The Power of Climate Narratives: Despair, Hope and Resilience in Kim Stanley Robinson’s Fifty Degrees Below

Abstract

Climate crises have become an unavoidable dominating element in the present, the climate is changing and the exact degree to which it will change is unpredictable. Climate change is responsible for the extreme weather conditions like flooding, desertification and sea level rise. To emphasise on the severity of climate change and the consequences of it a new genre of literature termed Climate Fiction addresses the concerns of climate change on a global scale. In a growing dystopian world where climate change is the norm,climate fiction through works of art and literature addresses pressing environmental concerns to reach wider audience. Cli-fi novels and films are set in future and narrate the story of disaster and its effect on humans. To raise awareness documentaries like An Inconvenient Truth and Before The Flood, movies like Day After Tomorrow, Kedarnath, Water world play major role in humanising climate change and makes it relatable to broad audience. Some of the notable works of climate fiction include Solar by Ian McEwan, State of Fear by Michael Crichton, The Drowned World by J.G.Ballard and The Science in the Capital Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson.