Podcast: Kim Stanley Robinson Says ‘Either You’re An Environmentalist, Or You’re Not Paying Attention’
Award-winning writer Kim Stanley Robinson discusses sci-fi’s role in helping us understand the world.
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Think of the Anthropocene as a science fiction thought experiment. We imagine future geologists looking back into the rock record, and trying to pinpoint when humans became the dominant geologic force. In many ways, science fiction is the perfect genre for exploring environmental issues – running out scenarios and “what ifs” to their extremes, and imagining how that world would look and feel.
Award-winning science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson does exactly that in many of his works. In this episode of Generation Anthropocene, producer Mike Osborne sits down with Robinson to talk about his creative process and environmental thinking, what makes for good science fiction, and the genre’s capacity to imagine future societies shaped by climate change.
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