Here is the application I sent in to the New York Times when they were looking for a new editor for their new climate reporting section (with POLITE REJECTION AS ''FORM LETTER'' AT BOTTOM)

SEE NYT REJECTION ''FORM LETTER'' AT BOTTOM OF PAGE:... scroll down 

 

Here is the application I sent in to the New York Times when they were looking for a new editor for their new climate reporting section.

 

PASS IT THIS LINK ON TO OTHERS WHO MIGHT VALUE IT:

 

“The Times,” read the the announcement for the paper's new Climate Editor job, “is ramping up its coverage to make the most important story in the world even more relevant, urgent and accessible to a huge audience around the globe.” It went on to add that applicants should prepare “a memo outlining their vision for coverage… this vision is the most important part of the application.”

 

Although I was busy with my cli-fi work in September, cli-fi colleagues and friends encouraged me to apply. Having already thought long and hard about what the future of climate journalism ought to be, as a journalist myself, and as a longtime reader and follower and regular commenter at Andrew Revkin's very good DOT EARTH Blog at the Times, I put some ideas together, and sent them an application.

 

Here's an edited version  of my application. I didn't get the gig, of course, but applying for it was worth the time in writing down my thoughts and ideas.

How can we revitalize climate reporting? Here are my ideas.

1. Make The New York Times ''the future of climate journalism'' (an application  for the Climate Editor position) by focusing on the rise of the new genre of cli-fi in novels and movies.

 

The New York Times undertook this effort at an amazingly opportune moment. I've been working at the forefront of cli-fi PR and literary theory for a while now now. I see that the field of Climate journalism is about to be transformed. The Times could be at the forefront of that transformation by focusing on front page stories about cli-fi novels and movies and interviews with related literary agents, publishers, acquiring editors and of course cli fi novelists and screenwriters and literary critics. In addition, the Times Sunday Book Review and the Times daily book reviews should focus on cli-fi novels and literary criticism of such novels. We are at the edge of tomorrow. The future of the human species is at stake within the next 500 years. Cli fi novels and movies can help raise awareness and even foster action. Enough of the front page stories about distractions and movie stars. We need to shift gears and the Times does, too. See the Cli Fi Report for starters at cli-fi.net

So it's time to rethink the aims of the NYT climate journalism, its approach to coverage and its targets for audience engagement.

The Times can lead by seek out new audiences, new voices, and new methodologies that all work together to enable powerful storytelling about cli-fi novels and movies and literary and culural criticism about cli-fi. On a daily basis. On the front page at least once a week. In the unsigned editorials once a month. And in opeds three times a week at least.

I think the opportunity can be summed up in three apparent ideas:

1) It’s by focusing on cli-fi that the Times will grow its reader engagement.

2) It’s by reporting more on the rise of the cli-fi meme and cli-fi novels and movies that the Times will make these issues easier to understand.

3) It’s by making its coverage more exploratory on issues related to cli-fi novels and movies that the Times will make that coverage more vital.

Let me explain.

Many people already understand the reality of the greenhouse effect well enough to see that we need to be acting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for climate impacts.

Some, though, not only understand the basics, but have begun to grapple with the larger challenges of how do we learn more about what’s coming, how do we act, how do we prepare. THE ANWSER: by reading and writing and reviewing cli fi novels and movies.

Narrowing the audience focus of climate coverage to concentrate on cli-fi — even if it alienates readers who are opposed to climate change  issues— can energize these readers.

Informed climate readers are not a small audience. The Yale Program on Climate Communication has been studying American’s perspectives on climate change for years now. As of March 2016, they found 45% of Americans have deep concerns about climate change, with 19% of American voters already what they term “alarmed” about climate change. These people already have basic understanding of climate change as an issue, and are scared. They think it’s serious crisis, that they’re feeling the effects now and they support real changes.

I suspect that Times readers include a disproportionately high number of these people. These readers have an unmet need. The answer is to focus on cli-fi as the Times did in a popular ROOM FOR DEBATE forum on July 29, 2014.

READERS need climate journalism that deepens their understanding of cli-fi stories and how we act, how we prepare. They need climate coverage that’s keeping up with the speed of change. They need climate coverage that speaks to the questions they have about that change.

All the coverage that The Times’ climate desk does should be aimed at serving these readers of cli-fi novels and movies. By making coverage more vital and compelling to the people who already know and care about climate, the Times can not only grab their attention, but find fresher angles and untold stories that are likely to be more interesting to others as well.

In my experience, informed climate readers have different concerns and passions than other readers.

Even more: they want journalism that has itself moved on to report on the rise of cli fi novels and movies. Enough of charts and boring statistics. We need literature and cinema to show us the way.

That means they want critical reporting on cli-fi .

The biggest single story on our planet is the rise of cli fi novels and movies worldwide. The Times should be covering this daily.

The scientific debate about the existence and causes of climate change is settled. We know climate change is happening, human-caused, and almost entirely the result of energy consumption, land use changes and industrial processes. The only genuinely interesting story now, in addition to the emergence of feedback loops (for example, carbon dioxide and methane leaking from melting permafrost) is the rise of the cli fi genre among novelists, critics and screenwriters.

