Alaimo, Stacey, 41
alien encounters: advanced extraterrestrials in H. G. Wells, 25–28; alien other in South African SF, 145, 149; alien susceptibility to bacteria in War of the Worlds, 27; in Avatar, 220–24; British “cosy catastrophe” narratives, 79–80; colonized earth in The Genocides, 81; cyborgs, 145, 149, 155, 221; empathy emergence in War of the Worlds, 29–30; “first contact” narratives, 77; human/animal couplings in District 9, 151, 154–55; human simulacra/phantoms in Solaris, 228–30; indigenous Other in Avatar, 13, 19; Martians in City, 46; 1950s alien menace narratives, 78–79; sympathetic prawns in District 9, 151–52, 154–55, 157n20. See also human beings; robots
Anderson, Perry, 158
animals: animal objectification in Bacigalupi, 185–86, 188; animal rights movement, 89–90; dog paradise in City, 47; human-animal analogy in H. G. Wells, 27–28, 36–37, 250; human-animal couplings in District 9, 151, 154–55; nonhuman values and, 250; primitivist conceptions of, xi. See also human beings; mass extinction; multispecies relations; nature
Anthropocene: defiant rationality in Avatar and, 221–23; Enlightenment philosophy and, 210; overview, 206–8; scientific provenance of, x, 4–5; SF as interpretation of, 16. See also climate change; mass extinction
anthropocentrism. See human beings
apocalypse: ancient ruins as projected future, 11–12; apocalyptic capitalism, 12–14; apocalyptic religious discourse, 254–55; class difference in apocalyptic worlds, 201–2, 204n27; early development of, 48–49; in Kim Stanley Robinson, 245–46; Last Man theme, 48, 166; natural catastrophe themes, 50–51; nuclear catastrophe themes, 4, 116; ordinariness and anomaly in, 158–161, 170–74; parodies of, 161–66, 169–170; pastoral new-beginning mode, 49; post-apocalyptic theme types, 3; radical potential of doom, 12–13; retained agency in, 4; staged apocalypse in Girlfriend in a Coma, 161–66; survival of lasting catastrophe, 10–11; transformation of humanity, 13–14, 169–73. See also climate change; dystopian fiction; eco-catastrophe narratives; nuclear weapons/nuclear war; scarcity
Arata, Stephen, 77
Asimov, Isaac: ecological limits in, 7, 20n17. Works: Foundation and Earth, 20n17; Foundation’s Edge, 20n17; Before the Golden Age, 40; Robots and Empire, 7
Astounding Science Fiction Stories, 42, 78. See also City series
Atwood, Margaret: climate change themes in, 128, 131; cultural alienation as theme in, 166–69, 174; eco-religion in, 257; environmentalist ethics in, 140n7; Quiet Earth theme in, 11; reversal of historical expansion in, 15. Works: The Handmaid’s Tale, 117; MaddAddam series, 257; Oryx and Crake, 11, 18, 128, 166–69, 171, 173–74; “Time Capsule Found on the Dead Planet,” 11, 15; The Year of the Flood, 128, 131, 257
Auden, W. H., 1
austerity economics, 18
Australia: economic crisis as SF theme, 121–24; Melbourne as Sea and Summer setting, 117–18; as paradigmatic ecological site, 18, 115. Works: An Appendix to the Former Work, 115; On the Beach, 115, 116–17; Beloved Son, 117; Colymbia, 116; Down There in Darkness, 117; “The Fittest,” 117; La découverte australe par une homme-volant, 115; L’histoire des Sévarambes, 115; Melbourne and Mars, 116; Mundus alter et idem, 115; And Now Time Doth Waste Me, 117; The Sea and Summer (Drowning Towers, U.S. title), 116–25
Avatar: Anthropocene thinking and, 206; defiant rationality in, 221–24; ecological interconnectedness in, 219–21; human-world gap, 214–15, 217–18; Kantian transcendence in, 209–15; metaphysical gaps in, 214–15; ontological gaps in, 209–11; planet-sense in, 207–8; as political allegory, 13, 19
Bacigalupi, Paolo: dystopian themes in, 180–83, 188–89; ecotopian transformation in, 183–84, 188–89; post-apocalyptic beauty in, 11; utopian political themes in, 18, 179–180. Works: “The Calorie Man,” 181–82; The Drowned Cities, 41; “The People of Sand and Slag,” 179–80, 183, 185–86, 188; “Pop Squad,” 179–80, 183, 185–88; “Pump Six,” 180, 183, 185, 187–89; “The Tamarisk Hunter,” 181; The Windup Girl, 127, 181; “Yellow Card Man,” 181–82
Ballard, J. G.: apocalyptic themes in, 50, 255; eco-catastrophe novels by, 80–82; influence on Kim Stanley Robinson, 253–54. Works: The Crystal World, 80, 253–55; The Drought, 80, 84; The Drowned World, 80, 255; The Wind from Nowhere, 80
