The Ministry for the Future

Kim Stanley Robinson

Starting in a climate disaster near future of 2024, we open with a massive heat wave over the Indian subcontinent that kills a million people. The rest of the book is the resulting political and scientific machinations that unfold over the next decades as a result of this climate disaster. The plot is centered around the UN Climate organization that is colloquially referred to as the Ministry for the Future, which like most UN committees, has lots of responsibility but no real international authority. It is a diplomacy first approach to changing the world, hoping to appeal to humanities interest in a common cause. Of course, the battle with the capitalists is most depressing. For me, the most enjoyable segments of the book are the scientific strategies that are attempted. In true Robinson fashion, the world building is so well described that one wishes it could be used as a template for actual action. Overall, the book is a hopeful telling of the future and how humanity could actually make a dent in combating climate change. The only way this can work is if we skip over most of the trauma. So the telling includes a paragraph about the heatwave that hits SE USA killing a few hundred thousand in a week... and then moves on. Or the super depression that occurs when the global economy shuts down. But each of these is stated for the purpose of setting the stage for the next geopolitical action that takes place. Perhaps the saddest part of the entire situation is that the only time action happens is in response to massive trauma, and even then it is a struggle to move beyond words. So even in this, the telling is an accurate depiction of reality. This should probably be a must read for anyone interested in life on earth.

4 stars (out of 4)