Numerous books warn us about the climate crisis, and many offer solutions. If everyone read all of these books and behaved accordingly, perhaps the planet would be home and dry. However, most people don’t read them. Most people read romances, whodunnits or superhero stories.
To address this, I set up the Green Stories project in 2018 with free writing competitions that encourage storytellers to embed climate solutions into stories aimed at mainstream readers across a variety of formats, from radio plays to novels.
The focus on solutions derives from my research into the effects of catastrophe v solution-focused climate fiction on readers and found that solution-focused stories were more likely to inspire pro-environmental behaviour.
I have also written a novel called Habitat Man – a rom-com with a hint of cosy mystery which weaves in entertaining and educational green solutions such as wildlife gardening, seasonal food, and natural burials. A survey of 50 readers showed that 98% of of them adopted at least one green solution as a result of reading it.
Many climate-fiction writers fear that an optimistic approach could lead to complacency. But my research suggests eliciting fear is more likely to lead to either paralysing climate anxiety, denial, or self-protective behaviours (think buying up all the toilet rolls).
One size doesn’t fit all, but those who are inspired to climate activism by the dystopian approach are already well served by the market. Currently, few novels exist which focus on solutions or which engage readers who prefer genre fiction. I’d love to see more such stories on the bookshelves.
Here are my top five recommendations, including recent favourites and upcoming releases that inspire environmental behaviour change.
1. Fairhaven
Fairhaven is a novel of climate optimism by Steve Willis and Jan Lee set in Malaysia. Through the eyes of an engineer turned celebrity, it sets out a blueprint for how low-lying countries can protect themselves against rising sea levels and store carbon.
This conforms to a new term gaining popularity – “thrutopian” fiction. Such fiction presents positive visions of what a sustainable society might look like if we do it right and shows how we can get there.
2. The Ministry for the Future
The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson also takes a thrutopian approach in that it imagines a United Nations ministry that must lead the human race to a sustainable future.
The author covers all aspects of how we might get there, from technology and engineering to harnessing the power of finance. There are disasters along the way, but it provides a plausible outline of how we might address some of our more intractable challenges.
3. Green Rising
Fiction can warn of the dangers of wrong turns. Green Rising by Lauren James is young adult fiction about teenagers with superpowers. It’s a romantic thriller and a call to arms for climate action.
We may not all have the superpowers of the young protagonists, but it’s not hard to make the connection to what we can do. I like the way that this narrative warns of the dangers presented by billionaire enthusiasts who are content to let our beautiful planet die and divert resources towards space age dreams of mass planetary expansion.
4. Finding Bear
You can get two-for-one with children’s fiction, which is often read aloud to young children and so engages parents too. Finding Bear is a sequel to Hannah Gold’s heartwarming adventure story, The Lost Bear.
April, the young daughter of an Arctic researcher, returns to Svalbard when she discovers a polar bear she once befriended has been shot and injured. April has agency – she challenges the adults, stands up for the Arctic wildlife she loves and follows her instinct. Without her relentless drive, change may not have happened. The underlying message – that every one of us has a valid voice, no matter how young or insignificant we may feel – shines through.
5. No More Fairy Tales
This Green Stories project teamed up climate experts with experienced writers to create an anthology of 24 short stories, No More Fairy Tales: Stories to Save the Planet. Each story and climate solution links to a webpage where readers can find out about the solutions that inspired them. Most stories adopt the thrutopian approach.
One story imagines eight people in a citizen’s jury debating the most effective climate policy, and then there’s a murder. This combines the universal attraction of the whodunnit with raising awareness of the most transformative climate solutions.
This story has been adapted into a full-length stage play. A condensed dramatic monologue version, Murder in the Citizens’ Jury, will be performed in Southampton on April 20 to coincide with Earth Day, when the audience will vote during the on-stage citizen’s assembly.
The setting itself is a climate solution. Representative democracy in an age of misinformation and vested interests, dominated by four-year electoral cycles, may turn out to be constitutionally incapable of initiating radical climate policies.
Rebooting our democracy to prioritise long-term decisions could be a vital part of the transition to a sustainable society and compelling stories like this connect people to alternative future possibilities.
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