The much, much more critical story concerns the rise of cli fi. How much warming can we expect? How much will the sea rise? How far will weather patterns shift? What are the second- and third-order risks of climate impacts (for instance, how can the Western U.S. prepare itself for future megafires)? What are the limits on our ability to adapt to, ruggedize for, insure against and rebuild after climate-connected disasters? Cli Fi novels and movies can tell these stories best of all and the Times should be covering this meme daily, on the front page and inside.

One idea: A series of frank discussion of cli-fi on the editorial pages and in opeds assigned to well known thinkers and literar critics

My direct experience is that people are fascinated with the questions about the shape of the world to come. They worry about impacts to their own lives, families, jobs and communities. They want to get a sense of how changes might feel as we live through them. Cli-fi novels and movies can help them understand the dire straits we are in as a species on planet Earth and please capitalize Earth in all uses in the Times. PLEASE. No more lowercase earth.

One of the biggest failures of climate journalism to date has been its inability to bring home to readers changes that have already occurred in the literary world vis a vis cli-fi. So make that your mission.

One possibility: have a weekly online feature where a global visionary -- from different nations and cultures -- is asked for their take on how cli fi novels and movies might change  as the climate crisis deepens.

Done right, exploratory coverage of the cli-fi meme can not only help the Times beat the competition to the punch time and again (making its coverage essential reading), it can also make the more deeply reported stories the Times publishes even more authoritative.

In Conclusion

Exploratory, frontline coverage of cli-fi in great stories and contextualized through systems journalism, aimed at those who already want honest, fresh perspectives can make the Times the leader in literate and literary climate journalism. I’d love to see that vision happen at the Times.

If you found this application interesting or useful, please recommend it and send it to friends via email or tweet it or put it on your Facebook and send  a copy or link to the New York Times public editor at  public@nytimes.com -- and send it to reporters, academics, literary critics and culture mavens worldwide.

***"

​REMEMBER : ​

Curious, empathetic, compassionate: What we should be as human beings.

​ And the New York Times climate coverage, too!​

"***

THE ''Cli-Fi ''REPORT:
50+ academic & media links:
http://cli-fi.net

NYT Rejection letter/ form letter that was sent to all 867 applicants ...re:
NOTE: THEY STILL DID NOT ANNOUNCE THE FINAL APPOINTEE!

+++++++++++++++
Subject:        New York Times Climate Change Editor Application
Date:   
From:   NYTimes Recruiting <nytrecruit@nytimes.com>
To:     Nytimes Recruiting <nytrecruit@nytimes.com>

Thank you for applying for the climate change editor position at The New York Times.
We received an enormous response and have chosen our finalists (*note plural noun*) for the position, and we are sorry to inform you that you were not selected as one of the finalists.

We appreciate your interest in The Times and thank you for sharing your work with our search committee.

We wish you much success in the future.

Sincerely,
Richard G. Jones
News Administration

SECOND FORM LETTER

Thank you for emailing the recruiting team at The New York Times.

Finalists for open positions will be contacted within the next several weeks, and we’re committed to notifying all applicants of their status.

Best regards,

Richard G. Jones

Associate Editor, News Administration

THE END TIMES: a newspaper for the End Times (2016 - 2516 A.D.)

''The End Times'': a cli-fi newspaper that does not go defunct until January 1, 2500 A.D. -- that's 30 more generaations of man (and women)

WRITERS WANTED: we want to interview cli fi novelists worldewide who are working on dark cli-fi novels about the END TIME, circa 500 years from now, and how they novelists envision the End Times and how we can help prepare our descendants for what's coming -- psychologically, spiritually, mentally, -- as things get progressively worse over the next 30 generations.

SEND EMAILS TO ABOVE ADDRESS: we still have time, lots of time, but HURRY!


================

NEWS ITEMS TO APPEAR HERE AS THEY APPEAR IN THE MEDIAL. STAY TUNED

''Cli-fi is still an embryonic genre that reminds in many cases the early, naive, science fiction of the 1930s. And yet, it is growing and turning into literature. ''

UGO BARDI in Italy writes:

"So, in this difficult moment of late 2016, we are seeing something moving, out there. A new form of literature that embodies our future, makes it real, tells us about it. And it is not a good future. It is a terrible future. It is a future that most of us refuse to contemplate, even though we know that it is there, even though we refuse to admit it. This new literary genre takes the name of "Cli-Fi" in reference to sci-fi, of which it is in some ways the continuation [as a subgenre of SF].




''It is still an embryonic genre that reminds in many cases the early, naive, science fiction of the 1930s. And yet, it is growing and turning into literature. Italian novelist Bruno Arpaia has written a harsh and unforgiving cli-fi book in Italian titled "Something out There", [also translated for a Spanish language edition now] the story of a group of dispossessed migrants who try to reach Northern Europe, leaving an Italy devastated by climate change and only a few will make it. Surely not an optimistic book, although it has elements of hope. But it is a book that does the work that a literary piece must do: showing to you the change ahead.

''It is not by chance that I cited Dante; a cli-fi novel like Bruno Arpaia's one is comparable to the comedy's first cantica, the one about Hell. It sounds like the very first lines of the Comedy, where Dante tells of having been lost in a "dark wood," with its typical cli-fi theme: people desperately looking to escape from the climate disaster. And it is our situation: we are completely lost; unable to find our way out. Someone still has to write the cli-fi equivalents of the other two canticas of the Comedy, the one about Purgatory and the one about Paradise, and that will make it possible for us to understand what is in store for us. Can narrative take us out of Hell? Hard to say, but it is certain that without a narrative of the future, we can have no future.''

