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.