This is the Future of Our Planet
By Aatia Davison and others
The state of our planet is in flux. Read all about it!
New York, You’ve Changed
New York 2140, Kim Stanley Robinson
The year is 2140, and every New York street has turned into a canal amid rising sea levels. Ever adaptable, New York is still teeming with life, action and wild characters. An opportunistic market trader, a detective, a popular influencer and building manager all occupy a skyscraper on the former island of Manhattan. Kim Stanley Robinson, also the author of The Ministry for the Future has dark sci-fi visions. (Aatia)
The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin
Winner of The Hugo Award, The Fifth Season really is a unique masterpiece. The world is completely devastated by climate change, and every few years more disaster strikes. The first layer of this novel is similar to the core of many sci-fi and fantasy books, but underneath lay layer upon layer of social, racial, and geo-political commentary, eerily echoing the systemic injustices of our own world. Part of a trilogy, you'll want to read the whole series! (Ali)
Urban Jungle, Ben Wilson
There’s something so strange about city parks says Ben Wilson. Cities are erected to house people, to be centers of life and industry, and as a consequence, nature is destroyed or shut out. Then, to fulfill our human need for green space, we create city parks. They’re artificial. And as a city dweller myself, I love the park. I won’t knock it, but this is compelling. (Aatia)
Indigenous Voices
We Are the Middle of Forever, edit. Dahr Jamail and Stan Rushworth
Consider indigenous perspectives on climate change, human impact on our environment. We Are the Middle of Forever interviews people from indigenous cultures throughout North America as they share their observations, critiques and hopes for Earth’s future. (Aatia)
Trail of Lightning, Rebecca Roanhorse
And for a dose of fiction, there’s Trail of Lightning. This book follows a Navajo monster-hunting duo, traveling long country roads in squeaky old cars à la Supernatural. Maggie, our heroine, is a badass. The catch is that in Roanhorse’s world, most of the population has drowned in climate disaster. It’s a must read. (Aatia)
Chilling Tales
The Blade Between, Sam J. Miller
This book traces industry’s environmental impact on a smaller scale. A New York City photographer returns to his hometown which has seen massive changes due to gentrification and corporate interest. The town’s powerful spirits are not too pleased. (Aatia)
Feed Them Silence, Lee Mandelo
What if we were wolves? I mean, what if I were myself, with my consciousness transposed on a wolf’s brain and this wolf was one of the last remaining of its kind? This is a work of fiction. (Aatia)
Birnam Wood, Eleanor Catton
A ride! When an anarchist farming collective gets a big cash offer from a tech billionaire whose ideals will win out? Lots of twists and turns and plenty of political discourse about our future to chew on! (Colleen)
Resist Eco Burnout
Confessions of a Recovering Environmentalist, Paul Kingsworth
This is an infuriating book guaranteed to infuriate anyone who considers themselves an “environmentalist.” What if drought, flood, famine, storm, migration, and extinction are merely the terminal stage symptoms of an already accomplished catastrophe: a catastrophe that strikes at the very core of who we are because it inheres in the very language through which we’ve come to understand ourselves and the world? The great challenge of our times, Kingsnorth argues, is less technological and political than it is linguistic: a crisis of story and poetry. (David)
Consumed, Aja Barber
A wonderful, practical guide to ridding yourself of fast fashion and framing your wardrobe on a feminist, anti-racist, decolonial mindset–in a way that’s also lots of fun! Best of all, this book is guilt free! (Bex)
The Arctic Circle
Camp Zero, Michelle Min Sterling
I wonder if Denis Villeneuve, the director behind Dune, Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 knows about this book yet. Should I call him up? Here’s my pitch:
In the not too distant future, our planet has been ravaged by climate disaster. A group people (colonizers?) travel to the far north of Canada in search of a fresh start at Camp Zero. Rose, as she’s called, is on an undercover mission working as an escort within their group. She has to act the part in order in order to secure a home for herself and her mom. The story is very noir, propulsive with a cast of wildly imagined characters. There are multiple perspectives and many mysteries to keep us all turning pages.
Denis, if you’re interested, have your people get in touch. (Aatia)
How High We Go in the Dark, Sequoia Nagamatsu
This book made me openly weep at a coffee shop. Deeply poignant and, at times, devastating, Nagamatsu chronicles through the world’s response to a deadly pandemic that largely endangers kids. The third act’s tentatively hopeful and optimistic tone was a perfect bookend to this character-driven novel. (Genni)
