Rebecca Solnit wrote a very interesting book about what actually happens in situations of breakdown and disaster, researching a wide variety of them including hurricane Katrina etc. it turns out the Hollywood Hobbesian idea is completely backwards and there is usually a mass outbreak of altruism. Collective mutual support communities emerge very quickly, and people often say afterwards it was one of the best times in their lives, despite the immense difficulty, because of what they saw of human nature. I think perhaps the challenge is how to support and protect this tendency in the long term. She also mentions that paranoid distant elites will sometimes disrupt or squash these communities out of fear, so eg during hurricane Katrina the official assumptions of looting and criminality led to ridiculous and heavy handed behaviour by authorities.
One further very interesting, if outlier example, is the Kurds in rojava during the worst years of the Syrian civil war. They built something absolutely incredible
It’s also worth looking at majority world countries where breakdown and disaster are already part of the norm. These don’t usually lead to the breakdown of society and there is extraordinary resilience
Ministry for the future, by Kim Stanley Robinson has some good stuff on this topic. It's not about complete collapse, but more around the process of collapse and disparity between geographies. Robinson's writing is fantastic!
It seems to me that modern monetary theory enables clearer thinking about resource use precisely by distinguishing real resources from financial ones. By itself it’s more of an operational description than a justification for footloose capital. The founder Mosler is actually ad advocate for dramatically cutting fossil fuel use and “non essential” economic activity because of climate change.
Just catching up on posts here, but thought I'd plug A Children's Bible. Has a sort of fairytale/parable feel to it and, as the title sort of alludes to, also touches on the generational divide in terms of climate change.
I don't have any recommendations, but I have recently drafted what could be considered "thrutopian cli-fi" novel that may be of interest to you down the line! I'm in the process of the first round of revisions. Thematically, it's a lot more The Lord of the Rings than Parable of the Sower, which depicts a nihilistic depravity that I don't agree with. Sending you all the best.
The one which I read most recently which I found really resonant was "Gliff" by Ali Smith. I love all her work and this one, which is a warning from the near future, is really, really good. I look forward to seeing what suggestions other folk share here.
I'd really really recommend The Blue Book of Nebo by Manon Stefan Ros originally in Welsh but now in English and won the Yoto Carnegie. Not exactly climate collapse but societal collapse certainly. I think the tone would be a perfect contrast for these huge structural books you are reading - it's personal and threaded with myth. Very slight too. I think you would love it.
Further to the above, have you included much kidlit/YA in your reading? Middler by Kirsty Applebaum is interesting and Where the World Turns Wild by Nicola Penfold is too. I think it's fascinating to analyse the stories we tell our children and young people - very revealing about a culture. Good luck with the writing!
Recently enjoyed Tim Winton's "Juice". I particular liked it because
A. Tim is from my part of the world
B. The novel is set in my part of the world.
Regardless, I really enjoyed it, and in a way, its very timely considering something like the Health Insurance CEO getting gunned down. Happy new year by the way and I hope the writing is flowing well! Cheers!
Also, after having lived in a majority world country (third world) for over a decade now that gets disaster after disaster after disaster, I don't see things descending into some sort of war, only if it's the government inflicting a war upon it's citizens. Which happens a lot unfortunately. We may be retards (according to the elites) but we tend to help each other out when things go to shit.
New England seems to have great potential. Plenty of water and water power, seafood, established community and mostly well above sea level. Lots of forest and wildlife, for now anyway.
Other books: Station Eleven, The Mandibles, World Made By Hand series.
Thanks for the comments & recommendations. I'll try to follow up, although I don't have much time before my book deadline!
Rebecca Solnit wrote a very interesting book about what actually happens in situations of breakdown and disaster, researching a wide variety of them including hurricane Katrina etc. it turns out the Hollywood Hobbesian idea is completely backwards and there is usually a mass outbreak of altruism. Collective mutual support communities emerge very quickly, and people often say afterwards it was one of the best times in their lives, despite the immense difficulty, because of what they saw of human nature. I think perhaps the challenge is how to support and protect this tendency in the long term. She also mentions that paranoid distant elites will sometimes disrupt or squash these communities out of fear, so eg during hurricane Katrina the official assumptions of looting and criminality led to ridiculous and heavy handed behaviour by authorities.
The book is called ‘a Paradise built in hell’
One further very interesting, if outlier example, is the Kurds in rojava during the worst years of the Syrian civil war. They built something absolutely incredible
It’s also worth looking at majority world countries where breakdown and disaster are already part of the norm. These don’t usually lead to the breakdown of society and there is extraordinary resilience
Ministry for the future, by Kim Stanley Robinson has some good stuff on this topic. It's not about complete collapse, but more around the process of collapse and disparity between geographies. Robinson's writing is fantastic!
It seems to me that modern monetary theory enables clearer thinking about resource use precisely by distinguishing real resources from financial ones. By itself it’s more of an operational description than a justification for footloose capital. The founder Mosler is actually ad advocate for dramatically cutting fossil fuel use and “non essential” economic activity because of climate change.
Just catching up on posts here, but thought I'd plug A Children's Bible. Has a sort of fairytale/parable feel to it and, as the title sort of alludes to, also touches on the generational divide in terms of climate change.
I don't have any recommendations, but I have recently drafted what could be considered "thrutopian cli-fi" novel that may be of interest to you down the line! I'm in the process of the first round of revisions. Thematically, it's a lot more The Lord of the Rings than Parable of the Sower, which depicts a nihilistic depravity that I don't agree with. Sending you all the best.
The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson is a fairly well-known work in the climate fiction genre.
The one which I read most recently which I found really resonant was "Gliff" by Ali Smith. I love all her work and this one, which is a warning from the near future, is really, really good. I look forward to seeing what suggestions other folk share here.
I'd really really recommend The Blue Book of Nebo by Manon Stefan Ros originally in Welsh but now in English and won the Yoto Carnegie. Not exactly climate collapse but societal collapse certainly. I think the tone would be a perfect contrast for these huge structural books you are reading - it's personal and threaded with myth. Very slight too. I think you would love it.
Further to the above, have you included much kidlit/YA in your reading? Middler by Kirsty Applebaum is interesting and Where the World Turns Wild by Nicola Penfold is too. I think it's fascinating to analyse the stories we tell our children and young people - very revealing about a culture. Good luck with the writing!
Recently enjoyed Tim Winton's "Juice". I particular liked it because
A. Tim is from my part of the world
B. The novel is set in my part of the world.
Regardless, I really enjoyed it, and in a way, its very timely considering something like the Health Insurance CEO getting gunned down. Happy new year by the way and I hope the writing is flowing well! Cheers!
Also, after having lived in a majority world country (third world) for over a decade now that gets disaster after disaster after disaster, I don't see things descending into some sort of war, only if it's the government inflicting a war upon it's citizens. Which happens a lot unfortunately. We may be retards (according to the elites) but we tend to help each other out when things go to shit.
Yes The Mandibles by Lionel Shriver. Not exactly cli-fi but eerily accurate about the sort of things that have been happening since she wrote it.
New England seems to have great potential. Plenty of water and water power, seafood, established community and mostly well above sea level. Lots of forest and wildlife, for now anyway.
Other books: Station Eleven, The Mandibles, World Made By Hand series.