Barad, Karen, 142n27
Barry, John, 130
Barthes, Roland, 60
Beagle (fictional spaceship), 102–5, 108, 110–11
Bellamy, Edward, 43
Bentham, Jeremy, 109
Bergson, Henri, 211
Berman, Marshall, 2
Bernes, Jasper, 205n29
Beukes, Lauren, 143
biotic transfer, 82–83, 86–88, 91
Blomkamp, Neill, 151, 153. See also District 9
Blue Planet, 226
Borgstrom, Georg, 109
Bould, Mark, ix
Boulding, Kenneth E., 6–7, 105
Boyle, T. C., 127
Brave New World (Aldous Huxley), 2–3
Bretonne, Nicolas Edme Restif de la, 115
Brin, David, 51
Brunner, John: critique of ecological imperialism, 87; depiction of science in, 259–60; ecological horror in, 11; influence on Kim Stanley Robinson, 253. Works: The Sheep Look Up, 11, 40, 87, 259–260; Stand on Zanzibar, 87, 253
Bruno, Giordano, 251
Buckell, Tobias, 41
Buckland, Andrew, 157n20
Buell, Lawrence, 41–42, 53, 145
Burnet, Macfarlane, 123
Butler, Octavia E., 12–13, 257
Byrne, Deirdre, 143
Callenbach, Ernest: ecological utopia style, 183, 189; sustainability theme in, 43. Works: Ecotopia, 3, 43, 183, 185
Cameron, James, 13, 220. See also Avatar
Campbell, John W., 42, 45, 78, 80
capitalism. See economy; Marx/Marxism
Carr, Terry, 40
Carson, Rachel: ecology of extinction in, 34, 38n32; referenced in The Genocides, 85; scientific discourse and, 260. Works: Silent Spring, x, 3–4, 251
Checklist of Fantastic Literature, 2
cities: city-country dialectic in SF, 2; as closed-world spaceships, 107; Junk City post-apocalyptic theme, 3, 10–11; as sites of environmental catastrophe, 45–46; techno-futurism, 48; utopian cities, 1–2. See also City series; technology
City series (Clifford Simak): evolution theme in, 42–43, 45, 48, 52; optimism-pessimism dialectic in, 17; pastoral mode in, 45–48; publication of, 42
Clarke, Arthur C., 164
classic science fiction, 7, 17, 42, 52–53, 248
climate change: abrupt climate change, 244; anthropogenic climate change in The Ice People, 136; earthcare principle and, 128–130, 137–39; as ecological SF theme, 243–45; future people viewpoint, 18; global warming in Souvenir, 146, 150–51; Hansen predictions for, 192–93; as Le Guin world reduction, 65; overview of SF works, 127–28; planetary awareness and, 207–8; religious denial of, 254–55; in The Road, 140n15; scientific proof and, 213; in Sea and Summer, 117–20, 122; temporality of climate change, 4–5
Club of Rome, 40
cognitive estrangement: deflationary vs. inflationary modes in, 16; science faction and, 196–97; Suvin formulation of, xi, 62; in WALL-E, 15; world reduction compared with, 62–65
Cold War: catastrophic future during, 159; communist menace narratives, 78–79; Greener Than You Think apocalyptic themes and, 49; 1960s policy critique, 82; nuclear catastrophe narratives, 4, 116; post-apocalyptic themes and, 3; Spaceship Earth image and, 104
Collard, Andrée, 140n17
Coupland, Douglas, 18, 161–66, 171, 173–74
Crehan, Stewart, 147
Crosby, Alfred, 83
Crowley, John, 254
Crutzen, Paul, x
Csicsery-Ronay, Istvan, Jr., 159
cyberpunk, 9
cyborgs, 145, 149, 155, 221–22
Daoism: ecological leftism and, 17, 56–57, 59–73; egoistic self and, 57–58, 64–68; yin utopianism, 62–68, 72
Day after Tomorrow, The, 245
Derrida, Jacques, 219
DeVore, Irven, x
disaster narratives. See eco-catastrophe narratives
Disch, Thomas, 40, 68, 84. See also Genocides, The
District 9 (Neill Blomkamp): apocalyptic futurity in, 18; depiction of Nigerians in, 153–54; documentary style in, 151; plot overview, 151–53; as South African SF, 143; sympathetic prawns in, 151–52, 154–55, 157n20
Doyle, Arthur Conan, 83
Dudgeon, Robert Ellis, 116
dystopian fiction: Australia as dystopian site, 115–16; climate change dystopian fiction, 127–29, 131, 135, 139; cognitive estrangement in, 181; as contemporary realism, 254–55; dystopian fundamentalism in The Telling, 71; natural dystopia in Bacigalupi, 180; techno-scientific dystopia in Atwood, 166–67; utopia as implicit in, xi, 116, 180–82, 188–89. See also apocalypse; climate change; eco-catastrophe narratives; nuclear weapons/nuclear war; scarcity; utopia; waste spaces
