January 15, 2021
The topic of climate isn’t a new element in storytelling; the environment plays heavily in a lot of works of speculative fiction. However, the term “Cli-Fi” (Climate Fiction) is relatively new, having been first coined by journalist and climate activist Dan Bloom back in 2010. This genre, a play on the term Sci-Fi, explores climate change and global warming, playing out these changes in the world to a logical endpoint.
An article written for NPR in 2013 by Angela Evancie explains it best: “ …[O]f course, science fiction with an environmental bent has been around since the 1960s (Think J. G. Ballard’s The Drowned World). But while sci-fi usually takes place in a dystopian future, Cli-fi happens in a dystopian present.”
The article also shared that people in the scientific community are finding Cli-Fi to be a powerful signal boost for those trying to bring awareness to particular climate-related concerns—a prime example of the power of stories!
If you’re interested in exploring the Cli-Fi genre, here are some of my favorites to get you started:
- Loosed Upon the World: The Saga Anthology of Climate Fiction by Margaret Atwood
- Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
- New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson
- We Are Unprepared by Meg Little Reilly
- Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
- Solar by Ian McEwan
- Above the Ether by Eric Barnes
- Austral by Paul J. McAuley
- Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
- The End We Start From by Megan Hunter
- Odds Against Tomorrow by Nathaniel Rich
If you’re interested in movies of this genre, check out this list of Natural Disasters in Film.
Lisa P.
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