Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Joe Biden deserved better than he got from some folks in his own party.”

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

When they say they’re pro-life, they don’t mean yours.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

In after Baud. Damn.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Let there be snark.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

You are here: Home / Medium Cool / Medium Cool with BGinCHI – International Eco-Lit

Medium Cool with BGinCHI – International Eco-Lit

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In case you’re new to Medium Cool, BGinCHI is here once a week to offer a thread on culture, mainly film & books, with some TV thrown in.  We’re here at 7 pm on Sunday nights.

First, an Announcement about next week’s Medium Cool

Join Medium Cool on Sunday, April 24 at 7:00 EST for a Q&A with John Lingan, author of the forthcoming biography of Creedence Clearwater Revival, A Song for Everyone (Hachette, August 9, 2022). John will be there in comments to field questions and chat about the book and the band.

Medium Cool with BGinCHI –

 

In this week’s Medium Cool:

Let’s talk environmental lit.

I’m reading a really fascinating novel by Sequoia Nagamatsu (How High We Go in the Dark) about a plague from the Arctic that sweeps the world. One thing that makes it so interesting is the way it ties pandemic issues to environmental issues.

It got me thinking about other books that explore environmental catastrophe from an international angle, such as those by the terrific Paolo Bacigalupi (The Windup Girl, Ship Breaker).

What other novels, or films, or other artistic works do this? I’m especially curious about international writers who give us a different (not American) perspective on this subject.

Reader Interactions

47Comments

  1. 1.

    BGinCHI

    Could have also mentioned Karen Tei Yamashita’s terrific, inventive novel Tropic of Orange.

    Great read if you’ve never read it, or heard of her. She has a bunch of good novels.

  2. 2.

    dm

    Yeah.  Paolo Bacigalupi’s books are wonderful.

    I’m afraid the only novels and stories I can think of are by American authors — e.g., Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower, Parable of the Talents.  These are still worth mentioning (and they’re chillingly prophetic).

    And Kim Stanley Robinson, of course — I was blown away by the glorious optimism of New York 2140.

  3. 3.

    dmsilev

    such as those by the terrific Paolo Bacigalupi

    I read The Calorie Man a while back. Good, but rather depressing.

  4. 4.

    RSA

    This isn’t a topic I’ve read much about, though I do have semi-vivid memories of a science fiction short story about world-wide air pollution, probably written before 1980. I wish I could remember the name and author, but all I recall is the metaphor of a dragon encircling the Earth, leaving only pockets of fresh air to breathe, but at the very end of the story the dragon catches its own tail (perhaps?) and all is lost.

    Otherwise, my favorite non-American science fiction writer is Stanislaw Lem, who mentions in The Futurological Congress (1971) the importance of the air pollution crisis. There’s no detail, but he has a funny bit (which draws on an old joke) about how bureaucracies might deal with intractable problems:

    Above the podium stood a decorated board showing the agenda for the day. The first item of business was the world urban crisis, the second—the ecology crisis, the third—the air pollution crisis, the fourth—the energy crisis, the fifth—the food crisis. Then adjournment. The technology, military and political crises were to be dealt with on the following day, after which the chair would entertain motions from the floor.

    Each speaker was given four minutes to present his paper, as there were so many scheduled—198 from 64 different countries. To help expedite the proceedings, all reports had to be distributed and studied beforehand, while the lecturer would speak only in numerals, calling attention in this fashion to the salient paragraphs of his work. To better receive and process such wealth of information, we all turned on our portable recorders and pocket computers (which later would be plugged in for the general discussion). Stan Hazelton of the U.S. delegation immediately threw the hall into a flurry by emphatically repeating: 4, 6, 11, and therefore 22; 5, 9, hence 22; 3, 7, 2, 11, from which it followed that 22 and only 22!! Someone jumped up, saying yes but 5, and what about 6, 18, or 4 for that matter; Hazelton countered this objection with the crushing retort that, either way, 22.

  6. 6.

    kalakal

    There was a British TV series in the early seventies called DoomWatch about an agency set up to try to prevent the dangerous side effects of the unpricipled use of science and technology. Subjects included toxic waste, noise pollution, genetic research. One of my favourites was about an engineered virus designed to eat plastic waste that mutated to destroy a whole range of plastics including those used for electrical insulation*. When the original writers left it became more of a regular thriller but the first series was great at exploring various routes to manmade environmental global catastrophes.