Earth Abides (George R. Stewart): apocalyptic theme in, 49; literary influences of, 50–51; optimism-pessimism dialectic in, 17; plot overview, 51–52; publication of, 42
eco-catastrophe narratives: climate change narratives, 127–28; disaster realism in Gee, 134; eco-catastrophe causes in Sea and Summer, 122–25; ecological SF theme, 243; futuristic utopia as counterbalancing theme, 16; 1960s anti-technological New Wave, 80, 82; 1960s eco-catastrophe narratives, 80; nuclear catastrophe narratives, 4, 116; overpopulation themes in, 107–8; science faction and, 200–202; self-extinction in The Genocides, 85–86; SF-reality dialectic and, 17–18; in South African SF, 145. See also apocalypse; climate change; dystopian fiction; nuclear weapons/nuclear war; scarcity; waste spaces
ecocide, 101
ecocritique: affinities with SF criticism, 41–42; deflationary vs. inflationary modes in, 16; of ecological imperialism, 82–83, 86–91; as science fiction, 17
ecofeminism. See feminism
ecological imperialism, 82–83, 86–91
ecological literary criticism, 53
ecological science fiction: contemporary works, 41; crisis as key theme in, 243; Disch “On Saving the World” statement on, 84; early works in, x, 42; earthcare principle in, 128–30; as ecological discourse, 251–53; ecological writing and, 192–93; environmentalist movement and, 56–57, 89–90; 1950s alien menace narratives, 78–79; 1960s anti-technological New Wave, 80, 82; 1960s eco-catastrophe narratives, 80; 1970s environmental crises and, 40, 65, 68; SF-reality dialectic, ix–x, 16–17, 53, 83, 101, 116; speaking for future generations in, 250–51
ecology: concept of place in, 148; critique of economy in, 57, 75n40; deep ecology, 56, 256; early development of discipline, 25, 30–32; ecological pessimism, 200–202; elimination of species in Men Like Gods, 32–37; in extra-planetary themes, 41; futuristic thinking in, 192–93; germs as weapons in H. G. Wells, 26, 34; Heideggerian philosophy in, 206–7; human survival as goal, 248–49; insect social behavior study, 28; invasive species and biotic transfer study, 82–83, 86–88, 91; natural catastrophe in Earth Abides, 50–52; 1970s environmental crises and, 65, 68; originary “oceanic feeling” of, 233, 238–39, 240n20; political ecology, 56–60, 67, 72, 199–202, 257–59; SF as ecological discourse, 251–53; world correlators and, 217–18. See also population ecology
ecomaternalism, 131–33, 137–39, 140n17
economy: anticapitalism in Avatar, 13, 206; apocalyptic capitalism, 3, 12–14, 85–86; austerity economics, 18; capitalist excess in The Ice People, 135; capitalist “invisible hand” self-regulation, 108–9; closed Spaceman economy, 6–9, 105; ecological view of, 57, 61–73, 75n40; environmental sustainability and, 184–85; financial crisis in Sea and Summer, 121–24; global slums in ecological thinking, 201–2, 204n27, 205n29; limitless expansion as capitalist theme, 5–7, 248–49; non-capitalist habitats, 56; post-apocalyptic stratification in Oryx and Crake, 166–69; post-consumerism in Daybreakers, 13–14; social welfare programs, 18, 109–10. See also Marx/Marxism
eco-thriller genre, 195
ecotopia: as Bacigalupi theme, 179–80; Callenback formulation of, 3; ecodystopian strategies for, 182–83; ecological utopia style, 183–84; in nonhuman Earths, 12; nostalgic visualization in WALL-E, 15; sustainability in The Man Who Awoke, 43. See also utopia
Ehrlich, Paul, 40, 100, 102, 109
Elton, Charles S., 31–32, 82–83
energy crisis: in 1970s SF, 40; blood as energy in Dabreakers’ 2019, 13–14; calorie wars in Bacigalupi, 181–82; climate change tandem apocalypse, 5; Enlightenment philosophy and, 203; in Lawrence Manning, 40; as Le Guin world reduction, 65; tar sands oil extraction, 192
environmental science fiction. See ecological science fiction
ethnicity (indigeneous Other in Avatar), 13, 19
ethology, 30
Evernden, Beil, 148
evolution: aesthetic species in Avatar and, 223; disease resistance in Men Like Gods, 34; disease resistance in The Ice People, 135; elimination of species in Men Like Gods, 32–35; ethics as component of, 43; lifeboat ethics and, 109–10; natural balance in City, 45, 48; natural catastrophe in Earth Abides, 50–52; as paradigmatic mode of SF, 42; planetary awareness and, 207–8; population ecology and, 101–3, 108; as War of the Worlds theme, 26, 30
