This is mostly brainstorming for a book choice for where I work (a college)...but we may get some good reading for ourselves out of it.
What are your favorite SF novels relating to environmental issues? My nominations:
In the Drift, Michael Swanwick Dune, Frank Herbert Jurassic Park, Michael Chrichton The Legacy of Heorot, Niven, Pournelle, and Steve Barnes The Lorax, Dr. Seuss (!)
Have not read:
Children of Men, P. D. James Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner The Sheep Look Up, John Brunner
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
Nature's End, by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka (authors of Warday.
State of Fear, by Michael Crichton.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
There is a series by Robert MacBride Allan that starts with The Depths of Time that I've enjoyed. It's about terraforming, and the discovery that all created ecosystems are doomed to failure, and humanity had better take care of the Earth, 'cause she's all we got.
Probably not exactly what you're looking for, but interesting.
Edit: Oh, I forgot one of my favorite authors, Kay Kenyon has an SF novel about the collapse of earth's environment: Seeds of Time
Amazon description:
quote:Clio Finn is a Dive pilot on a troubled Earth in 2019. Public paranoia about the AIDS virus and its successors has led to the imprisonment of the "subversives" of the society (namely, drug users and gays) in forced labor quarantine camps known as quarries. Meanwhile, Earth itself is dying from a progressive lack of greenery, as the UV irradiation from a successively depleted ozone layer is killing off all the plants, and therefore the planet's ability to sustain itself.
To counteract this problem, the powers of Earth have decided that new greenery must be found on alternate worlds, to supplement Earth's dying stock with heartier, alien strains. But since faster-than-light travel is still unavailable, a new method must be found to achieve this. Enter time travel, in which a quick jaunt down through time can bring ships into the position of planets which had rotated through Earth's present position in the distant past, due to the galaxy's extended period of rotation.
Posted by 0Megabyte (Member # 8624) on :
That's actually an incredibly clever solution.
A science fiction writer who actually thinks about the fact that star systems are actually moving.
Is it wrong of me to be impressed that someone actually used that idea?
Pity the rest doesn't seem as realistic a situation.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
I just looked through a list of Hugo and Nebula award winners. Here are some which I know deal with ecological themes (I haven't read all of them):
The Mars series by Kim Stanley Robinson Timescape by Gregory Benford "Unicorn Variation" by Roger Zelazny Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler "The Ugly Chickens" by Howard Waldrop "giANTS" by Edward Bryant Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm "Tricentennial" by Joe Haldeman Dune by Frank Herbert
BTW, I just finished Timescape today, and the fact that the solar system is traveling through space is dealt with in that book as well.
Posted by Alcon (Member # 6645) on :
The Uplift series by David Brin
It doesn't deal directly with ecological stuff, but they are a very strong theme through all of the books. Plus there are just some plain cool ideas about a possible galactic civilization in there.
Posted by David G (Member # 8872) on :
Nearly all of Kim Stanley Robinson's work addresses environmental issues - and from a variety of perspectives: