I have yet to find a climate-fiction dystopia that features a protagonist over 50. That’s not to say that there aren’t plenty of supporting characters or ensemble characters in that category. But not protagonists. There’s probably one or two out there that I just don’t know about, but I can’t believe there are many. This might be surprising, given that most sci-fi that appears in this country (US) tends to take place in the global north (esp. US), where life expectancy has (until the last couple of years) grown longer. But it’s also not surprising. A lot of authors writing climate-fiction are under 40, so they might not be able to identify with those of us who are (to them) superannuated; but then, even Louise Erdrich and Margaret Atwood have pretty young central characters, in their cli-fi works. Maybe the assumption is that all the older folks will die out quickly and that young people won’t live to old age much anymore. Based on the climate data, as well as what we’re seeing on the ground in the most vulnerable parts of the world, those seem like pretty reasonable assumptions upon which to premise a realistic future.
Or it may be that Americans idolize youth. But I wonder if part of the issue isn’t generational resentment. I sense a current of underlying mistrust in a lot of the youth strikes and protests – not just towards the gray-haired “leaders” who have no intention of doing anything meaningful to mitigate, or even adapt to, climate chaos, but, well – mistrust of anyone over 30. A young (to me) climate activist recently told me that ze couldn’t get into a Sunrise Movement organizer training program because they don’t take people over 30. As somebody who’s done some organizing, that strikes me as a bit of a short-sighted strategy. Sunrise has done great work, but there aren’t exactly millions of people in the streets so far. And many of the XR people in the streets in Britain are decidedly post-30 – vide white-haired seniors gluing their hands together and being carted off by the cops. Now, the local Sunrise folks here in our little college town have been nothing but welcoming to me when I’ve showed up to their events – and I’m guessing some of the most active people there are over 30. But there seems to be a general, low-level age-based animus out there. And why wouldn’t there be? Most of the anthropogenic CO2 in the atmosphere got there in the last 30 years (i.e., my adult life). So, it’s natural to ask questions Why didn’t you do anything?? Or What were you thinking?! Well, for my part, I honestly didn’t realize how fast things had gotten how bad, until that IPCC report last year. We’d become so inured to the scientists saying “Oh – you know those last projections we made? Well, turns out things are way worse. But we cannot definitively link . . . ” etc. So, when they started saying, “OK – we’re not gonna lie – things are pretty fucking terrible. Probably worse than we can imagine. Go ahead and panic,” it got my attention. I think that was true for a lot of people. Previously, it had been a kind of “the-poor-ye-have-always-with-ye” kind of thing – “Terrible problem, just terrible. Yes, we really must do something about that. Seems like there are good technologies out there, right? More people are riding bicycles. And the opinion polls . . . Well, maybe it will destroy us in the next century.” But no – it’s more like the coming generation – some would say decade. Then there’s the enormousness of the enormity. Who can comprehend the scope of it all? Let alone all the variables? Let alone what levers to pull and buttons to push to fix it? In The Wall, by John Lanchester (who is pre-Millenial by a good bit), the main character, a twenty-something, is enduring a stint as a “Guardian” on the Wall – an actual “Great Wall of Britain,” designed to keep out "The Others," that surrounds the entire coastline of the country. It’s a shitty job that all young people have to do and that many don’t return from. But his parents were already too old for service by the time the Wall was built. This creates a certain amount of bitterness, as you might imagine. The parents respond to the situation by willed ignorance and escapism. There are no more beaches anywhere in the world, due to sea-level rise, and they’re obsessed with beach movies. Frankie Avalon. Anette Funicello. They’re comfortable enough, well inland, while the son – well, he has adventures. Just read the book (it’s very good). I expect this generational conflict to become more pronounced in literature, in the coming decade. One’s generation has a lot to do with the way one views the future. For the post-WWII generation, the future looked bright. My dad talks about the sense that, having defeated the Axis and the Depression, Americans could do anything. Of course, succeeding generations didn’t see it quite that way. Korea and Vietnam went south (literally). There seemed to have been an upwelling of idealism in the 1960s, but the backlash by the “silent majority” gave birth to the Nixon-Reagan era, of which we are in the advanced stages. I came of age when AIDS did. And Reagan came to office. And American real incomes started the inexorable slide we’re still experiencing. It’s all too easy for me to extrapolate further decline, corruption, disaster, degeneration. But it seems like young people either (a.) can’t afford to be defeatist about the future b/c they haven’t had one yet; or (b.) feel born under a cloud of doom. Maybe a combination of both. Some fester in depression or die by suicide. Others throw themselves into organizing and fighting. Whatever the outcome, they’re producing some interesting writing. I’ll keep reading them – a even if their main characters or speakers aren’t people my age.
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June 2021
Kristin Prevallet Author/Editor
I'm a writer & teacher in Lawrence, Kansas who actually believes the scientists. I wrote a book of poems called Of Some Sky that seems to have something to do with all this. |