feminism: Disch on feminist SF, 68; ecofeminist consciousness in Word for World is Forest, 88; ecofeminist movement, xi, 141n18; ecomaternalism and, 131–33, 137–39, 140n17; Gee as feminist writer, 134; in The Ice People, 18; in Le Guin, 68; 1960s anti-technological New Wave and, 80; women’s activism in The Ice People, 137–39
fictionalization of science, x
Fleischer, Richard, 107. See also Soylent Green
fossil fuel crisis. See energy crisis
Fraenkel, Abraham, 217
Frankfurt School, 199
Freedman, Carl, 16
Freud, Sigmund, 233
Fuller, Richard Buckminster, 105
futuristic themes: advanced development in Men Like Gods, 32; ecology as necessity in, 41; limitless capitalist expansion and, 5–7; Turner frontier thesis and, 6–7. See also dystopian fiction; time and temporality; utopia
Gabriel, Peter, 15
Gadamer, Hans-Georg, 201
gender: beauty culture in Souvenir, 149; earthcare principle and, 128–29, 137–39; ecomaternalism, 131–33, 137–39, 140n17; fragmentary feminine experience in Souvenir, 146; gendered nonhuman agency, 142n27; gendered utopia in Le Guin, 63; gender segregation in The Ice People, 135–39; sexual reproduction in Bacigalupi’s “Pop Squad,” 186–89; Spaceship Earth and, 99, 105; surface/depth ocean study and, 227. See also feminism
genetic science: clones, 146–48; genetic modification in Greener Than You Think, 49–50; genetic testing, ix–x
Genocides, The (Thomas Disch): Ballard eco-catastrophe theme in, 81; critique of ecological imperialism, 82, 85–87, 91; exterminative/genocidal fantasy in, 17, 49; New Wave ecological issues in, 84; plot overview, 84–87; reviews/critiques of, 81–82
Gernsback, Hugo, 2. See also Amazing Stories; Wonder Stories
Gibson, William, x
Girlfriend in a Coma (Douglas Coupland), 18, 161–66, 171, 173–74
Glicksohn, Susan, 87
Gloss, Molly, 254
Glotfelty, Cheryll, 41
Gore, Al, 8
Gorz, André, 75n40
government: allegory of Apartheid in District 9, 153, 157n20; apocalyptic government in The Sea and Summer, 124; population control in Spaceship Beagle, 99, 105–6, 108–9; satirical government in The Telling, 67; social welfare programs, 18, 109–10; totalitarianism in 1984, 3; Wicca government in The Ice People, 137–38
Grainville, Cousin de, 48
Greener Than You Think (Ward Moore): optimism-pessimism dialectic in, 17; plot overview, 49–50; publication of, 42; satiric-ironic apocalypse in, 49
Guattari, Félix, 217
Hall, Joseph, 115
Hansen, James, 192
Harbach, Chad, 9
Hardin, Garrett: on capitalist economics, 103–4, 109; on the commons resource system, 106, 109; on lifeboat ethics, 18, 103, 109–11; Spaceship Beagle account, 102–5, 108, 110–11. Works: Exploring New Ethics for Survival: The Voyage of the Spaceship Beagle, 102–11; “The Tragedy of the Commons,” 106
Harman, Graham, 214
Harrison, Harry, 40
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 210–11
Heglin, Peter, 115
Heidegger, Martin, 206–7, 214, 217–19, 222
Heinlein, Robert: alien invasion narratives, 78; on the categories of SF, 12–13; ecological limits in, 7. Works: The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, 7, 81; The Puppet Masters, 78–79; Sixth Column, 78
Helmreich, Stefan, 238
Hendershot, Cyndy, 79
Herbert, Frank: ecological extrapolation in, 87; on environmental SF, 40; influence on Kim Stanley Robinson, 253. Works: Dune, 41, 87, 253; The Wounded Planet, 40
history. See time and temporality
Horowitz, David, 82
Huber, François, 28
Hudson, W. H., 43
human beings: Anthropocene, x, 4–5, 16; computer representations of consciousness, 254; ecology as critique of anthropocentrism, 57; gendered nonhuman agency, 142n27; Homo contracipiens in Hardin, 105–7; human-animal analogy in H. G. Wells, 27–28, 36–37; human-centeredness in Le Guin, 90; human characterization in SF, 144; human chauvinism in Golden Age SF, 78; human exceptionalism, 26–29, 52, 214–15; human-nonhuman connection in Bacigalupi, 180; human simulacra/phantoms in Solaris, 228–30; hybrids/cyborgs as other, 149–50; immortality in Bacigalupi’s “Pop Squad,” 186–87; mass extinction in Men Like Gods, 17, 32–35, 37; mass extinction in The Genocides, 85–86; multispecies relations, 237–38; nonhuman values and, 250; ontological gaps in Avatar, 209–11; originary “oceanic feeling” of, 233, 238–39, 240n20. See also alien encounters; animals; posthuman Earths; transformation of humanity
