''Loving the Earth is worthy genre''

oped by Aussie columnist for a Murdoch rag DEIRDRE MACKEN

By staff writer Deirdre Macken
February 14, 2020
12,763 Comments

The worst term in literary circles at the moment must be cli-fi. Referring to climate change novels, the term is a clunky version of sci-fi, sounds more like an airconditioner and has yet to produce many good books. But it also overshadows a more interesting genre that’s sprung up in these angsty times.

Let’s call it Earth-lit, and it’s less about the coming climate and more about the Earth we love. I might not have noticed this genus if I hadn’t scrolled through my digital library searching for a particular book and suddenly realised I had a lot of weird sounding titles whizzing past.

Take the best-selling Underland, which is a travelogue into what lies beneath in caves, catacombs, ice sheets and forests. Author Robert Macfarlane makes the buried come alive, which is surprising for a reader who has never been interested in anything deeper than humus. But there’s an overlay of loss and dread that comes from placing humans in geological time. Deep time, deep regret.

I downloaded Underland by mistake when I was trying to buy our book club choice, The Overstory (under/over, same/same). This Pulitzer Prize-winner is an overwrought novel about the power of trees. And while it works on the level of science, life and beliefs systems, its characters are mere background for the love of trees. Still, it got the prize.

Trees, whether it’s their understory or overstory, are providing much fuel for stories of the Earth. There’s The Secret Life of Trees, which invites us to appreciate the power and beauty of trees before they disappear; there’s The Hidden Life of Trees, which explores the latest science about how trees communicate with each other and even bolster each other and, by the same author, there’s The Secret Wisdom of Nature.

Even the self-help category is brimming with nature. Heralded by Into the Forest by immunologist Qing Li, readers are discovering the health benefits of what the Japanese call “forest bathing”, otherwise known as the great outdoors. Support acts include The Nature Fix, The Healing Power of Trees and The Biophilia Effect.

The ocean hasn’t been forgotten. The End of the Ocean is about the importance of water, climate refugees and the loss of place, so I suppose it could be considered cli-fi. Along with Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behaviour, it’s one of the few cli-fi books that work as both novel and message.

The curious aspect about Earth-lit is it aims to re-enchant our relationship with the Earth. The books speak of the unrecognised relationship that humans have with their landscape, their trees, the underground, water ways and the places they inhabit. They catapult us into deep time and ask us to consider what layer we are leaving on the Earth, what future we leave for the Earth.

Theirs is a conversation about ecology that doesn’t pit it against economics or politics but lets it stand on its own merits. If the authors have lent an enchantment to the science, that too reads true because it is set against a human story of angst and nostalgia. And if there is a sense of urgency, it might be because we are discovering so much about the Earth, just as we fear we’re losing it.

Cli-fi as a genre might be failing us because too often the polemic overwhelms the integrity of the story, the characters and their journey. It can feel manufactured, even manipulative. Earth-lit works because it is full of wonder, unafraid of sentiment and it asks readers to reconnect with the Earth, if not hug a tree. But, more importantly, it asks us to love the Earth, which must be the first step to saving the Earth.

Macken.deirdre@gmail.com

An Australian journalist named Deirdre Macken unloads in a silly juvenile way on the ''cli-fi'' term in Murdoch-owned right-wing newspaper Down Under. SEE HER OPED ABOVE and HER COMMENT BELOW:

''The worst term in literary circles at the moment must be cli-fi. Referring to climate change novels, the term is a clunky version of sci-fi, sounds more like an airconditioner and has yet to produce many good books. But it also overshadows a more interesting genre that’s sprung up in these angsty times.

Let’s call it Earth-lit, and it’s less about the coming climate and more about the Earth we love. I might not have noticed this genus if I hadn’t scrolled through my digital library searching for a particular book and suddenly realised I had a lot of weird sounding titles whizzing past.''

A note to the ''Cli-Fi Community'' Worldwide, writers, readers, literary critics, academics and reporters:

Let's politely reply to her, her own email she has listed contact details are here macken.deirdre@gmail.com , and give her some pointers on why she is so so wrong, but again be polite. She loves the Earth, as she says in her oped, and she means well I am sure, but she is just a bit misguided in her criticism of ''climate fiction'' and its popular genre nickname of ''cli-fi''. Let's explain a few things to her so she understand it better.

BUT SEE ALSO THIS CORRECTIVE OPED FROM THE UK GUARDIAN in 2018
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2017/oct/18/clifi-a-new-way-to-talk-about-climate-change

Her headline in the AUSTRALIAN: