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https://brightgreenfutures.substack.com/p/ep-17-diversity-in-climate-storytelling>
"The obvious reason for diverse storytelling is simply that all kinds of people
exist and deserve to have representation in our culture, of which stories are
an important part. The slightly less obvious reason is that climate
storytelling, in particular, needs to be about everyone because everyone is
impacted by the climate crisis—and everyone needs to be involved in climate
solutions.
The more subtle reasons have to do with climate justice — how the most
marginalized people within a rich country like America are the most adversely
impacted by pollution and the most vulnerable to climate change. Globally, the
countries most likely to suffer from climate-driven droughts and floods and
wildfires are often the ones who contributed the least to the problem. And
that’s not a coincidence. Centuries of imperialism and colonization have built
a world economy based on cheap oil and gas and the exploitation of people all
over the world. The solution to that crisis will involve recognizing that fact
and decolonizing our way of life in order to live sustainably on the planet. It
will mean lifting up those on the bottom of the economic hierarchy and having
those at the top—especially the billionaires and super wealthy—consume less and
pay more to fix the problem.
We have a long history of telling stories only about some folks—the wealthy,
the privileged, the able-bodied. For most of my life, there were very few
science fiction novels with female main characters. I spent more time in alien
POVs than female ones, but mainly it was always men. The hero was a guy, that
was just axiomatic. That the men were white wasn’t even discussed. There’s a
joke that goes,
As we all know, women didn’t exist before 1990. But that’s
exactly what it was like—women simply didn’t do cool things, so why would you
write stories about them?
The same can be said for people of color, queer people, disabled people.
And—
spoiler alert!—
all those folks not only exist and have always existed,
but they are going to exist throughout the climate crisis in the future as
well."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