Hume, David, 213
Husserl, Edmund, 215
Huxley, Julian, 31
Huxley, T. H., 43
hydroponic agriculture, 45
imperialism: biological vulnerability to pathogens and, 83; British postimperial narratives, 79–80; Earth-centric colonization discourse, 254; ecological imperialism, 82–83, 86–91; “first contact” narratives and, 77; historical models for Word for World is Forest, 88–89; human exceptionalism in War of the Worlds, 26–27; post-imperial Other in Avatar, 13, 19, 206; as root of ecological crisis, 91; solar system as limit on, 248–49; South African colonialism, 143–44; surface/depth ocean study and, 227
individualism/libertarianism, 44–45
Invaders from Mars, 79
Invasion U.S.A., 79
Jameson, Fredric: on allegorical realism, 198–99; on imperialist fatalism in Ballard, 80; on political ecology in Le Guin, 56–58, 60–62, 72; on postmodernism, 4, 168; on the unimaginability of the future, 184; on the “Unknowability Thesis” in Solaris, 228, 230; on Utopia, 14, 60–61, 116
Jasanoff, Sheila, 127
Jendrysik, Mark, 202
Joyce, James, 16
Kahiu, Wanuri, 12
Kant, Immanuel: defiant rationality in Avatar and, 221–24; narratives of the future and, 193; opening of the Anthropocene and, 206, 210–11; relationist ontology and, 219; transcendence in Avatar and, 209–15
Kapp, K. William, 12
Kepler, Johannes, 251
Kirksey, S. Eben, 238
Knickerbocker, Dale, 182
Kolko, Gabriel, 82
Kunkel, Benjamin, 5
Lang, Fritz, 44
Laozi (Lao Tzu), 59, 63–64, 66
Lee, Richard B., x
Le Guin, Ursula K.: critique of ecological imperialism, 40, 87–91; Daoism in, 17, 59–73; ecological issues in, 40; environmentalist movement and, 56–57, 89; influence on Kim Stanley Robinson, 253; Marxist perspective on, 56, 59–73; ordinariness and anomaly in, 160–61; political alienation in, 60–63; Suvin affiliation with, 58–59; on technology in SF, 144; world reduction in, 61, 62–73; on yin utopianism, 62–68, 72. Works: Always Coming Home, 62, 67–71; City of Illusions, 59, 68, 253; The Dispossessed, 56, 59, 61, 67–69; The Lathe of Heaven, 67, 160–61, 168, 171; The Left Hand of Darkness, 41, 61, 69, 90; “The New Atlantis,” 59, 67; “A Non-Euclidian View of California as a Cold Place to Be,” 63; Planet of Exile, 59; Rocannon’s World, 59; “Science Fiction and Mrs. Brown,” 144; The Telling, 62, 67–69, 71; The Word for World is Forest, 17, 60, 67
Lem, Stanislaw, 228, 230. See also Solaris
Le Vailllant, François, 147
Levitas, Ruth, 188
Levy, Michael, 148
Lewis, C. S., 37
Life after People, 18
lifeboat ethics, 18, 103, 109–11
London (United Kingdom), 169–70
London, Jack, 51
Lubbock, John, 28
Luckhurst, Roger, 251
MacLeod, Ken, 254
Magdoff, Harry, 82
Man Who Awoke, The (Laurence Manning): energy crisis in, 40; evolution theme in, 42–43, 52; literary sources for, 43; optimism-pessimism dialectic in, 17; publication of, 42
Martians, 25–28, 46. See also alien encounters
Marx/Marxism: absence of the political in science faction, 202; on Australia as economic frontier, 115; critical theory, 199; cyclical history in, 15; deep ecology and, 256; deflationary vs. inflationary critique in, 16; Eastern religion and, 256–57; financial crisis in Sea and Summer and, 122–24; global surplus labor and, 205n29; Le Guin ecological Daoism and, 56–73; Martian radicalism in the Mars trilogy, 249; social justice as survival technology, 259; Spaceship Beagle steady-state society, 102–3; vampire capitalism in Daybreakers, 13. See also economy
mass extinction: “climate change” term and, 243; Darwinian model for, 43; ecology of extinction in Rachel Carson, 34, 38n32; ecopoesis in “Oceanic” and, 234; in The Genocides, 85–86; in Men Like Gods, 17, 32–35, 37; Quiet Earth theme and, 11; SF-reality dialectic and, ix–x, 11, 193, 244; technology as means of avoidance, 35, 243; utopian reversal in 2312, 250; in War of the Worlds, 26–27. See also Anthropocene
materialism (in The Time Machine), 2
McCaffrey, Andy, 146
McKay, Chris, 249
McNeill, J. R., 91
McNeill, William, 83
