NOTE: I’m on Substack these days (@davidrguenette454046) and a version of this post is on my Substack. My Substack title? It is called (wait for it), The Steep Climes.

 

Why We Fight Write

One year and one month ago, I wrote a post titled “Why The Steep Climes Quartet? Showing People in Today’s Climate Crisis.” The post holds up pretty well and my website stats would love for you to go check this post out.

I’m sticking with the opening paragraph:

I want to write climate fiction within which people can see themselves. What I don’t want to do with this series is to add to the already over-crowded pool of climate apocalypse novels that take place in future drowned or desert worlds we can’t correlate to our real lives. There are some great future climate fiction novels and stories, don’t get me wrong. Unfortunately, there is also a lot of climate fiction that falls into the “Fun with Apocalypse” approach, where, like many post-nuclear apocalypse stories from decades ago, these novels are all about getting the guns and the girl.

Since I’m gearing up for another of my presentations (up in Williamstown, on Wednesday, September 24, at 6:00 pm, at the David Joyce Milne Public Library, in case you want to drop by), I, of course, seek to interest potential attendees. I’m trying to describe as clearly as possible what will be in it for them should they come to the talk. As much as I am by nature a long-form guy, always whispering in my thoughts is the old business dictum that only bullet points really matter, so here’s me trying to comply:

We hear a lot about climate change these days, as well we should, but for most of us this still feels far away, in the news, abstract. But what can we expect in our neck of the world as climate change consequences increase in frequency and severity as time moves forward? This presentation considers where we live and extrapolates what our future may present, all drawn from a deep study of climate change that underpins the series. There’ll be talk about The Steep Climes Quartet and how this work provides a lens through which we:

• • Expect higher costs in household economies
  • Appreciate the most vulnerable locations
  • Understand what the effect on tourism could be
  • Consider how agriculture and outdoor work might change
  • Ponder the complexity of local, state, and federal politics and the GHG emissions work that needs to be done
  • Contemplate the timeline and what needs to happen to avoid worse climate change catastrophes

Climate Change is Expensive

It’s no accident that the first bullet point concerns household economies because household economies don’t get talked about enough in climate action circles and I’m afraid that’s a big mistake we’re making. It certainly doesn’t help that when we talk about costs, we tend toward pollyannish claims that electricity will be cheaper. It isn’t that this claim is wrong, but there’s still a lot of work to be done before we arrive at this golden age, and most of that work will end up getting paid for by us. I’m not going to go into things here like the way power utilities get to raise rates, but that makes for just a part of what’s ahead as we build out the grid and add digital intelligence for virtual power plants, for example. I’m concerned that if we aren’t upfront about costs—and there are a hell of a lot more costs to be applied in a worsening climate—the movement comes across like the well-off elites too many already think we are.

The fact is that climate change is expensive. Yes, doing what we must to reduce greenhouse gas emissions takes time and money, but this course of action will always be impressively so much cheaper than doing nothing.

We know that the signs of and fallouts from global warming are already part of our experience and there is more—much more—to come. But even if we escape for some fortunate length of time the heatwaves or fires or storms that increasingly appear in this wide world, we can’t escape the consequences of international, national, and local politics, or the unsettling effects on the world economy. I’ve started to use the phrase President Big Oil Stooge for Trump, and boy, is his effect on politics and climate change inescapable. President Big Oil Stooge and his compliant “Republican” Congress (and his purchased Supreme Court!) make it that much more likely we can’t avoid the increasing distress in our own families and households from climate change. This will make—is making—household expenses much greater.

The fact is that climate change is expensive. Yes, doing what we must to reduce greenhouse gas emissions takes time and money, but this course of action will always be impressively so much cheaper than doing nothing.

Climate change is already at work in our lives in terms of the size of our energy bills, the rising prices for food, and, of course, property insurance. Add in the absence of the Biden bills’ tax credits and rebates, and household climate action costs goes up that much more. But let’s face it, even with those significant tax credits, most Americans were left out of the action; people living paycheck to paycheck have a problem waiting for re-imbursement at tax time, never mind carrying the amortized cost of, say, installing a solar and battery system. While there were some very modest grant programs for poor people to put in heat pumps and other things to improve energy efficiency, most Americans—and it is a shameful majority—don’t have the financial resources to take these sorts of actions.

What We Can Do About Climate Change: Those Who Can Should Spend

The most common question people ask about climate change may be “What can I do about it?” It turns out, for anyone who can afford it, there’s plenty a person can do. Yet there remains a deafening silence among climate activists who instead should be shouting at the people who can afford to put up solar arrays or buy an EV or switch to more efficient appliances. With tech—and many of the ways to reduce GHG are based on tech—it is the early adopters who help bring products down in price by being the economic cohort that builds the early market. Fortunately, the nature of solar and battery tech means that cost drops are happening, despite the tepid participation of those households with sufficient resources.

And don’t get me started on economically advantaged NIMBYs.

What we can all do is vote (well, depending on the state and the level of voter suppression, actually). We need to rid ourselves of politicians who are in the pocket of Big Oil for the necessary change to meet the climate crisis. We need to be aware of climate change and how it results in higher costs for our households. We need to understand the financial conditions too many of us live in and address this head on. If we don’t, climate action will remain the domain of the elite, as far too many Americans still see us.

Writing About People Who Are Like Me and You

I’m ending my pitch for the next presentation this way:

The Steep Climes Quartet shares aspects of the thriller genre with action that drives plots, but the main focus is on the deeply drawn characters we identify with that are living in a place we know. The series is entertaining but also provides a deeply thoughtful glimpse into the years before us and our children’s and grandchildren’s future.

There are great climate fiction works out there. One of my favorites is Jenny Offill’s Weather, and that’s because climate change is in the background, bothersome, sure, but the characters’ in Weather are living their lives. Most of the characters in The Steep Climes Quartet—except for those working in climate change sectors—go about their lives thinking much more about many other things, like a pending bill to be paid, and their jobs and financial situations, their relationships and families, and their own various and sometimes odd personal struggles. As the series progresses from Kill Well, which takes place in 2026 (next year, yikes!), through to the last book, Farm to Me, more characters are caught up with climate in some way, whether victims of extreme weather or finding themselves growing more and more active working toward—or at least donating to!—climate action.

As I’ve mentioned, there are characters who focus on climate change or who work to keep fossil fuels a profitable business, and such characters allow me to explore specific issues and challenges of climate change, whether technology, or politics and politics, or economics and society. But even then, these characters are still living their lives, figuring out loves and friendships, and facing their inner crackpots and demons.

You know, life.

Positively working toward progress on climate change, or even just hearing about it on the news, doesn’t mean their lives otherwise stop. And that’s the challenge we all face, which is how we might contribute to a better society and a healthier world and live as full of a life as we can as we figure out how we’re going to get through the day, the decade, the century.

This is why I’m writing the series.