We live in a time of unprecedented natural transformation. The phenomenon of anthropogenic climate change is already radically reshaping Planet Earth and the lives of every living thing upon it. Global warming is bringing with it increasingly intense storm systems, longer droughts, more frequent heat waves, greater extremes in global temperatures, progressively unstable weather patterns, and the disappearance of glaciers and the Arctic ice pack. Human activity - thanks to things like heedless industrial development, technological advances, higher population growth requiring greater levels of food, clean water, and other necessities, and simple corporate and political greed - continues to diminish the wild places of the Earth and bring extinction to countless species of animal and plant life. The next decades are going to require major reshifting in the ways in which we interact with our natural environment in order to preserve what we can of it, as well as to preserve ourselves.

Since its modern inception in the early 19th century, science fiction has both predicted and commented upon the scientific phenomena of its day - the development of chemistry and physics as systemic sciences, rocketry, the possibility of extraterrestrial life, quantum mechanics, atomic weapons, space travel, computers, genetic engineering, and nanotechnology. It has also provided fictional lenses through which to observe faults in our societal structures and the ways in which we treat each other and the world around us. Climate change is no exception to this trend.

The most existential threats demand the most creative reactions and responses. We have always asked the question, “How will we react in the face of overwhelming change that creates an entirely new world?” For that question, science fiction has provided limitless answers, some of which are explored here. Will we return disorder for disorder, inflicting violence and savagery on our fellow human beings as the world falls apart? Will we become creatures adapting to new societies governed by devastating heat, or by rising waters, or by new and strange forms of life? Will we flee the planet we have destroyed altogether for a new world? Will we turn our ingenuity and intelligence towards solving the problems we have made for ourselves? Will we, as science journalist and SF author Annalee Newitz puts it, “scatter, adapt, and remember”, reforming ourselves into new social orders yet bearing the memory of all that went before us?

Human beings are storytellers. We have always been so. The stories we tell reflect our perceptions of ourselves and the world around us, a fact no less true for stories we tell of environmental change. In these stories we see human nature in all its facets, from the darkest parts of ourselves to our brightest. We face immensely troubled and difficult years ahead and, yes, in moments like this human beings often despair. They fear, and they lash out, and they succumb to greed and selfishness and xenophobia and desperation and surrender. The number of books and films set in post-apocalyptic wastelands are legion, and many of the materials in this exhibit document these kinds of moments.

But there is also optimism, and determination, and resilience, and enduring human connection through the worst of times. You will see these here, too, because we need them more than ever. History tells us that there is more room for hope in the aftermath of catastrophe than we might suppose. In her 2009 book A Paradise Built In Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster), Rebecca Solnit points out that “[i]n the wake of an earthquake, a bombing, or a major storm, most people are altruistic, urgently engaged in caring for themselves and those around them, strangers and neighbors as well as friends and loved ones. The image of the selfish, panicky, or regressively savage human being in times of disaster has little truth to it...often the worst behavior in the wake of a calamity is on the part of those who believe that others will behave savagely and that they themselves are taking defensive measures against barbarism.”[Even during the recent COVID-19 pandemic, true, we saw so many examples of utter selfishness or wilful ignorance from fools and from dishonest people and governments. But we also tok heart in the countless instances of health care workers risking their lives daily to treat the sick, and the volunteers giving time and energy to support them; low-paid workers like cashiers and home care aides and custodians who soldier on in making sure society still runs; and ordinary people rich with empathy and a desire to help protect their fellows.]

In this unprecedented existential crisis that we face, we face it together as a species. The same fate awaits the entire planet. We hope that this exhibit will not only thrill you with stories of darkness, but will inspire you with tales of progress and light. It can be all too easy to give in to pessimism about our future; resist it, so we may survive. To quote Jyn Erso from the film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, “rebellions are built on hope.” The fact that we have told stories for millennia about how things might be different, and passed on stories to the next generations - that act of storytelling is a hopeful act of survival. A rebellion against the state of things - against any state of things - needs hope. May you find that here.

This exhibit was envisioned, created, and curated by Jeremy Brett, Shelby Hebert, and Vincent (then Heathryn) Livingston.