Mendel, Gregor, 30
Mendlesohn, Farah, 53
Men Like Gods (H. G. Wells), 17, 25, 32–34, 37
Merril, Judith, 81
Miéville, China: ordinariness and anomaly in, 170–73; on postapocalyptic endings, 159. Works: Kraken, 18, 159, 169–74; Red Planets, ix
Milling, Jill, 48
Mitchell, Timothy, 10
modernity/postmodernity: comas as endemic to, 163; industrialization in World Without Us, 194; political-historical agency in, 4; posthuman nothingness in Avatar, 222; postmodern loss of agency, 3–4; replication of humanity in Avatar and, 211–12, 216; thrill-and-dread theme in, 2; world-interconnectedness principle and, 219
Moore, Ward. See Greener Than You Think
Morris, William, 43
Moskowitz, Sam, 49
Moylan, Tom, 179
multispecies relations, 237–38. See also animals
Naess, Arne, 256
nature: animal objectification in Bacigalupi, 185–86, 188; apocalyptic destruction of nature, 4, 11, 14; capitalist constructed environments and, 57; ecofeminism and, 141n18; ecomaternalism and, 140n17; humanity as nature in War of the Worlds, 26, 29; as humanity’s other in World Without Us, 194–95, 198, 200–201, 205n23; intrinsic value principles in, 249–50; land-based perspective on, 226–27; mystical themes in SF, 256; natural dystopia in Bacigalupi, 180; natural population growth, 100–101; originary “oceanic feeling,” 233, 238–39, 240n20; utopian control of nature in Men Like Gods, 34–37; water rationing in Bacigalupi, 181. See also animals
neoliberalism, 12–13, 18, 184–85
New Wave science fiction, 80, 82
1984 (George Orwell), 3
nuclear power, 43, 45, 110, 207
nuclear weapons/nuclear war: apocalyptic thinking and, 159–160; Australian nuclear doomsday novels, 116–17; Cold War SF and, 3–4, 49, 104, 116–17, 159, 197, 259; Great Acceleration and, 207; in Sea and Summer, 121–22; SF-reality dialectic and, x; spaceship allegory and, 104, 111; visual representation in Gee, 134. See also apocalypse; dystopian fiction
“Oceanic” (Greg Egan), 19, 232–38
One Boat concept, 102
optimism-pessimism dialectic, 17, 25, 53
Osborn, Fairfield, x
otherness. See alien encounters; robots
overpopulation. See population ecology
Pangborn, Edgar, 253
Passmore, John, 89
pastoralism: Arcadian-Utopian dialectic, 1–3, 16; in Avatar, 220–21; British “cosy catastrophe” narratives, 79–80; in City series, 45–48; in Earth Abides, 52; in ecotopian societies, 183; pastoral ecological mode in The Man Who Awoke, 42–44; pastoralism in City, 45– 46; pastoral new-beginning mode, 48–49. See also primitivism; Romanticism
permaculture, 14–16, 21n38. See also sustainability
pesticides, x, 38n32. See also pollution
planetary romance, 253
Plato, 223
Pohl, Fred, 40
pollution: in The Drought, 80; as legal injury in Stone, 89–90; 1970s environmental crises and, 65, 68, 100–101; in “Pump Six,” 180, 187, 189; in The Sheep Look Up, 87; in Soylent Green, 10; spaceman economy and, 6, 9, 104. See also pesticides; waste spaces
population ecology: Homo contracipiens in Hardin, 105–7; lifeboat ethics and, 109–10; population ecology overview, 99–104, 108; as SF theme, 107–8, 111; wasteland as open-economy space, 111
posthuman Earths, 12, 18, 193–200, 203n4, 204n6, 222. See also human beings
postmodernism. See modernity/postmodernity
primitivism: anachronistic permaculture in WALL-E, 15–16; as ecotopian fiction, xi; indigenous Other in Avatar, 13, 19; Karoo as primeval landscape in Souvenir, 150; post-apocalyptic robots as purveyors of, 3; post-apocalyptic utopia and, 49; primitive projection in Word for World is Forest, 88, 90; survivalism in The Road, 142n34; traditionalism in The Ice People, 135–36; U.S. native vs. colonial agriculture, 86; wasteland as new wilderness, 111. See also pastoralism; Romanticism
Pringle, David, 78
proleptic realism, 251
Pumzi (Wanuri Kahiu), 12
Quiet Earth post-apocalyptic theme, 11–12, 18
realism: allegorical realism in science faction, 198–99; disaster realism in Gee, 134; dystopian scenarios and, 254–55; as “inside” SF, 17; proleptic realism, 251; SF-reality dialectic, ix–x, 16–17, 53, 83, 101, 116; virtual reality, 44–45
renaissance fantasia, 251
Rieder, John, 77
