Global Climate Change in Modern Science Fiction

      In Peter Hamilton’s Mindstar Rising series global climate change plays a vital role in several aspects of the story. The series contains three books, the first Mindstar Rising was written in 1993. The series takes place in “post warming” England in a not too distant future. The physical environment caused by the warming sets an intriguing backdrop to the action and character development throughout the series. The economic turmoil which followed the climate change is the driving force behind most of the plot. The climate change also directly affects the types of technologies and innovations seen and introduced throughout the series.

      Mindstar Rising begins just over a decade after the global climate change in a period that Hamilton calls the “post warming”. The warming refers to massive increase in global temperatures caused by an increase in greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere. The actual warming took place over a short span of just a few years, and although the temperature is no longer rising, England now has a near alien climate. The sudden increase in temperature has caused the icecaps to melt and sea levels to rise. Coastal areas were abandoned and cities on high ground were over run with refugees. Winter is just a lost memory of the oldest generations, an unknowable past to the rising adult generation. Resources and housing are scarce, schools and hotels were reverted into family dwellings to accommodate the rising number of homeless. Coastal cities, flooded and abandoned, are described as ghost towns. What wasn’t covered with water now rots in the unforgivable heat and sogginess of the new climate. It paints an eerie picture of a foreseeable future; because today, 15 years after this book was published, we face a similar challenge with our own carbon crisis.

      In Mindstar Rising, England’s economy is virtually wiped out after the effects of the climate change and is essentially reverted back to an agrarian society. The Socialist Party, which came to power immediately after the warming, dictated housing and food distribution during its reign of power. It also outlawed all consumer products not made by the socialist government. An underground economic movement smuggled in contraband, such as televisions and other household technologies, which sparked the revolt which lead to the Socialist Party being overthrown. Corporations begin to dominate the booming capitalist economy while supplying new jobs and revitalizing the country. The theme of dominating corporations is flaunted throughout the series, yet Hamilton shows through the dealings of the biggest and most successful corporation, Event Horizon, that they don’t have to be evil and dominating but that they can be righteous and use their power for the good of all.

      The types of technologies and innovations seen throughout Mindstar Rising are all related in some way to the global climate change. United by the disastrous environmental effects of the climate change, all harmful emissions are outlawed and more environmentally friendly solutions must be used. Traditional power plants, factories, and even fuel burning automobiles are no longer allowed. Solar power is the now the main source of electricity, nearly all the buildings and houses are described as being covered in solar paneling. New power technologies are being researched and created. The “giga conductor” which becomes the solution to the world’s power problems is the focal point of the main plot between the antagonizing remnants of the socialist party, and the protagonist mega corporation Event Horizon who was responsible for England’s economic rebirth and is considered by most to be the country’s savior. Automobiles are all electric and considered a luxury. They are fitted with special tires to cope with the soggy terrain of the post warming climate, and durable enough to handle the ill-kept roads of England’s countryside. Many factories were forced into orbit where they are free to produce their goods along with the outlawed greenhouse gases.

      The theme of the global climate change as foreseen in Hamilton’s Mindstar Rising series is at the very heart of the entire series. It is seen everywhere in the physical setting of each of the books. Also, the economic turmoil caused by the warming and its after effects is the driving force behind most of the plot. Finally, the new technologies which also drive the plot but also develop the setting are related or affected by the Warming.

back