Is science fiction holding back climate action?
Is science fiction doing more harm than good in the fight against climate change?
For centuries, we’ve been reading, watching and listening to science fiction. And all too often, it’s pretty pessimistic about our future, especially when it touches on the topic of climate change.
This is leading some to ask whether these doom and gloom stories are doing the climate fight more harm than good - causing us to feel so anxious and powerless that we don’t take action.
So for this week's climate question, Graihagh Jackson is asking: Is sci-fi holding us back?
First broadcast on 5th April 2021.
Graihagh Jackson is joined by:
Amy Brady, editor-in-chief of the Chicago Review of Books, where she writes a monthly column called Burning Worlds. In it she explores how fiction addresses climate change.
Cheryl Slean is a playwright, filmmaker and educator working with the National Resource Defense Council’s Re-write the Future campaign to increase accurate climate stories in film and television.
Ken Liu is a futurist and author of speculative fiction. He has won the Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy awards. His debut novel, The Grace of Kings, is the first volume in a silkpunk epic fantasy series.
Producer: Jordan Dunbar
Editor: Emma Rippon
Sound Engineer: Andy Garratt and Tom Brignell
Last on
Broadcasts
- Mon 3 Jan 2022 04:06GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service
- Mon 3 Jan 2022 09:06GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service
- Mon 3 Jan 2022 13:32GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service East and Southern Africa, South Asia, West and Central Africa & East Asia only
- Mon 3 Jan 2022 20:06GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service Online, Americas and the Caribbean, UK DAB/Freeview & Europe and the Middle East only
- Mon 3 Jan 2022 21:06GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service except Online, Americas and the Caribbean, Europe and the Middle East & UK DAB/Freeview
Podcast
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The Climate Question
Why we find it so hard to save our own planet, and how we might change that.