Robinson, Kim Stanley: ecological limits in, 7–8; on ecotopian SF, 179; literary and SF influences, 253–54; on political activism in science, 257–59; religious themes in, 256–57; on SF as ecological discourse, 251–53. Works: Future Primitive, xi; Galileo’s Dream, 245–46, 251; Green Mars, 246; Mars trilogy, 7–8, 245, 249, 256–57; Pacific Edge, 245, 247; Science in the Capital series, 127, 244–45, 257–58; 2312, 41, 245–50, 257–58; The Wild Shore, 51; Years of Rice and Salt, 256–57
robots: as anachronistic effects in WALL-E, 15; domestic robots in The Ice People, 137–38; as ecological limits mediators, 7; service robots in City, 46–47; Zeroth Law of human relations, 20n15. See also alien encounters; technology
Robson, Jenny, 150
Rolland, Romain, 233
Romanticism, 6, 90. See also pastoralism; primitivism
Rosenthal, Jane, 146–47, 150. See also Souvenir
Ross, Edward A., 108
Salleh, Ariel, 132
Sandilands, Catriiona, 133
Sargent, Lyman Tower, 115, 181
Sargisson, Lucy, 184
Sauer, Rob, 87
Sax, Karl, 108
Scandinavian crime novels, 143
scarcity: in 2312, 246; colonization of space and, 7; in Under the Dome, 8; Spaceship Earth metaphor and, x, 6; in “The Tragedy of the Commons,” 106. See also apocalypse; dystopian fiction; eco-catastrophe narratives; Spaceship Earth image; sustainability
science: influence in Kim Stanley Robinson, 252–53; political activism in, 257–59; political engagement in, 257–59; scientists as SF characters, 12, 35, 67–68, 128, 166, 168, 228–30, 245; Tansley Manifesto, 30–32. See also climate change; ecology; evolution; population ecology; technology
science faction, 18, 195–200, 204n15
science fiction. See ecological science fiction; science fiction criticism; speculative fiction
science fiction criticism: ecocritique affinities with, 41–42; ecological literary criticism and, 53; Science Fiction Studies (SFS) founding, 56; treatment of dystopia, 116–17
Science Fiction Studies (SFS), 56, 59, 65
Sea and Summer, The (Drowning Towers, U.S. title): ecological and social collapse in, 122–25; futureology in, 120–21; global cooling in, 117–20; plot overview, 117–20
Self, Will, 127
Seuss, Dr. (Theodor Seuss Geisel), 4
Shklovsky, Victor, 181
Simak, Clifford, 47–48, 253. See also City series
Singer, Peter, 89
Slonczewski, Joan, 148
social welfare programs, 18, 109–10
Solaris (Stanislaw Lem): human simulacra/phantoms in, 228–30; influence on Kim Stanley Robinson, 254; multispecies relations in, 238; spatial cognition in ocean environments and, 19, 226–27, 230–32
South Africa: Alive in Joburg, 153; District 9, see main heading; history of colonialism and apartheid, 143–44, 150, 153–54, 157n20; Karoo travelogue, 146–47, 150; resistance to fantasy in, 144; Savannah 2116 AD, 150; self and place in speculative fiction, 144–45; SF genre in, 18, 143, 155–56; The Ugly Noo Noo, 157n20; Zoo City, 143
Souvenir (Jane Rosenthal): apocalyptic futurity in, 18; climate change themes in, 146, 150–51; as travel narrative, 146–47, 150
Soylent Green (Richard Fleischer), 3, 10, 40, 107
space exploration/colonization themes: closed ecological economy theme, 6–9; Earth-centrism in, 254; Golden Age “space empire” literature, 7; NASA Earth photographic images, 7; shared universe in Asimov, 7
Spaceship Earth image: arks compared with, 109; closed economy as theory for, 6–9; Cold War and, 104; commons resource system, 106, 109; lifeboat ethics, 18, 103, 109–11; NASA Earth photographic images, 8–9; scarcity discourse and, x; as science fiction, 17–18; Spaceship Beagle carrying capacity, 102; wasteland as open-economy space, 111. See also scarcity; sustainability
speculative fiction, ix, 155–56
Spinoza, Baruch de, 208–11, 219
Stapledon, Olaf: evolutionary SF by, 42–43; evolution ethics in, 43; on “human chauvinism” in golden age works, 78. Works: Last and First Men, 37, 42–43
steampunk movement, 15
Stern, Michael, 87
Stevenson, Adlai E., 104
Stewart, George R., 51. See also Earth Abides
Stillman, Peter, 56
Stone, Christopher, 89–90, 249
Strand, Clark, 204n15
sustainability: anti-sustainability backlash in The Man Who Awoke, 44; Darwinian evolutionary model for, 43; neoliberal capitalism and, 184–85; permaculture, 14–16, 21n38; sustainability themes in SF, xi, 43–44. See also scarcity; Spaceship Earth image