-- UB

''Cli-fi is still an embryonic genre that reminds in many cases the early, naive, science fiction of the 1930s. And yet, it is growing and turning into literature. ''

HEADLINE: ''Dan Bloom: How a concern for future generations changed my life..."

''Dan Bloom: How a concern for future generations changed my life..."

I didn't get involved with ''Cli-Fi'' because I had a novel I wanted to write. I'm not a writer. But something pulled me in, something I had never felt in my younger years, a feeling that only came upon me when I turned 60: a deep concern for future generations 500 years from now and how they might cope with global warming impact events then. If there is to be a "then."

That's what pulled me in to ''cli-fi.'' [Cli-Fi is a short nickname for ''Cli''-mate ''Fi''-ction]. I was thinking of children and their parents thirty generations from now. Climate change has not really started yet, but we can see the warnings all around us, not just in government charts or in scientific measurements of the build-up of  co2 in the Earth's atmosphere.


You can see in the people around you, their fears, their worries, their anxieties. We know AGW is for real and it's not going to go away. That's what gnawed at me, drew me in.

Now I'm cli-fi 24/7. Now I'm spending part of my days scouting the year 2500, looking into a future that may very well become real sooner than we think. But I'm willing to give humankind 30 more generations before the shit really hits the fan. I want to be generous. I don't want to scare anyone. I don't want to be an alarmist.

But I see dead people, billions of dead people 30 generations from now. I know you don't want to hear this or even see these words in print, but it's what the IPCC reports and other scientific  handwriting on the wall has led me to see. I'm not scared, and you shouldn't be scared either.

There's still plenty of time to get our lives in order, 30 more generations of children and grandchildren.

That's how I came to cli-fi, or rather how cli fi came to me. I want to read those novels, both dystopian and utopian. I want to see those movies, both hopeful and unspeakably messy.

Remember the Hollywood movie ''On the Beach'' filmed in Australia in 1959 with Gregory Peck and the stellar cast? I envision a climate themed movie based on a climate themed novel that becomes the ''On the Beach'' of the Anthrocene. A global warning, an alarm bell, a warning flare. Cli-fi.


Someone will write it. In the next 100 years? Or sooner?


See The Cli-Fi Report for news links at www.cli-fi.net

QUESTION for novelists, academics, literary critics here: It is my personal POV that in 2016 and onward we as humankind need to start to prepare psychologically, spiritually, mentally, imaginatively...for what might become of our descendants circa 2500 A.D., about 30 generations of humans from now, as climate change impact events put the entire human species in turmoil and jeopardy as massive die-offs of billions and unspeakable climate events occur on Earth. I feel that SOME cli-fi novels might want to explore this THEME outside the usual dystopia/utopia themes and wonder if YOU have seen or hear fo such novels, or if anyone you know is writing or has written such cli-fi novels. NOT FOR EVERYONE, I KNOW, and this POV is just a personal POV and I in no way want to push it on anyone. Just curious if ANYONE ANYWHERE has gone in this direction or is planning to go in this direction, as I feel personally that we need such cli-f- novels as well, not just dysopia/utopia entertainment page turners but also spiritual explorations of where we MIGHT be headed in 500 more years. Novels can also explore the future in this way without being despairing or doomsdayish. Any feelers or hints out there? Contact me here or by email.

QUESTION for novelists, academics, literary critics here: It is my personal POV that in 2016 and onward we as humankind need to start to prepare psychologically, spiritually, mentally, imaginatively...for what might become of our descendants circa 2500 A.D., about 30 generations of humans from now, as climate change impact events put the entire human species in turmoil and jeopardy as massive die-offs of billions and unspeakable climate events occur on Earth. I feel that SOME cli-fi novels might want to explore this THEME outside the usual dystopia/utopia themes and wonder if YOU have seen or hear fo such novels, or if anyone you know is writing or has written such cli-fi novels. NOT FOR EVERYONE, I KNOW, and this POV is just a personal POV and I in no way want to push it on anyone. Just curious if ANYONE ANYWHERE has gone in this direction or is planning to go in this direction, as I feel personally that we need such cli-f- novels as well, not just dysopia/utopia entertainment page turners but also spiritual explorations of where we MIGHT be headed in 500 more years. Novels can also explore the future in this way without being despairing or doomsdayish. Any feelers or hints out there? Contact me here or by email. - Dan Bloom

The Cli-Fi Report is a portal for all things cli-fi, from blogs to videos to Wikipedia to Twitter to news links and Facebook Groups. See the portal, the largest Cli-Fi portal on the Internet at cli-fi.net

''The Cli-Fi Report'' is a portal for all things cli-fi, from blogs to videos to Wikipedia to Twitter to news links and Facebook Groups. See the portal, the largest Cli-Fi portal on the Internet at cli-fi.net

