As several of us like to read, we started a Green Book Group in 2020. Our second book was The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson and, as you will see below, our reviews were mixed! If you'd like to join the Green Book Group, keep an eye on our Facebook page for the details of our next book and the date of the meeting.
Review by Alison Skinner
This is a work of fiction about how we might possibly
overcome the effects of global climate change by the 2050s. It is written by a well-known
American science fiction writer who has in recent years turned to predictions
of the likely effects of extreme weather events in the United States in the
near future. It has been recommended by several conservation organisations and
also comes endorsed as one of Barak Obama's favourite books of the year. In
these times, however, we perhaps need our science fiction writers to imagine
the changes which humanity might have to undertake in order to move to a more
sustainable way of life. Weighing in at 563 pages, this is not a quick read and
was written pre-pandemic, so the international freedom of movement of the
central characters depicted already seems highly nostalgic, Nevertheless, it
combines a briefing on the key factors affecting global warning and the range
of incentives and penalties which might induce individuals and organisations to
change their behaviour.
The central premise of the novel is that at a future COP 29,
there is agreement that a new organisation be set up in Zurich to advocate for
the future of unborn humanity and work with all the international institutions
to find and implement solutions to climate change, dubbed the Ministry for the
Future. It is run by a middle-aged Irish woman called Mary Murphy – very
reminiscent of Mary Robinson human rights ambassador – who takes up residence
in Zurich, assembles a team of specialists around her and undertakes diplomatic
initiatives with key decision-makers such as politicians and bankers.
The book is split into short chapters which take the reader
around the globe, into every kind of setting, to explore the effects and
potential mitigation of climate change. The opening chapter
depicts an extreme heat event in India which unwinds in a
catastrophic and distressing way – not impossible according to current
predictions – which sparks some political change in the way that other
tragedies have. The book is a love letter to the city of Zurich and gives the
reader a special experience of looking out over the world's affairs from this
uniquely neutral Swiss perspective, both in the cities and the mountains.
There are vignettes of scientists working in the Antarctic
to reverse melting ice caps, political activists bringing cities to a halt to
press for change, a kayaker rescuing people from a flooded Los Angeles, a
climate refugee in a camp with only aid workers for support, the re-engineering
of personal communications away from Facebook to a more democratic model, an ingenious reworking of the global financial system to
more positive ends, including transparent Swiss banks and a high jacking of a
Davos conference by activists enforcing some re-education on the world's
leaders (not entirely successfully at that point!).
Change is not all peaceful and some is induced by force, but
the mix of incentives and penalties starts to birth a more just world order.
Religious institutions are depicted as working to support climate refugees and
asylum seekers. There are also single page chapters in which some of the forces
of climate change are described poetically like Anglo-Saxon riddles for readers
to guess their identity.
Having immersed oneself in this book you emerge with a
slightly dizzy feeling of hope, although realising some things may not be
possible and the desire to pass it on to someone with power and influence in
the world. We really need someone to set up a Ministry for the Future for all
of us.
Review by Kelly Swann
At 563 pages, The Ministry for the Future is a
sizeable commitment. Once in it, it doesn't take long to realise that the
reason for its heft is that this is two books stitched rather crudely together.
One of the books is a compelling narrative about a man who survives a horrific
heat wave and how this experience motivates him to impact The Ministry. The
other book inside The Ministry for the Future is a collection of essays
about the various cataclysmic crises that are arising as a result of climate
change and possible scientific and idealistic fixes. I liked and was engaged by
the 'first' book... the second, that Kim Stanley tries to smuggle in, not so
much: too heavy, too indigestible. Despite not especially enjoying this book, I
am glad that I struggled through it as it is without question written by a man
who is hugely knowledgeable about his subject and it is against the odds an
optimistic read. However, my advice to you... should you decide to read it, is
put on your high viz jacket, your hard hat and steel-capped boots, because my
friend - it's hard work.