    Published in book form as ‘Mutant 59: The plastic-eaters by Kit Pedler and Gary David

  9. 9.

    NotMax

    Immediately coming to mind titles which more or less fit:

    Things to Come
    The Rains Came
    The Grapes of Wrath
    The Plow That Broke the Plains
    Crack in the World
    The Day the Earth Caught Fire
    Silent Running
    Soylent Green
    Erin Brockovich
    Snowpiercer
    Wall-E
    The Day After Tomorrow
    .

    Books/stories:

    Earth Abides
    The Postman
    .

  10. 10.

    kalakal

    J. G. Ballard wrote a few “The Drowned World”, “The Wind from Nowhere”

    John Wyndham “The Chrysalids”, “Day of the Triffids”, “The Kraken Wakes”

  12. 12.

    cope

    “Earth Abides” by George R. Stewart, 1949. It chronicles the after effects of a civilization-ending virus and the efforts of the few survivors to start again. It had a profound effect on me when I read it in the early ‘60s. I should re-read it to see how it stands up but it really hit me hard as a kid.

  15. 15.

    banditqueen

    These aren’t necessarily for everyone, but:  A River Runs Through It (Norman Maclean); Oryx and Crake (Margaret Atwood); Tropic of Orange (Karen Tei Yamashita); The Vegetarian (Han Kang).

  20. 20.

    eclare

    River Town, Two Years on the Yangtze by Peter Hessler.  Non-fiction.  An American Peace Corps volunteer spends two years teaching in a town that will be partially flooded when the Three Gorges dam is complete.

  21. 21.

    band gap

    Northwest Passage: The Great Columbia River by William Dietrich (1995).  Non-fiction. I read it sometime in the late ’90s, but I see there is a newer edition published in 2016.

    International because the first half of the Columbia River is in British Columbia. The book explores the history of the second largest river in North America from its value to native people through modern development and the (literally) hundreds of dams built since and their environmental impacts.

    One of the most memorable books I’ve ever read.

  22. 22.

    RSA

    @NotMax:  I haven’t read Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang, but I’ve heard that the global catastrophe includes environmental factors.

  23. 23.

    eclare

    The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan.  Non-fiction.  It is about the causes and effects of the Dust Bowl in the 1930’s.  The photos of the dust storms, and the descriptions of their effects, are harrowing

    Given what is going on with drought out west, a timely read.

  24. 24.

    marcopolo

    Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbeck:

    The book is set in 1999 (25 years in the future from 1974) and consists of diary entries and reports of journalist William Weston, who is the first American mainstream mediareporter to investigate Ecotopia, a small country that broke away from the United States in 1980. Prior to Weston’s reporting, most Americans had been barred from entering the new country, which is depicted as being on continual guard against revanchism. The new nation of Ecotopia consists of Northern California, Oregon, and Washington; it is hinted that Southern California is a lost cause. The novel takes its form as a narrative from Weston’s diary in combination with dispatches that he transmits to his publication, the fictional Times-Post.

    Earth by David Brin

    Set in the year 2038, Earth is a cautionary tale of the harm humans can cause their planet via disregard for the environment and reckless scientific experiments. The book has a large cast of characters and Brin uses them to address a number of environmental issues, including endangered species, global warming, refugees from ecological disasters, ecoterrorism, and the social effects of overpopulation. The plot of the book involves an artificially created black hole which has been lost in the Earth‘s interior and the attempts to recover it before it destroys the planet. The events and revelations which follow reshape humanity and its future in the universe. It also includes a war pitting most of the Earth against Switzerland, fueled by outrage over the Swiss allowing generations of kleptocrats to hide their stolen wealth in the country’s banks.

    Zodiak by Neal Stephenson:

    In the novel, Taylor is a chemist working for GEE, a fictional environmental activism group which stages both protests and direct actions plugging toxic waste pipes. Taylor becomes involved with Basco Industries, a fictional corporation which produced Agent Orange and is a major supplier of organic chlorine compounds. Basco experiments with genetic engineering to develop chemical producing microbes, driving Taylor’s efforts to expose their crimes and preserve Boston Harbor.

