Ecology and Literature: From Fear to Hope in Stories about Social Change, the Climate Crisis and Consumption

Ernest Callenbach's 1975 novel Ecotopia and Mbolo Mbue’s more contemporary How Beautiful We Were (2021) illustrate how literature can have an impact on people and their relationship with their environment, including their consumption habits. Scientific facts have not been effective in changing the narratives of infinite growth and unbridled consumerism that underpin the neoliberal paradigm. Fictional stories, on the other hand, show how things can be by creating worlds in which they already exist. This is far more persuasive than facts, which may be accepted rationally, but do not necessarily move the reader emotionally and behaviorally. Thanks to its detailed ‘green’ policy proposals, Ecotopia is considered an inspiration for the first European Green Party in Germany and forerunner of the ‘solarpunk’ art movement that is dedicated to imagining a sustainable and socially just future.Cite as: Soltysik Monnet, Agnieszka (2023): Ecology and Literature: From Fear to Hope in Stories about Social Change, the Climate crisis and Consumption, in: Schweizerische Akademie der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften: Wege zu einem nachhaltigen Konsum | Vers une consommation durable, (Swiss Academies Communications, 18, 5), pp. 161-167. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.817911