Cli-Fi News Links For Researchers, Literary Critics and Academics Worldwide

Cli-Fi News and Academic Links: 6 proposals for the reform of literature in the age of climate change -- by Nick Admussen http://northwardho.blogspot.tw/2016/08/literature-professor-probes-novels-of.html Cli-Fi: Superstorm rips through debut novel "We Are Unprepared" http://www.charlotteobserver.com/entertainment/books/reading-matters-blog/article94407142.html Try Cli-Fi: Ame Libary Report http://www.amestrib.com/community/try-cli-fi Cli-fi: The Subgenre That Is Changing the Landscape of Literary Studies http://chronicle.com/article/The-Subfield-That-Is-Changing/235776 American's First 'Cli-Fi' Book Clubs Create Buzz in Minnesota https://www.minnpost.com/earth-journal/2016/02/nations-first-book-clubs-about-cli-fi-or-climate-fiction-start-stillwater A recent boom in "cli-fi" lends an ethical urgency to threats of global https://psmag.com/the-literature-of-climate-change-b4d38828454#.47rmxobb6 'Cli-Fi' Is the Hottest New Literary Genre https://www.good.is/articles/climate-fiction-cli-fi-genre Associated Press wire story March 7, 2016: ''Colleges nationwide tap into cli-fi genre'' http://bigstory.ap.org/article/71a6d9ca7c9644c9930e0df6a3a95bde/schools-add-cli-fi-climate-fiction-lit-curriculums America's First ''Cli-Fi Book Club'' Sets Up in Minnesota http://northwardho.blogspot.tw/2016/02/americas-first-ever-cli-fi-book-club.html Confessions of a ''Cli-Fi Freak'' http://www.sdjewishworld.com/2015/09/21/confession-of-a-cli-fi-freak/ Australian ''cli-fi'' novelist explains her views on climate issues http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/the-world-without-us-mireille-juchau-explains-why-climate-change-matters-20150903-gjdheu.html Atlantic Magazine columnist on how young people are taking to ''cli-fi'' http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/08/climate-fiction-margaret-atwood-literature/400112/ ''Cli-fi'' and cinematic visions of climate change https://medium.com/@JoannaZajacz/cli-fi-cinematic-visions-of-climate-change-eb184ed6d6c0 Dan Bloom oped on rise of cli-fi worlwide https://medium.com/@clificentral/can-cli-fi-help-keep-our-planet-livable-8b053bd4aa35 Medium magazine on cli-fi memes https://medium.com/tag/cli-fi Margaret Atwood on Cli-Fi https://medium.com/matter/it-s-not-climate-change-it-s-everything-change-8fd9aa671804 REUTERS NEWS SERVICE: Move over sci-fi: Cli-fi finds its way into classrooms http://www.trust.org/item/20150410124321-yax9k/ REUTERS NEWS SERVICE: As the weather shifts, cli-fi takes root as a new literary genre http://www.trust.org/item/20150410094252-x7we9/ REUTERS NEWS SERVICE: Is ''Game of Thrones'' a Cli-fi TV show? http://www.trust.org/item/20150408162425-dqaak/ The birth of "cli-fi": Books that tackle climate change http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/02/03/books-climate-change ''Cli-fi'' in the global news feed (March 2015) http://pcillu101.blogspot.com/2015/03/cli-fi-in-news-this-month-march-2015.html #clifi Princeton Novelist Chang-rae Lee on Cli-Fi http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/20/q-and-a-chang-rae-lee-on-his-tale-of-migrants-from-an-environmentally-ruined-china/ 'Cli-Fi' Novelist Takes On 'Obsessive Climate Disorder' (3 minute public radio segment) http://nepr.net/news/2015/03/20/northampton-cli-fi-novelist-takes-on-obsessive-climate-disorder/ Can cli-fi save us from ourselves? - OpEd by novelist Alice Robinson in Australia http://publishing.artshub.com.au/news-article/features/writing-and-publishing/alice-robinson/can-cli-fi-save-us-from-ourselves-247369 Australia Reports: How climate-change fiction is heating up http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/turning-pages-how-climatechange-fiction-is-heating-up-20150315-143ckv.html What is cli-fi? And why I write it - YA novelist Sarah Holding explains http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2015/feb/06/what-is-cli-fi-sarah-holding The New York Times goes cli-fi with a Room for Debate forum titled "Can Cli-Fi Save the World?" with 6 experts and plenty of comments from readers (July 29, 2014): http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/07/29/will-fiction-influence-how-we-react-to-climate-change  The Cli-Fi Movie Awards is annual movie awards event that honors and recognizes the best and most important cli-fi movies of the year: http://korgw101.blogspot.com  A Twitter hashtag for #clifi promotes global discussion of the cli-fi meme: http://klima101.blogspot.com/2014/05/cli-fi-hashtag-cley-in-ukifi-created-by.html  Time magazine discusses cli-fi movies (May 9, 2014): http://time.com/92065/godzilla-into-the-storm-and-more-summer-cli-fi-thrillers/  Wikipedia defines cli-fi and links to news articles that matter: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cli_fi  New York Times on 'cli fi' in films: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/11/07/arts/ap-us-film-climate-flicks.html ''Cli-Fi Movie Awards Winners List'' http://www.thewrap.com/cliffies-award-to-honor-films-about-climate-change-and-global-warming-guest-blog/ Goodreads Listopia - ''Cli-Fi Novels'' https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/36205.Cli_Fi_Climate_Change_Fiction ''Cli Fi Rising in Hollywood'' http://www.thewrap.com/cli-fi-rising-new-hollywood-heights-dan-bloom-hollyblog-godzilla New York Times - ''College Classes Use Art to Brace for Climate Change'' http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/01/education/using-the-arts-to-teach-how-to-prepare-for-climate-crisis.html?hpw&rref=us&_r=1 NPR Radio Segment: ''So Hot Right Now: Has Climate Change Created A New Literary Genre?'[' http://www.npr.org/2013/04/20/176713022/so-hot-right-now-has-climate-change-created-a-new-literary-genre ''Climate change inspires a new literary genre: cli-fi'' http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2013/0426/Climate-change-inspires-a-new-literary-genre-cli-fi Word Spy dictionary defines cli-fi: http://www.wordspy.com/words/cli-fi.asp Professor Judith Curry's ''cli-fi'' over-view: http://judithcurry.com/2012/12/23/cli-fi/ The New Yorker magazine goes cli-fi: ''Scenes from a Melting Planet: On the Climate-Change Novel'' http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/07/scenes-from-a-melting-planet.html The Wrap in Hollywood: ''In a Warming World, 'Cli-Fi' Is Here to Stay'' http://www.thewrap.com/movies/blog-post/warming-world-cli-fi-here-stay-89031 "In a Warming World, Cli Fi is a Term that Works" http://www.booktrade.info/index.php/showarticle/47458/tf 'Cli-fi' is now an official literary term: http://www.teleread.com/around-world/cli-fi-is-a-new-literary-term-that-npr-blessed-and-approved/ The Guardian in Britain Goes Cli-Fi: Global warning: the rise of 'cli-fi' http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/31/global-warning-rise-cli-fi?INTCMP=SRCH Dissent magazine: "Cli-Fi: Birth of a Genre" http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/cli-fi-birth-of-a-genre Foyles London bookstore sets up 'cli fi' books table http://www.teleread.com/bookstore/london-bookstore-sets-cli-fi-table-for-climate-books/ Brian Merchant: Motherboard: ''Pop Culture and Climate Change'' http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/pop-culture-and-climate-change/ The Emerging Genre of Cli Fi Literature http://climatecrocks.com/2013/10/15/cli-fi-the-emerging-genre-of-climate-change-literature/ Huffington Post UK: The Rise and Rise of Cli-fi http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/hannah-gal/climate-change-fiction_b_4147855.html Bernie Bulkin: ''Cli Fi: One Answer to a Climate Problem?'' http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bernie-bulkin/cli-fi-one-answer-to-a-climate-problem_b_4179177.html How and why Sci-fi gave birth to Cli-fi http://www.teleread.com/cli-fi/how-and-why-sci-fi-gave-birth-to-cli-fi/ A look at the growing genre of cli fi http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-chameides/a-look-at-the-growing-gen_b_4466417.html/ Darren Aronofsky's ''Noah'' Movie Floods Cli Fi Zone http://www.thewrap.com/darren-aronofsky-noah-climate-fiction/ Australian Academics Discuss: 'Cli-fi': could a literary genre help save the planet? https://theconversation.com/cli-fi-could-a-literary-genre-help-save-the-planet-23478/ ''Anthropocene Fictions: The Novel in a Time of Climate Change'' - a nonfiction book covering 150 climate-themed novels by independent scholar Adam Trexler (May 2015) http://books.upress.virginia.edu/title/4777

