This episode of The Conversation’s In Depth Out Loud podcast explores how science fiction’s hopes and fears can inspire humanity’s response to the climate crisis.
You can read the text version of this in-depth article here. The audio version is read by Peter Hanly in partnership with Noa, News Over Audio. You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, for free, on the Noa app.
Chris Pak, lecturer in English Literature at Swansea University, explores the history of science fiction stories about terraforming, geoengineering, space and climate change. As COP26, the UN climate change conference in Glasgow, approaches Pak says authors of science fiction are consulted by organisations and governments to help us think about the risks and challenges of the future in ways inaccessible to other disciplines. He says we urgently need more of this imaginative impulse.
The music in In Depth Out Loud is Night Caves, by Lee Rosevere. In Depth Out Loud is produced by Gemma Ware.
This story came out of a project at The Conversation called Insights, which is supported by Research England. You can read more stories in the series here.