Green Group discussion

For anyone with interest in this topic, I recently had a chance to contribute a guest post to SFFWorld about the emergence of Climate Fiction (a.k.a., "cli-fi") and its significance. It's a subject near and dear to my heart... and maybe to others in this group. Feel free to check it out!

What Is Cli-Fi and Why Does It Matter?

Here's an eye-opening LA Times article that traces the "evolution" of Exxon's position on the science behind climate change:

How Exxon went from leader to skeptic on climate change research

Thanks for both articles, Brian.

If climate fiction helps to bring in a larger audience to get on board the need for change, I approve.

And the Exxon article breaks my heart. Nothing sadder than what might have been.

For anyone who's interested, SFFWorld is currently hosting an online panel debate on Climate Fiction that includes Mary Woodbury, the esteemed owner of Eco-fiction.com, and Claude Nougat, author and economist with a 25-year career at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (and me, the less esteemed SF author ;-). Stop by and chime in if you feel like it!

Cli-Fi! That's a new one to me. It gets me wondering about a book like John Grisham's Grey Mountain, which is about the battle between Legal Clinic lawyers in Appalachia and Big Coal. Definitely Cli-Fi, I would say, even though his genre is legal mystery. What other well known books fit into this new genre?

We've actually posted some lists of them on the SFFWorld thread, but a couple of classic recent examples are Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behavior and Margaret Atwood's The MaddAddam Trilogy: Oryx and Crake; The Year of the Flood; MaddAddam, as well as Nathaniel Rich's Odds Against Tomorrow. At least a couple of these have been past Green Group featured monthly reads, I believe.

Thanks, Brian: I will look into the thread you mention, which ought to be useful

Kim Stanley Robinson has bundled his three cli-fi books into one large but edited down reissue. He says the editing reduced repetition and cut out 300 pages of information which is by now widely known about climate change issues. The new format also makes it clearer that this is a trilogy.

Forty Signs of Rain, Fifty Degrees Below and Sixty Days and Counting. These are the titles included and the new title will be Green Earth.

To find out more I suggest you read Kim's blog on his Goodreads page.

Could I use this quote as a comment on my blog on Cli-fi posted at www.annispratt.com?

Certainly, Annis.
Kim has a blog on his website which is forwarded to Goodreads, so maybe you should just advise people to read his blog.
I write SF as well, which is why I keep an eye on cli-fi works.

Nice marshland images, Annis!

Thanks for the suggestion...these new genres are fascinating!