This week our topic settles on climate change and denial. Our author, Megan Hunter, talks about the anxiety in the writing world: are we writing enough about climate change? What does it mean to write anything with the theme of climate change and why do people deny it so harshly in the world of literature? I am interested in what it means to write about climate changes in our work. If we do not write about it are contributing to the "bystander effect?" Perhaps, we believe in climate change but we do not write about in our works. By not acknowledging it is it the same thing as denying that it exists? Is it wholely necessary to talk about it in every piece we write? What is the limitation of action we have?
A quote from her that I loved was, "To address the psychological denial provoked by climate
change, we need to explore the changes it has wrought in our self-perception
at the most fundamental level, to examine the contradiction of
the fantasy of our mastery and the reality of our dependence." Can we really breakdown past perception of this event with self-evaluation? We know writing has power but how far can it go before no one wants to listen anymore? I leave you with these thoughts for now!
I would not say the lack of writing about climate change is equivalent to denying it, though it's certainly not helping alleviate the denial problem. As it stands now, I think we could probably use more stories about it more than ever. But denial and omission are not necessarily the same thing. Speaking personally, I believe that climate change is a problem that needs to be addressed for sure, but I don't think I've ever written anything specifically about it. I don't think I've even really thought to do so. But that doesn't equate to me denying the issue at hand.
ReplyDeleteClimate change seems to be viewed by many as a political issue, at least in terms of what we plan to do about it. Writing about political issues, while not at all a bad thing and perhaps even necessary, can be an intimidating prospect. For one thing, it requires a good deal of research and dedication or passion for the topic, which a writer cannot fake if they want their story to have any amount of integrity. Also, there's the inherent risk of coming off as preachy, like the writer is just using their work as a soap box to stand on. Granted, this is a handy feature of literature, but to make that kind of story more respectable, it has to contain the makings of a good story (character depth, engaging plot lines, etc.) AND integrate the message about climate change naturally. Despite this difficulty, I do hope climate change is written about more in the future--not just to tackle the issue in literature, but also to encourage other writers to try including it in their work.