    Lots of other good ones listed above

    Edited to add the Rifters Trilogy by Peter Watts:

    His first novel Starfish (1999) reintroduced Lenie Clarke from his short story, “A Niche” (1990); Clarke is a deep-ocean power stationworker physically altered for underwater living and the main character in the sequels: Maelstrom (2001), βehemoth: β-Max (2004) and βehemoth: Seppuku (2005). The last two volumes constitute one novel, but were published separately for commercial reasons.[3] Starfish, Maelstrom, and βehemoth make up a trilogy usually referred to as “Rifters” after the modified humans designed to work in deep-ocean environments.

  26. 26.

    kalakal

    Philip K Dick Dr Bloodmoney 

    Fritz Leiber The Wanderer, Gather Darkness, A Pail of Air, The Moon is Green, Night of the Long Knives

    Roger Zelazny Damnation Alley 

    Nevil Shute On the Beach 

    The Mad Max films

     

  28. 28.

    banditqueen

    Dune and Lord of the Rings might also be read as eco-lit; Memory of Water (Emmi Itäranta); Hunger Games for YA; The Road (Cormac McCarthy)

  29. 29.

    marcopolo

    @dm: Kim Stanley Robinson’s first novel, The Wild Shore, was about living in California after a nuclear war.  He added two more novels (The Gold Coast and Pacific Edge) to what is now called The Three Californias Trilogy.  Each depicts a different view of a future California and this being Robinson, all have strong eco-themes.  They don’t read quite as smoothly as his later work (I don’t recall them being page turners lol), which may be why most folks have never heard of them, but they are interesting thought-experiment novels and I’d recommend them to folks with a little more patience when it comes to reading sf books.  Pacific Edge won the John Campbell Memorial award for best science fiction novel in 1991.

  30. 30.

    marcopolo

    @kalakal:  Blindsight has a lovely origin story for vampirism and can leave you wondering what the actual value of consciousness is for how we live our lives.  Also a pretty great first contact story but the Rifters novels are, on an human ecology level (though perhaps after enough physical adaptation and living in the depths the rifters really are not totally human any more), a totally fascinating look at how body form manipulation to adapt to an environment (working deep in the ocean) can lead to changes in how our brains work.  It’s a lot deeper dive imo than say the way the Expanse books look at how Belters physical adaptations to living in zero-g lead to their changes away from Earth normalcy in living, thinking, and politics.

  31. 31.

    Steeplejack

    @marcopolo:

    Oh, man, Ecotopia. I read that when it came out and thought it was a pretty interesting (what we would later call) crunchy-granola take on a semi-hippie alternate future. Haven’t thought of it in years, although when I do I wonder how it would hold up to rereading.

  32. 32.

    marcopolo

    @BGinCHI:  Zodiak was his second novel.  I picked it up after reading Snowcrash oh so many years ago.  His latest, Termination Shock, is also about ecology/the environment namely global climate change & climate geoengineering.  It was a fun read but it looks like it will be at least a couple more books worth of story by the way it ends.  I guess SevenEves is also thematically an eco-enviro science fiction book premised on what happens to the Earth after a mini black hole shatters the moon.  I liked that a lot too.

  34. 34.

    Raven

    Great book
    The Gulf: The Making of An American Sea Paperback – Illustrated, March 20, 2018

     Jack E. Davis

    “A sensitive and sturdy work of environmental history. . . . [Davis] has a well-stocked mind, and frequently views the history of the Gulf through the prism of artists and writers including Winslow Homer, Wallace Stevens, Ernest Hemingway and John D. MacDonald. His prose is supple and clear. . . . A cri de coeur about the Gulf’s environmental ruin.”
    ― Dwight Garner, New York Times

  35. 35.

    prostratedragon

    Nonfiction, Nature’s Metropolis by William Cronon, the relationship of Chicago’s development to its environment; Encounters with the Archdruid by John McPhee, a profile of Sierra Club head David Brower in terms of some of the main people and forces opposing him.

  36. 36.

    Raven

    Another

     

    A Naturalist Goes Fishing: Casting in Fragile Waters from the Gulf of Mexico to New Zealand’s South Island Kindle Edition

    by James McClintock

    James McClintock takes us to some of the most breathtaking waters the world has to offer while capturing the drama and serendipity in the beloved sport of fishing. We follow him and his fishing buddies and professional guides, as he fishes off the marshy barrier islands of Louisiana, teeming with life but also ravaged by recent disasters like the Deepwater Horizon spill. We travel to the remote waters of New Zealand’s Stewart Island, where the commercial fishing industry is fast disappearing; fish for gigantic Antarctic toothfish through a drilled ice hole at McMurdo Station; and scout for spotted bass on Alabama’s Cahaba River, which has the highest diversity of fresh water fish in North America. As we take this global journey, we see how sea level rise, erosion, pollution, water acidification, and overfishing each cause damage.

