Utopian Climate Fiction and the Wonder Of Short Stories
Everyone understands the sci-fi genre, even as a basic concept. Through the wonder of space and the universe, we ponder the thousands of possibilities about the state of the future and the world’s societies. Those are only the basics. What goes amiss in the discussion is the science fiction on earth—what condition will the planet we know will become in ten, fifty, or a hundred years? It sounds so uncomplicated whether you predict advancement or destruction, but the wider context of climate and the science behind it adds to the wonder.
“There’s often an idea that space and space science is separate from earth,” says short story writer and co-founder of Cli-fi for Beginners, Clare Diston. “It’s like there’s the earth then there’s the rest of the universe, and the two are separate and you have to be interested in one or the other. But the whole thing connects together—we’re in the universe and finding out more about the universe will help us with the climate as well.”
Climate Fiction is a sub-genre that’s become more prevalent than ever, what with the scientific reports stating the rise in carbon emissions and the drastic changes devastating the environment. It’s an interesting step taken to express the ideas and opinions of those vaguely or intricately aware of climate change.
One area where this concept exists to thrive and be explored is among writers’ gatherings, specifically Cli-fi for Beginners’ online group.
Co-founder of the group, Clare Diston, said: “You can feel like, ‘I want to write sci-fi but don’t know any science, so how do I begin?’ People often come to a session, enthusiastic about the environmental side of things but don’t know anything about where to begin with writing. Which can be cool to transfer that enthusiasm into how to express yourself, because you have loads of ideas and loads of passion around climate change, and this is a vehicle you can use to express it.”
Cli-fi for beginners, currently garnering over 180 members, was designed to bring in people with a passion for the climate and an interest in the writing arts. Setting up a climate change-related prompt, members are encouraged to write a piece each month. Topics range from insulation, women’s education, refrigeration and many more. Diston explains the fundamental goal behind the group, which circumvents the trope-ish state of dystopian fiction in favour of rich, original storytelling. One which goes beyond the writer’s initial desire to write thought-provoking devastation and calamity to draw readers in.
“The other element of our cli-fi group is that we’re writing utopian fiction because there’s a lot of dystopian fiction already out there. It’s an understandable feeling that we have; a lot of us now think of the future of the planet and it feels overwhelmingly negative and scary. The cli-fi group is a reaction to that. We want to imagine a nice future in which we’ve maybe solved some of these problems. I think that’s a really good thing that science fiction can do—it helps you imagine things before you get there. It’s important to imagine a nice future even though we’re still some ways off from it.
“We use the hashtag ‘Overdystopia’ because we are intentionally trying to write positive fiction—which is hard. My natural reaction is to write gloomy things. But it makes it a really interesting writing challenge to always come back to the hopefulness.”
If sci-fi is a platform where anything within the imagination of the future can take form, there’s no reason why a positive outlook can’t be included. Normally this may raise problems with the writer’s rule of establishing conflict to entice reader interest, which is why utopian climate fiction works its way seamlessly into a short story format.
There’s a common excitement when it comes to writing science fiction; the very idea that any scientific concept, or world-building, can spark to life between the pages of a book, even when the subject is an inherently nihilistically grim dystopia. It’s the destruction of society that not only makes for enthralling fiction, but also reflects enraging human issues that are difficult to deal with in real life.
Fiction is an amazing catalyst for exploring these ideas; to bring feelings to life and share them with others in an engaging way. At the same time, science and climate fiction have become the catalyst for reaching out to the very edge of human knowledge while simultaneously maintaining the core appeal of human emotion.
For instance, as part of her short story collection, Diston weaves human issues through all of her work, but how these are presented on the topic of climate is particularly interesting. For example, her story of the destruction of a bog is used as an allegory for a failing marriage.
“I do like to include that human side of things to all stories I write because that’s where the interest comes from. The important thing is that you want someone to read your story. Although there may be a climate message in there, you want to keep the human interest to make people want to read it.
“In the bog-related story, where the idea of a marriage came from, the two ideas seemed related somehow. The destruction of a bog and the destruction of a marriage—I liked to marry those things together. I like to find two things that seem opposing, then find a way that they can join together, and then write a story about it.
“Given that there’s educational aspects to climate fiction, you can teach the audience about the world or environmentalism. But you don’t want it to come across as a lecture, so you need convincing characters who probably have flaws and problems in order to make that believable.”
It's a simple idea that can linger and open up an array of feelings at once without needing to turn a hundred pages to get the message. There doesn’t need to be a lengthy narrative or even milestones of development because everything in a short story just is, like a painting: you see it and you interpret what you need to. A short burst with great impact.
“They seem like the pinnacle of what you can write,” said Diston, “The best short stories, I think, are better than the best novels. That’s leant itself to the sort of writing I do now because I don’t have loads of spare time to dedicate to writing a novel, but I can handle the timing of writing a short story.”
Fiction is the gateway to finding enthusiasm in new things. Many have picked up new hobbies and mindsets through the power of storytelling. We learn and recommend these pieces of knowledge to others—and stories are so easily digestible compared to a long-winded lecture. One may help you grasp a subject, but the other can stick with you for a very long time. With that notion on the table, could it be possible for the discussion on the climate crisis to be delivered the same way? Passion generates further passion in others, after all.