Climate Change: An Apocalypse for Urban Space? An Ecocritical Reading of “Venice Drowned” and “The Tamarisk Hunter”

Yıl 2020, , 115 - 126, 05.02.2020

Özlem Akyol

https://doi.org/10.22559/folklor.1137

Öz

As encapsulated by eco-conscious author Margaret Atwood, climate change has
an unprecedented effect on human life. Throughout history human beings have
adapted to numerous climatic changes by complying with the available sources of
food, housing, clothing, water or warmth. Today, however, climate change creates
more devastating and instant consequences that populations and the ecosystem
cannot cope with. The situation seems to have become too compelling to ignore
so many authors feel an urge to warn people by transforming graphs and scientific
data into emotion and experience in their narratives. At this point, “climate fiction”
commonly known as “cli-fi” emerges as a new category engaging global and
local effects of the global warming with literature. Despite the fact that cli-fi was
not officially coined until the late 2000’s, many authors have been writing about
climate change for years now. In this sense, “Venice Drowned” (1981) and “The
Tamarisk Hunter” which was published 25 years later are the best examples to
illustrate how deep-rooted and long-standing environmental issue climate is. Kim Stanley Robinson and Paolo Bacigalupi have produced a great deal of
works relating to not only the physical destruction of climate change to the Earth
but also its long-term effects on our social and economic structures. Accordingly,
the stories both set in urban space skillfully exemplify the social, political and
economic effects of climate change. So far, a great amount of cli-fi texts have been
produced and literary critics have also responded to this trend with an increased
quantity of analyses in the context of eco-criticism. In this paper “Venice Drowned”
by Kim Stanley Robinson and “The Tamarisk Hunter” by Paolo Bacigalupi will be
studied through the theories of ecocriticism in order to demonstrate how cli-fi texts
function in providing the reader with an objective perception by elucidating the
explicit and belated challenges posed by the problem of climate change.

Anahtar Kelimeler

cli-fi, global warming

Kaynakça

• Bacigalupi, P. (2008). The tamarisk hunter (ed.), Pump six and other stories. USA: Night Shade. pp. 123-237.
• Buell, F. (2003). From apocalypse to way of life: Environmental crisis in the American century. New York: Routledge.
• Garrard, G. (2004). Ecocriticism. London: Routledge.
• Hamilton, S. (2003). Traces of the future: Biotechnology, science fiction, and the media (ed.). Science Fictions Studies, S. 30(2), pp. 267–282.
• Heise, U. (2010). Afterword: Postcolonial ecocriticism and the question of literature (ed.). Postcolonial green: Environmental politics and world narratives, pp. 251–258.
• Heise, U. (2016). Imagining extinction: The cultural meanings of endangered species. London: The University of Chicago.
• Johns-Putra, A. (2016). Climate change in literature and literary studies: From cli-fi, climate change theatre and ecopoetry to ecocriticism and climate change criticism (ed.). Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, S. 7, pp. 266-282.
• Kaplan, E. (2016). Climate trauma: Foreseeing the future in dystopian film and fiction. USA: Rutgers University.
• Kluwick, U. (2014). Talking about climate change. The Oxford handbook of ecocriticism, pp. 502-519. New York: Oxford University.
• Rayner, S. (2009). Foreword (ed.). Why we disagree about climate change: Understanding controversy, inaction, opportunity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University. XXI-XXIV.
• Robinson, K. (2010). Venice drowned (ed.). The best of Kim Stanley Robinson. Canada: Night Shade Books, pp. 1-19.
• Robinson, K. (2005). Fifty degrees below. London: Harper Collins.
• Robinson, K. (2012). 2312. New York: Orbit.
• Svante, A. (2009). On the influence of carbonic acid in the air upon the temperature of the ground. (ed.), Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, No. 5(41), pp. 237-276.
• Trexler, A. and Johns-Putra, A. (2011). Climate change in literature and literary criticism. (ed.), WIREs Climate Change, No. 2, pp. 185–200.
• Tweed, C. and Sutherland, M. (2007). Built cultural heritage and sustainable urban development(ed.). Landscape and Urban Planning, No. 83(1), pp. 62-69.
• Electronic resources
• Arrhenius, S. (2005). The father of climate change. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www. theguardian.com/environment/2005/jun/30/climatechange.climatechangeenvironment2. (Accessed: 07.04.2019). Climate Change 2013: The physical science basis, IPCC fifth assessment report. Retrieved from https:// www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1/. (Accessed: 11.03.2019).
• IPCC, 2013: Summary for policymakers. In: climate change 2013: the physical science basis. contribution of working group I to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Retrieved from https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads /2018/02/WG1AR5_ SPM_FINAL.pdf. (Accessed: 18.02.2019).
• Macfarlane, R. (2005). The burning question. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.guardian. co.uk/books/2005/sep/24/featuresreviews.guardianreview29. (Accessed: 18.04.2019).
• Morton, O. (2008). Heroes of the environment 2008. Time Magazine. Retrieved from http:// content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1841778_1841779_1841803,00.html. (Accessed: 20.04.2019).
• Pearce, F. (2015). Drought is a global problem. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian. com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/oct/09/why-isnt-there-a-global-body-tomonitor- drought. (Accessed: 29.02.2019).
• Sullivan, J. (2017). Can science fiction save the earth? Retrieved from https://lithub.com/can-sciencefiction- save-the-earth/. (Accessed: 01.03.2019).
• Steward, I. (2019). How can our blue planet be running out of water? Retrieved from http://www.bbc. co.uk/guides/z3qdd2p. Accessed: (17.01.2019).
• The human cost of natural disasters: A global perspective. (2015). Retrieved from https://reliefweb. int/report/world/human-cost-natural-disasters-2015-global-perspective. (Accessed: 16.02.2019).
• World resources institute. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.wri.org/blog/2015/02/3-maps-explainindia- s-growing-water-risks. (Accessed: 16.02.2019).