Welcome to YA! for Nature, an occasional series exploring environmental issues in Young Adult literature. Today, we've got Kat Ross, author of the science fiction debut SOME FINE DAY, talking about hypercanes and climate change. And at the end of the post, you'll find a great giveaway! So read on....
YA
Guy: Welcome to the blog, Kat! Can you tell us about yourself and your debut, Some Fine Day?
Kat Ross: Thanks, YA Guy! Well, the story
revolves around a girl who’s lived her entire life underground because Earth’s
surface is ravaged by continent-sized storms called hypercanes. I didn’t make
that up, by the way! A meteorologist at MIT named Kerry Emanual coined the term
back in 1994. He hypothesized that such storms could be possible if the seas
got really, really warm. We’re talking wind speeds of over 500 mph. Seriously.
Anyway, I won’t give too much away, but
there’s plenty of lousy weather, a dash of romance, scary mutants, despicable
bad guys, and krav maga fight scenes. In other words, something for everyone…
YAG:
Sounds like a great book! I notice on your Twitter page you call yourself a
“climate geek.” I’d love to hear the history behind that!
KR: Ah, yes. I don’t want to exaggerate. I’m
not a total policy/science wonk. But I’ve followed the debate as a journalist
and editor since the mid-2000s. I was in Rio two years ago when the ultra-hyped
U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development went down in flames. Over the last
decade, I’ve watched the predictions of very smart scientists get worse and
worse, and in many cases morph from being predictions (as in something that
will happen in the future) to data
(as in something that is happening right
now). You only have to look at Hurricane Sandy and Super Typhoon Haiyan to
go, hmmmm. Something is wrong here.
YAG: So it's safe to say that your interest in climate
change plays into Some Fine Day!
KR: To be honest, there’s so much
terrifying stuff in scientific journals right now that I didn’t have to look
very far for a white-knuckle plot. But I did know I wanted climate change to be
a big part of the story. It’s just…epic. It’s different from most other
challenges humanity is facing in the sense that it affects every corner of the
globe and it’s basically irreversible. A lot of that carbon will stay up there
for thousands of years. And I can’t help wondering, what if the worst case
scenarios come true? I’m just naturally optimistic like that.
YAG:
Do you think we as a nation and a world have made any significant steps in
addressing the threat of climate change?
What more can or should we do?
KR: Yeah, that’s a big one. President Obama
put out a climate action plan to cut CO2 by 17 percent by 2020, and he’s
cracking down on new power plant emissions, which is good. Scientists say we
need to keep warming under two degrees by 2020 to avoid catastrophic impacts--that’s
the magic number. Unfortunately, it’s looking pretty unlikely this will happen.
A lot of countries are backsliding on their promises. One of the biggest things
governments need to do is a real no-brainer: stop subsidizing fossil fuels. The
U.S. alone hands out between $14 and $52 billion to the oil and gas industry
per year. Basically they’re being rewarded for trashing the planet.
YAG:
Last question. You and I are fiction writers, not politicians or pundits. What’s
the role, if any, of fiction in calling attention to environmental issues and
problems?
KR: Oh, I so agree with that! Writing
something preachy or "message-oriented" is--and should be--a death
knell. If I want soapbox opinions or boatloads of data, I’ll go to a news site.
When I read fiction, I want to be entertained.
I want great characters. I want detestable villains, and plot twists that make
sense but totally blindside me. I want to feel like I’m in a world that’s more
vivid than my own, that I’m tasting, smelling, feeling everything along with
the characters. I want humor and I want heartbreak.
But as the author, you can aim for all that
and you still get a million choices. Setting is a huge one. So mine happens to
be set in a future time where the seas have risen 60 meters and a lot of
species are extinct and life is pretty rough. If someone reads my book and it
makes them worry or even get mad at the politicians who are sitting on their
asses, that’s sure okay by me too.
YAG:
Thanks for being on the blog, Kat! Readers, if you want to learn more about Kat
and Some Fine Day, here’s where to
go:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
