Stanley (Stan) Robinson:

You can read more about and purchase his book, The Ministry for the Future, here: https://bookshop.org/books/the-ministry-for-the-future/9780316300131

A comprehensive, though unofficial, website dedicated to Stan’s work: http://www.kimstanleyrobinson.info

On the power of speculative and science fiction:

‘We’ve already survived an apocalypse’: Indigenous writers are changing Sci-Fi: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/14/books/indigenous-native-american-sci-fi-horror.html

Afrofuturism, Africanfuturism, and the language of Black speculative literature: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/afrofuturism-africanfuturism-and-the-language-of-black-speculative-literature/

On climate fiction:

Climate fiction: Can books save the planet? https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/08/climate-fiction-margaret-atwood-literature/400112/

The influence of climate fiction: an empirical survey of readers: https://read.dukeupress.edu/environmental-humanities/article/10/2/473/136689/The-Influence-of-Climate-FictionAn-Empirical

The rise of apocalyptic novels: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20210108-the-rise-of-apocalyptic-novels

With the world on fire, climate fiction no longer looks like a fantasy: https://grist.org/climate/with-the-world-on-fire-climate-fiction-no-longer-looks-like-fantasy/

Amy Brady’s “Burning Worlds” column for the Chicago Review of Books:

https://chireviewofbooks.com/category/burning-worlds/

On futurology:

Smithsonian will celebrate 175 years with an exhibit about the future: https://www.npr.org/2021/03/01/972409626/smithsonian-will-celebrate-175-years-with-an-exhibit-about-the-future

10 ways science fiction predicted the future: https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/live-lessons/10-ways-science-fiction-predicted-future/z6dynrd

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