Cli--Fi References for Novelists, Literary Critics, Academics, and Researchers Worldwide

MORE LINKS at ''THE Cli-Fi Report'' at cli-fi.net

The Chronicle of Higher Education: The Subfield That Is Changing the Landscape of Literary Studies

Associated Press: Cli-fi literature in college curricula March 7, 2016

Margaret Atwood in Medium cli-fi package on how to survive the future

Cli-Fi - That's Climate Fiction - Is the New Sci-Fi, Wired magazine

There have even been whispers of cli-fi as a new literary genre

As the weather shifts, cli-fi takes root as a new literary genre

Will the rise of "cli-fi" spur youth into climate action?

'Anthropocene Fictions:' The Novel in a Time of Climate Change (Adam Trexler, PhD)

Turning Pages: How climate-change fiction is heating up

Associated Press: Climate Change Inspires Rise of 'Cli-Fi' Flicks

The New York Times: Can Cli Fi Change Minds? 6 Experts Speak Their Minds

NPR radio broadcast April 2013: Climate Change Has Created New Literary Genre

TIME magazine: Summer Cli-Fi Thrillers

Amitav Ghosh's 'The Great Derangement': A wide-ranging enquiry into climate change, oped by Srinath Perur August 27,2016

Hot Tomorrow: The Urgency and Beauty of Cli-Fi August 24, 2016

"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. ''

''DONALD TRUMP IS NOTHING. DONALD TRUMP IS NOBODY. DONALD TRUMP CANNOT STOP Cli-Fi''. -- SEE YouTube VIDEO RANT here

''DONALD TRUMP IS NOTHING. DONALD TRUMP IS NOBODY. DONALD TRUMP CANNOT STOP Cli-Fi''. -- SEE YouTube VIDEO RANT here

KEY STATEMENTS:

 

''DONALD TRUMP IS NOTHING.

 

DONALD TRUMP IS NOBODY.

