Five novels about climate change you should be reading

1. Solar by Ian McEwan

The most recent novel from the author of Atonement, Enduring Love and On Chesil Beach, Solar sees McEwan tackle the subject of climate change. The protagonist, Michael Beard, is a climate scientist well past his prime. He travels to the Arctic to avoid his domestic situation; the novel later picks up his story after his return to London, where he has become a clean-energy entrepreneur.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Far North by Marcel Theroux

Theroux’s novel is set in a world already much altered by the effects of climate change. It follows the story of Makepeace, the only remaining inhabitant of a small town in Siberia to which people had fled before the developed world fled. Alone, she decides to see what is happening in the world her parents abandoned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. The Carbon Diaries: 2015 by Saci Lloyd

Set in 2015, when the effects of climate change are becoming more and more noticeable. Incited to action, the UK government begins carbon rationing as a way of combating the disaster. However, it goes terribly wrong: a drought causes riots, and a hurricane hits London.

 

 

 

 

 

4. State of Fear by Michael Chrichton

Perhaps a contentious book, having been denounced by climate scientists for using dodgy science as its basis. The debate over global warming is central to the novel; the plot is driven by the wrong-doing of environmental activists. Highly popular, the book reached no 2 on the NY Times Bestseller list in 2005.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Feeling the Pressure: Poetry and Science of Climate Change edited by Paul Munden

Released by the British Council of Switzerland, this anthology is free to download here. It features British poets, including Andrew Motion and David Morley. Divided into four sections, trends, extremes, impacts and actions, the anthology brings together a diverse range of voices.