Vandana Singh on SF and the end of the world

Vandana is one of India’s best SF writers. Not best-known; best. So when she says she thinks the end of the world might be closer than we realise, I’m listening. (Courtesy Anita Roy).

What I’m calling for is a dialogue among SF writers about climate change. Not an argument about whether it is real or not but a brainstorming session in which we sit down at our computers across the world and think of ways to avert what might already be upon us, before it is too late. But since we are dealing with a complex system, these ways can’t be simplistic. They can’t be technological alone. We have to draw upon our sociological imaginations as well. We have to draw upon what different cultures around the world have come up with to inspire and mobilize people. It has to be a massive, interdisciplinary effort. We have to pull in scientists and community organizers, village women and students. Perhaps we are uniquely qualified for such a discussion because many of us SF types straddle boundaries of various kinds.

And then I want us — and the plumbers and ballerinas — to act.