 

DONALD TRUMP CANNOT STOP Cli-Fi''. --

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4sgsxKIBEk

STING's #CliFi single ONE FINE DAY is nice, but there is ONE FINE MISTAKE in the lyrics:

STING's #CliFi single ONE FINE DAY is nice, but there is ONE FINE MISTAKE in the lyrics: HERE: PENGUINS DO NOT LIVE AT THE NORTH POLE OR ALONG THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE, STING! DO SOME FACTCHECKING!

 http://cli-fi-books.blogspot.tw/2016/11/gordon-summers-aka-sting-has-new.html

''Are literary critics and novelists getting behind ''cli-fi''? YES!'' - Part of a Youtube tutorial series

Are literary critics and novelists getting behind ''cli-fi''? -

Part of the YouTube video series

Are literary critics and novelists getting behind ''cli-fi''? -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDXH82w2D-0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sscpn_CDVV8&t=125s  -
The origins of the ''Cli-Fi'' term (part 1)

"Cli-fi novels and literary critics in Australia" - Part 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDXH82w2D-0

JEFF VANDERMEER: ''This global warming & storytelling nonfiction book I've been working on should finally be finished by January.'' - Tweets novelist and literary critic Jeff VanderMeer in mid-November 2016

 ''This global warming & storytelling nonfiction book I've been working on should finally be finished by January.'' - Tweets novelist and literary critic Jeff VanderMeer in mid-November 2016 on Twitter

LINK:

http://cli-fi-books.blogspot.tw/2016/11/this-global-warming-storytelling.html

A top literary agent in NYC tells this blog today: "Congratulations on the Cli-Fi breakthrough in the publishing industry!"

A top literary agent inNYC tells us today: "Congratulations on #CliFi breakthrough in the publishing industry!" -

http://cli-fi-books.blogspot.tw/2016/11/a-top-literary-agent-in-nyc-tells-me.html

The book industry is picking up on cli-fi with Kim Stanley's upcoming release of "New York 2140"

                            

          

 

 

 

                                          

    

''New York 2140'' Hardcover March 2017

by Kim Stanley Robinson (Author) 

 

=========================================                                             

The book industry is picking up on cli-fi


Publishers, editors, agents, marketing departments getting behind the rising new genre

by Dan Bloom with staff reporters



As Maine goes, so goes the union, an old saying goes. In publishing parlance, we could say ''as random house goes, so goes Penguin and Harpercollins.

Despite a slow and cautious start beginning in 2013, the publishing industry is now embracing cli-fi as it once embraced sci fi. It's only logical, since cli-fi is seen more and more as a literary subgenre of science fiction.

"If Issac Asimov was alive today, he'd be writing cli-fi," says a top literary agent in New York. "He was already speaking out about global warming in filmed remarks at a science forum in 1988."
Kim Stanley Robinson has a new novel coming out with a big splash, pardon the pun, next March, on March 21, 2017, which is symbolic as its Spring Equinox day.

The title of KSR's cli-fi?

"New York 2140" and yes, it's set in the near future in the 22nd century in the year 2140, to be exact. It marks KSR's full embrace of the cli-fi subgenre and the publishing industry will never be the same, according to top editors, agents and CEOs in the business.

"His PR team will be promoting the new KSR novel as a climate change story, and not as a sci-fi novel per se," a publishing industry insider told me earlier this year. "It's about dozens of Manhatttan island skyscraper residence towers half-submerged from rising sea levels up and down the East Coast. Armegeddon central is no longer Los Angeles with its earthquake disaster stories. Robinson, the ultimate Californian, has taken back manhattan for himself."

Given that the floodgates are now open vis a vis cli-fi, agents and acquiring editors are getting behind the new subgenre and pushing the literary gatekeepers at the New York Times book review and the Washington Post to loosen up a bit and embrace the new publishing attitude, with a new attitude.

Previously the editor of the NYTBR Pamela Paul said she would never review cli-fi novels using the word cli-fi in any review published under her watch.

"Vver my dead body," she told this blogger in 2013. "The cli-fi term will never appear in print in my secton of the newspaper as long as I am the editor here."

Three years later, she's changing her mind, and allowing, even encouraging her stable of freelance book reviewers  to use the once verboten term.

Publishers Weekly, PW as it is known in the book world, is following suit. While the editor of PW Jim Milliott  said publicly in 2013 that he was "not interested" in cli-fi, in a terse tw-word email to this blogger, he now is, having let his hair down and loosened up a bit.

So if you talk book talk today with the likes of publishing tastemakers such as Peter Gethers, Nan Talese, Morgan Entrekin or superagents like Rafe Sagalyn or Jim Rutman or John Silberstack or Al Zucerkman or Peter Berens, you'll likle hear the cli-fi term being whispered in the hallways. It's a brave new world out there amongst publishing hands now, and cli-fi is here to stay, rising subgenre that it is.

Kim Stanley Robinson's new novel will usher in a flood of new cli-fi starting in 2017 and 2018. There's no holding back the waters now. KSR, the science fiction legend has spoken. And the publishing world is listening.

 

 

 

A 5-minute Youtube video tutorial for college students on the origins of the cli-fi term, part 1. A series of 25 more to come

 

 

A 5-minute Youtube video tutorial for college students on the origins of the cli-fi term, part 1.

