No abstract

The world is increasingly unthinkable-a world of planetary disasters, emerging pandemics, tectonic shifts, strange weather, oil-drenched seascapes, and the furtive, always-looming threat of extinction. In spite of our daily concerns, wants, and desires, it is increasingly difficult to comprehend the world in which we live and of which we are a part. To confront this idea is to confront an absolute limit to our ability to adequately understand the world at all-an idea that has been a central motif of the horror genre for some time. (Thacker 1

This text examines the effects of climate change on cultural ideas regarding the colonization of space. More specifically, this paper explores the ways which the looming danger of climate catastrophe has fueled the growth of post-planetary culture: a culture that dreams of a human destiny beyond the Earth. It takes as its object both science fiction texts and non-fiction futurological pronouncements by scientists and entrepreneurs. What emerges from this study is the observation that unlike climate skeptics, post-planetarists believe that climate change is real. Yet like climate skeptics, they subordinate climate action to other priorities, putting the construction of a means of escaping this planet above climate action. But why do these post-planetarists wish to fly? Via a close reading of David Brin’s Earth, we argue that one of the key characteristics of post-planetary culture is a feeling of hatred and alienation towards the Earth. This hatred is both re-enforced by the ravages of climate change even as it contributes to this destruction by blocking post-planetarists from whole-heartedly engaging in climate action. In order to illustrate an antidote to this pathological cultural reaction to our current crisis, I present a close reading Kim Stanley Robinson’s Aurora, exploring how this text is both a critique of post-planetarism and a guide to renewing our love for the Earth.

No abstract

No abstract