"New York 2140" a new, full-fledged ''cli-fi'' novel by Kim Stanley Robinson is coming out in early 2017

 

KSR's next novel is ''New York 2140,'' coming out in March 2017 from Orbit. KSR told Mike Berry in an interview for HCN.org:

''There’s been a radical (50-foot) sea-level rise, and the book has to do with coping. What I want to explore is the idea that the coming climate crisis will force us to invent a kind of post-capitalism, but that global capitalism will not let go of our social systems easily. It’s entrenched, it’s defensive, and it’s incredibly powerful. What would (a new system) require in the way of political evolution or revolution? Some interesting radical economics coming out of the 2008 crash made suggestions as to how to recapture capital for people and for the biosphere, rather than for the famous one percent. So I tell that story. It’s kind of a utopian history. ''New York 2140'' is a much more positive project than Aurora. I think humans are going to cope, and it’s going to be a stimulus to some good new developments.''

KSR added: ''I think that (optimism) is a necessary political position. It’s a matter of will. I choose it as a way of saying it’s important to keep working, to stay positive for the sake of our descendants. I do the things you need to. I keep a vegetable garden, compost, ride my bike, have photovoltaic (panels) on the roof. In general, I’m doing what suburban Americans ought to do, because we are the ones burning more than our fair share of energy on the planet. Permaculture is a necessary part of utopia, where utopia becomes ecological and agricultural and not just social. It keeps you grounded in the biosphere. I try to write about it and live by its guidance as much as I can. I love the Sierra Nevada with all my heart. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that you can’t see everything on this Earth, and it burns a lot of carbon to try. As a Californian, I get up to the Sierra Nevada, one of the great mountain ranges of the world, particularly if you want to backpack. It’s purely recreational. It’s not a sustainable action. But I think it informs my writing. ''