 

A series of 25 more to come --

 

https://youtu.be/Sscpn_CDVV8

A 5-minute Youtube video tutorial for college students on the origins of the cli-fi term, part 1. A series of 25 more to come

 

 

A 5-minute Youtube video tutorial for college students on the origins of the cli-fi term, part 1.

 

A series of 25 more to come --

 

https://youtu.be/Sscpn_CDVV8

An interview with Sally Fernandez, author of the new cli-fi thriller "Climatized"

An interview with Sally Fernandez, author of the new cli-fi thriller "Climatized"





Back in December of 2012, Georgia Tech scientist Judith Curry published a blog post titled "Cli-Fi" in which she introduced the new genre, writing: "There is a fledgling new genre in fiction [dubbed cli-fi, for climate fiction novels using the same sounds as sci-fi]. Michael Crichton's ''State of Fear'' was a blockbuster best-selling novel with the debate over global warming serving as the backdrop for the book.
Wikipedia had this to say about ''State of Fear'', Curry noted:

https://judithcurry.com/2012/12/23/cli-fi/

''State of Fear is a 2004 techno-thriller novel by Michael Crichton concerning eco-terrorists who attempt mass murder to support their views. The novel had an initial print run of 1.5 million copies and reached the #1 bestseller position at Amazon.com and #2 on the New York Times Best Seller list for one week in January 2005. The book contains many graphs and footnotes, two appendices, and a twenty-page bibliography. Most climate scientists dispute Crichton’s science as being error-filled and distorted.  The novel itself has garnered mixed reviews, with some literary reviewers stating that the book’s presentation of facts and stance on the global warming debate detracted from the book’s plot.''

''While the literary crowd may have criticized the book’s presentation of facts and stance on global warming, this novel seems to have spawned numerous skeptical investigations amongst the afficionadoes of the technical thriller genre.''

 Novels about climate change issues have become popular in recent years and this new literary genre called "cli-fi" has arisen to give these novels a home in bookstores and online. Some take the issues from a pro-global warming stance, and others take the opposite view, emphasizing that global warming is not what climate activists say it is nor are the solutions proposed useful or productive.

For novelist Sally Fernandez in Sarasota, Florida, her new novel titled "Climatized" is a political thriller that takes the second view, that global warming is not what climate activists say it is and that the various solutions proposed are not useful or productive. In a recent interview with this blogger, Fernandez was kind enough to sit down and answer some of our questions about her cli-fi novel. 



DAN BLOOM: Sally, I wrote in my review on Amazon that your novel -- I love the title, by the way --  is “a fantastic read as a thriller” and it is. And you really have the proven writing chops as a storyteller and thriller novelist. I am just curious about the thesis of your novel. So, let's chat and if we disagree on some things, that's fine, we can agree to disagree, and yet retain open minds about the issues involved.

So Sally, while we may disagree as to the thesis behind your novel, you say you stand behind the science that has been fact-checked by many luminaries in the scientific community.  Can you tell me some of these luminaries’ names, for example? Michael Mann, James Hansen, Andrew Revkin?


SALLY FERNANDEZ:  Interesting you would name those three. Because from what I understand, Michael “hockey stick” Mann’s graphic, basically eliminated the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age. Even the IPCC quietly chose not to include this discredited invalidity in its most recent “reportage.”  Conversely, NASA’s Apollo Space Mission veteran, Dr. Harold Doiron, whom you may have noted, wrote the Foreword for Climatized, was one of the “luminaries” on whom I relied. His mathematics was responsible for literally “saving” almost every rocket launched by the agency in eliminating destructive resonances in the fuel delivery system. Dr. Doiron’s equations have been parsed by The Right Climate Stuff research team, a group comprised of astronauts, scientists, and engineers, along with others in academia. Uniformly, they agree as to the logic and most important, its non-threatening results of climate change.  I believe that from the standpoint of mathematical and technical expertise, Mann is not in Doiron’s league.

You also mentioned James Hansen. I’d like to note that along with his colleague, Maiko Sato, they predicted over a 16-foot exponential sea-level rise by the end of this century.  Again, from my research, Hansen and Sato used climate models to make these assumptions. 

However, another one of my luminaries and NASA Apollo veteran, Tom Wysmuller, used hard, measured, validated and verified data to put together a sea-level rise picture that is far more realistic.  Currently, Tom is in Qingdao, China, chairing the Oceanography section of the World Conference on Oceans, where he will be addressing the conference on sea-level rise, and delivering another presentation on the role that ocean currents played in the development of the Great Ice Ages. For him, “Global Warming” is real, measured appropriately by retained oceanic heat. If you’re placing bets, I’ll go with Tom!

Honestly, I have no comparison to Andrew Revkin. I’m only familiar with him as a New York Times reporter, who he tends to sensationalize climate matters. There is a real choice between opting for sensationalism or for reality, but sadly, the media have blurred the distinction.

I could continue to list the accomplishments of my other luminaries, such as the likes of Laurence Gould, Physics Professor at the University of Hartford, Dennis Avery, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute and co-author of New York Times bestselling book Unstoppable Global Warming, and Jay Lehr, Science Director at The Heartland Institute, who have all read and thoroughly fact-checked the science outlined in ''Climatized.''



But what is important to stress is the point that I engaged each of these individuals to review and fact-check my scientific data after my manuscript was completed. I was honored and pleased that they agreed and verified that my research was accurate. So, while we may disagree with the actual data and its conclusions, I think you would at least agree that I’ve done my homework.

