Why Cli-Fi Novels and Movies Are As Important As Policy In Campaign Against Climate Change: A Candid Interview with Mr. Pressimist

Why Cli-Fi Novels and Movies Are As Important As Policy In The Current Campaign Against Climate Change: A Candid Interview with Mr. Pressimist


Q: First question, Mr Pressimist, are you an optimist or a pessimist regarding COP21's outcome and climate change in general?

Mr Pressimist: Since I have worked in newsrooms of the world for many years, I am basically a pressimist.

Q: Can you elaborate on that?

A: See my answers below.

Q: ''Paris could prove to be the turning point in global efforts to combat man-made climate change, but cli-fi novels and movies will be as important as policy going forward.'' Can you explain that statement you made a few weeks ago?

A: Cli-fi matters, it's that simple. See the Cli-Fi page at Wikipedia and The Cli-Fi Report and the Cli-Fi Movie Awards winners for 2014 and 2015.


Q: From a strategic point of view, what distinguishes COP21 from the previous COPs?

A: Nothing. Sane old, same old. Nothing will get done. It's kabuki theatre with no end-game. Pure theater. Maybe Noh theater is a better description.



Q: In view of the above, how should one measure success at COP21?

A: Read the newspapers the days and weeks after. You will see how my fellow pressimists see it.


Q: The intended nationally determined contributions (aka ''INDCS'') submitted so far go beyond existing policies. Despite that, we are still 12-14 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) per year short of a 2C pathway. What can be done to increase ambition? Can this be achieved at the COP21 or is it something that one should think about in a separate dynamic?

A: Nothing can be done by spineless world leaders and UN policy wonks to stop future global warming impact events that will decimate humankind and our long-cherished civilization within the next 30 generations of man.


Q: Let’s move to climate finance — another important part of the climate deal. According to the OECD, we are about halfway to the US$100 billion climate finance goal. How do we bridge the remaining gap?

A: We don't, and we can't. Again, please understand: Nothing can be done by spineless world leaders and UN policy wonks to stop future global warming impact events that will decimate humankind and our long-cherished civilization within the next 30 generations of man.


Q: The need for a clear, long-term and ambitious carbon-pricing-driving investment is well understood. What role, if any, can or should we expect COP21 to play in this regard?

A: To repeat: Nothing can be done by spineless world leaders and UN policy wonks to stop future global warming impact events that will decimate humankind and our long-cherished civilization within the next 30 generations of man.


Q: Success or failure  in Paris will hinge on a solid reporting and verification framework. As recent events in the US and Communist China suggest, however, there are challenges with emissions reporting. Do you expect issues related to the recent US/Commie China revelations to complicate the talks’ dynamics?

A: China is a communist dictatorship full of lying bureaucrats and foreign ministry paper pushers and let by a bunch of thugs who run the brutally-repressive Chinese Communist Party {CCP}. China can never be trusted. It is a Soviet-style regime based on lies and repression. The leaders of China only care to enrich their own thuggish pockets. All of them. China is a joke.


Q: What role do you see for technology in helping the monitoring and verification of climate pledges?

A: Technology can do nothing to stop the existential threat humanity now faces and will face for the next 30 generations. Nothing will be done by spineless world leaders and UN policy wonks to stop future global warming impact events that will decimate humankind and our long-cherished civilization within the next 30 generations of man.


Q: Communist China’s 13th Five-Year Plan will be finalized by the CCP in March 2016. How do you expect current discussions around it to influence the negotiation process at COP21 (and vice versa)?
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 A: To repeat: China is a communist dictatorship full of lying bureaucrats and foreign ministry paper pushers and let by a bunch of thugs who run the brutally-repressive Chinese Communist Party {CCP}. China can never be trusted. It is a Soviet-style regime based on lies and repression. The leaders of China only care to enrich their own thuggish pockets. All of them. China is a joke.


Last Q: You’ve been tracking the climate negotiations for more than 20 years ever since you were a reporter in Tokyo in the 1990s. What advice would you have to a youth leader interested in bringing change to this field?

Last A: Start writing your own cli-fi novel or screenplay and then shop it around until it sees the light of day, either from a major publisher or from an indie press or vanity press. If it's a movie, go the Hollywood route or the indie route. Art and cutlure are much more imporant now that the crap that policy wonks and spineless world leaders come up with. Stand up for your beliefs and turn them into a novel or a movie.


This interview first appeared in The Presssimist.