American science fiction master Kim Stanley Robinson has slammed the US Republican Party’s attitude towards climate change, describing it as “like the Catholic Church denying the Earth went around the sun in Galileo’s time”.
57-year-old Robinson is best known for his Mars trilogy, but has also written a number of other books, including his recent Science in the Capital series, which explores the consequences of global warming.
The author’s comments came in a new interview published as part of the re-publication of Robinson’s novella Lucky Strike, being published as part of PM Press’s Outspoken Authors series. Robinson says the Republicans are going to crawl away from their climate policy “mistake” later and pretend it never happened. And it’s a dangerous moment on the world stage in general:
“What’s been set up and is playing out now is a huge world historical battle between science and capitalism. Science is insisting more emphatically every day that this is a real and present danger. Capitalism is saying it isn’t, because if it were true it would mean more government control of economies, more social justice (as a climate stabilization technique) and so on.
These are the two big players in our civilization, so I say, be aware, watch the heavyweights go at it, and back science every chance you get. I speak to all fellow leftists around the world: science is now a leftism, and thank God; but capitalism is very, very strong. So it’s a dangerous moment. People who like their history dramatic and non-utopian should be pleased.”
The full interview is available at Shareable.net. Image by AllyUnion.
Commentary
I kind of know how Kim Stanley Robinson feels – in Australia, our conservative party, a coalition of the Liberal and National parties, has similar climate change denial problems.
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3 Responses to KSR slams Republican climate ‘denial’
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Robinson doesn’t know his history. The church didn’t have a problem with Copernicus, who beat Galileo to the heliocentric punch. It wasn’t Galileo’s astronomy that was the problem. The man was a jerk.
KSR needs to stop perpetuating the myth that science needs an enemy. First the church, now capitalism. Stop playing the victim. If global warming has a case, it can stand up to skeptical and critical examination. That’s supposed to be the difference between science and everything else.
Last word. I’m a geologist. For most of the Earth’s history, the climate has been warmer than it is now.
Galileo may have been a ‘jerk’ but I think his discoveries may have had at least something to do with the church’s reaction, don’t you think?
Secondly, KSR seems to have summed up the current situation (re climate science) quite well. Regardless of its open philosophy of debate, science is under attack by capitalism and the weapon in this case is public relations.
Lastly, in terms of earth’s history, perhaps you’ve mistaken human beings for rocks or fossils? We’ve only been here an eyeblink. The worry is that we are changing the climate into one that will make it impossible to support our current level of civilisation or that due to the rapidity of this change, disastrous and unforeseen feedback effects will arise.
The bigger issue from what you state is that believe in evolution. In any case, the earth has been around longer than you, and the best way that you can effect the kind of change you wish, is by refusing to exhale.
If you don’t see the ridiculousness in this statement, then I suggest a rudimentary study of photosynthesis should be in your future.