DAN BLOOM: There is no one side to the argument over global warming, which is why the climate change debate, unfortunately or fortunately, continues to rage.  Do you think your book might help convince some readers to better see your take on the issue?


SALLY FERNANDEZ:  There are many points of view on both sides of the argument, but I personally lean on the side that I believe is grounded in hard science and verified, validated data.  But Dan, when it comes to writing this novel, it’s not so much about my take on the issue, but my desire to explain away the confusion, so the readers can make a reasonable assessment for themselves. The terms global warming or climate change have become the catch-phrases for anthropogenic global warming (AGW). No right-thinking person would deny that global warming exists or that climate change is not prevalent. But I suspect most citizens do not understand the fine line. This issue is solely about whether there is empirical scientific data to prove that human-induced CO2 emissions are causing catastrophic global warming, along with the proposed threats, such as sea-level rise. In fact, from my research I find there is more evidence that CO2 is making the Earth greener.
Having said that, I do not purport to be a climate scientist. I’m a layperson who conducted research out of my own interest for this novel. My style of writing is to weave fact with fiction to create a plausible scenario. But what I uncovered through the course of my research, is that the scientific facts do not support the theory behind AGW. Frankly, it enhanced my storyline.

DAN BLOOM: It was your hope in writing ''Climatized'' you told me in an earlier email to create an open debate, not one that would be shut down by one side or the other. What kinds of questions would be useful in such an open debate? Is climate change a hoax, a fraud? Is climate change  not a hoax, not a fraud? Where does truth lie and how do we as Americans find it?

SALLY FERNANDEZ:   Going back as far as the early 1990’s, I find it extremely disturbing that the theory of AGW has permeated the globe, all based on an absence of observed data. The climate models are incapable of telling the whole story. However, a cottage industry has flourished out of carbon trade, renewable energy, and green energy. And it has generated trillions of dollars for those who jumped on the bandwagon. Frankly, I’m befuddled as to how leaders of governments and powerful organizations would mindlessly, follow unproved contentions. To date, there is no scientific evidence that proves CO2 is harming our Earth.

The American people, as well as all citizens around the globe should ask for the data, data, and more data!  And demand that the data is measured, verified, tested, and validated. Although, extraordinary caution should be exercised before daring to extrapolate from the findings. Integrity of the science must be paramount and not politicized to adhere to public policy. Absent that, what is one to conclude other than it is a hoax?

DAN BLOOM: Americans seem divided mostly via red state blue state divisions over the reality or fraudulence of various AGW theories and arguments. Why do you think this is?


SALLY FERNANDEZ:  There is enormous profit in having governments direct public policy towards obtaining tax revenue derived from the resulting sensationalism related to “Climate Change.” Although, I believe both liberals and conservatives are socially and environmentally conscientious, liberals tend to be more reactionary in the belief that governments are responsible for solving their problems. Conservatives tend to look for more realistic solutions in the private sector. Don’t misunderstand, with unlimited money, I’d want to right all the wrongs on earth. But again, without proof, we should be wary on how to proceed and how to allocate taxpayer’s dollars.


DAN BLOOM: In Europe, where you also have lived, this is not case. Europeans are much more accepting of the science behind global warming theories. Why do you think they are?

SALLY FERNANDEZ:  Europeans, for the large part are socialists who fall in line with American liberal thinking, or vice-a-versa. In both cases, taxing others to benefit their social programs is viewed as a good thing. And if they are not the ones being taxed, they celebrate the result!

DAN BLOOM: I appreciate your willingness to do this interview with ''The Cli-Fi Report'' that I edit, knowing that I fully support the science behind the reality of AGW.  Thank you for taking the time to express your point of view here, despite our differences of opinion. What in your background or personality makes you such an open-minded person, yet at the same time strongly debunking AGW?

SALLY FERNANDEZ:  I’ve always been pragmatic and the climate change debate never made sense to me for the reasons I’ve cited. For the record, I don’t debunk climate change; I disagree as to the effects of AGW. But even if there were hard data to prove otherwise, I believe it is foolish to think that nations will put aside their own self-interests for the sake of mother Earth. India fired up their coal plants after signing the Paris Agreement; one of many examples. Bear in mind, we’re not out to destroy our planet and I’m confident we will continue to use our human ingenuity and technology to improve our lives and our Earth. But we must not be cavalier with our science and it must not be directed by a political narrative.

Dan, again, I think we can agree to disagree, and I appreciate your giving me the time to express my personal views and partake in a healthy debate. Perhaps, I may have even widened your views…a bit.

DAN BLOOM: Thank you, Sally, for taking the time to do this short interview. And yes, you have widened my views, a bit. It's been good to chat with you online this way. I’d like to also mention that when I asked Sally, if I could call her novel a cli-fi thriller, she replied: ''Cli-fi thriller: every classification only widens the audience and if it helps you to promote the phrase, go for it."
POST-SCRIPT:

MORE news about Sally Fernandez and her new novel "Climatized" here:
https://www.prlog.org/12591923-provocative-political-thriller-climatized-by-sally-fernandez-released.html

AMAZON LINK:

https://www.amazon.com/Climatized-Ford-Thriller-Sally-Fernandez/dp/0997397322/ref=cm_rdp_product