Suvin, Darko: on cognitive estrangement, xi, 62, 181, 196–97; on human transformation, 14; on pastoralism in Simak, 48; on political ecology in Le Guin, 56–60, 67, 72
Suzuki, David, 193
Szeman, Imre, 12
Tansley, A. G. (“Tansley Manifesto”), 30–32
tar sands oil extraction, 192
Taylor, Alan, 83
Taylor, Gordon Rattary, 40
technology: anti-ecological effects of, 251–52; decayed technology in Bacigalupi’s “Pump Six,” 180, 187–88; dystopian stage in The Man Who Awoke, 44; future technology in The Ice People, 134; The Genocides as shift in view of, 87; human characterization in SF and, 144; invention of cell phones, ix–x; 1960s anti-technological New Wave, 80; scientific overreach in Island of Dr. Moreau, 25; SF-reality gap narrowing, ix–x; steampunk movement and, 15; technological world in Avatar, 219–222; utopian mastery of nature in Men Like Gods, 34–35. See also robots
Thompson, Flora, 254
time and temporality: ancient ruins as projected future, 11–12; Cold War catastrophic future, 159; cyclical history in WALL-E, 15–16; future as ironic present in Soylent Green, 10; future-fictional uchronias, 116; futureology in Sea and Summer, 120–21; futuristic style in ecological writing, 192–93; nonsustainability as robbing the future, 250–51; radical potential of doom, 12–13; re-lived futurity in Girlfriend in a Coma, 161–66; temporality of climate change, 4–5; utopia as historical other, 14
totalitarianism, 3
transformation of humanity: apocalyptic transformation, 169–73; post-consumerism in Daybreakers, 13–14; post-imperial Other in Avatar, 13, 19. See also human beings
Tsiolkovsky, Konstantin, 254
Turner, Frederick Jackson, 6
Turner, George: career, 117; futureology in Sea and Summer, 120–21; Sea and Summer overview, 117–20; on SF political/moral efficacy, 116. Works: Beloved Son, 117; Down There in Darkness, 117; “The Fittest,” 117; And Now Time Doth Waste Me, 117; The Sea and Summer (Drowning Towers, U.S. title), 116–21
Unknowability Thesis, 228, 230
utopia: animal utopia in City, 47; Arcadian-Utopian dialectic, 1–3, 16; Australia in utopian fiction, 115–16; cognitive estrangement and, xi, 62; critical utopian tradition, 179; historical otherness and, 14; Le Guin non-capitalist utopias, 56, 59; planetary awareness and, 207–8; as political desire, 60–61; religious utopia, 255–56; science faction as anti-utopian, 202–3; utopian possibility in Kim Stanley Robinson, 246–47; utopian world in Men Like Gods, 32; world reduction in, 61, 62–73; yin utopianism, 62–68, 72. See also ecotopia
Vacca, Roberto, 40
Vance, Jack, 253
Van Vogt, A. E., 78
Veiras, Denis, 115
Venter, Eben, 150
Vietnam War, 88
virtual space, 9
Wagar, W. Warren, 49
Walton, Robyn, 116
War of the Worlds, The (H. G. Wells): overview, 26–30; advanced extraterrestrials in, 25–26, 34; apocalyptic theme in, 48–49; as “first contact” narrative, 77
waste spaces, 11, 31, 49, 51, 107, 111. See also dystopian fiction; eco-catastrophe narratives; pollution
Weiner, Norbert, x
Weinstone, Ann, 229
Weisman, Alan (The World Without Us), 193–200, 203n4
Wells, H. G.: apocalyptic theme in, 48–49; biotic invasion in, 83; ecological ideas in, 25; evolution ethics in, 43; optimism-pessimism dialectic in, 25; pessimistic tradition in, 81. Works: Anticipations, 25; The Food of the Gods, 48–49, 83; The Island of Doctor Moreau, 25, 48–49; Men Like Gods, 17, 25, 32–34, 37; A Modern Utopia, 25; The Time Machine, 2, 25, 48–49; The War of the Worlds, see main heading; When the Sleeper Wakes, 43
Whedon, Joss, 5
White, Hayden, 243
White, Lynn, 91
Whitehead, Alfred North, 211, 219
Williams, William Appleman, 82
Winterson, Jeanette, 127–28, 131
Wolf, Eric, 78
Wolfe, Gary K., 49
Wonder Stories, 42. See also Man Who Awoke, The
Wood, Felicity, 144
Woolf, Virginia, 144
Word for World Is Forest, The (Ursula K. Le Guin), 17, 60, 67
World Without Us, The (Alan Weisman), 193–200, 203n4
Wylie, Philip, 40
Zardoz, 40
Zermelo, Ernst, 217
Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu), 66, 68, 70
Ziegler, Rob, 41
Žižek, Slavoj, 12, 182–83, 200–203, 204n27, 205n23, 205n29, 212
Zoo City (Lauren Beukes), 143
ZPG: Zero Population Growth (activist group), 100