  37. 37.

    marcopolo

    One more then I am off for the night.  Woman in the Dunes, by Kobo Abe.  I think I must of read this as part of the list for my MFA orals, oh my, twenty five or so years ago.  Lol, when did I get so late middle-aged.  It isn’t an eco-enviro book as such, but the physical setting of the book (and the main character being stranded there) makes it a really interesting read:

    In 1955,[3] Jumpei Niki,[4] a schoolteacher from Tokyo, visits a fishing village to collect insects. After missing the last bus, he is led by the villagers, in an act of apparent hospitality, to a house in the dunes that can be reached only by rope ladder. The next morning the ladder is gone and he finds he is expected to keep the house clear of sand with the woman living there, with whom he is also to produce children. He ultimately finds a way to collect water which gives him a purpose and a sense of liberty. He also wants to share the knowledge of his technique of water collection with the villagers someday. He eventually gives up trying to escape when he comes to realize that returning to his old life would give him no more liberty. He accepts his new identity and family. After seven years, he is proclaimed officially dead.[3] (In the original Japanese version, he is proclaimed officially as a missing person.)

    Have a good Easter evening everyone.

  38. 38.

    Raven

    And finally
    The Western Flyer: Steinbeck’s Boat, the Sea of Cortez, and the Saga of Pacific Fisheries

    In this book, Kevin M. Bailey resurrects this forgotten witness to the changing tides of Pacific fisheries. He draws on the Steinbeck archives, interviews with family members of crew, and more than three decades of working in Pacific Northwest fisheries to trace the depletion of marine life through the voyages of a single ship. After Steinbeck and his friend Ed Ricketts—a pioneer in the study of the West Coast’s diverse sea life and the inspiration behind “Doc” in Cannery Row—chartered the boat for their now-famous 1940 expedition, the Western Flyer returned to its life as a sardine seiner in California. But when the sardine fishery in Monterey collapsed, the boat moved on: fishing for Pacific ocean perch off Washington, king crab in the Bering Sea off Alaska, and finally wild Pacific salmon—all industries that would also face collapse.

  39. 39.

    Minstrel Michael

    I’m extremely fond of The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner. He was an Englishman but the novel (some 700 pages) is set in America, which he understands entirely too well (in a different novel, he anticipates a Trump-style president with a symbiotic media).

    @marcopolo: I second the nomination of all three of your original suggestions; I don’t know the Rifters books.

  42. 42.

    Minstrel Michael

    @Steeplejack: You’re not wrong about the granola :-) Later he wrote a prequel, Ecotopia Emerging, where he does some pretty cogent thinking about what sorts of forces might be marshaled to make America split apart. I confess I wouldn’t be sorry to see it happen, but I’d prefer if New England could join them :-)

  43. 43.

    tandem

    The Water Knife, also by Paolo Bacigalupi.  Beautifully written, but a very grim and very possible vision of what the southwest US could like after years of drought.  Maybe it’s  a stretch to call it international, but there are hard borders where the state borders used to be — and immigrants from Texas are unwelcome elsewhere.

  44. 44.

    eddie blake

    came back to mention dune (i see someone got there first) and waterworld. definitely nausicaa of the valley of the wind. the megazone 23 series, especially the first two are all about the consequences of environmental devastation and the delusions men will go to to maintain their world.

    also, pretty much the entire universal century cycle from yoshiuki tomino’s mobile suit gundam series. those colony drops are BRUTAL.

    but yeah, duh.

    the expanse

    eta- but yeah, part II. that ryman book, the child garden is INSANE.

  45. 45.

    Tehanu

    Ursula K. LeGuin’s City of Illusions is set in a fairly distant future North America that is mostly depopulated; peaceful villagers live in the East, savage tribes in the Midwest, more peaceful villagers in the Southwest, all kept from expanding or unifying by alien overlords they are mostly unaware of. And her Always Coming Home is a future California inhabited by people who seem to be descendants of, or at least emulators of, California Native Americans.

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