Nature's World Cries Out for More Eco-Fiction Writers to Save Our
Planet
"To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly
with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home
we've ever known…On a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam." Carl Sagan
Ecology entered a broader cultural attitude in the 1960's and
1970's when people became more interested in natural environmental issues and
species within human connections.
A variety of eco-fiction literature developed many branches and
styles to be found in many genres such as mainstream, westerns, mystery, romance,
realism, science fiction and fantasy.
This collaborative genre could be any fictional landscape that
was based on ecological principles which became the setting, the plot and the theme
of the story. The nebulae of Nature from the smallest cells to the largest lifeforms became alive as talking, feeling characters
with human attributes and emotions. Their message was to set the right standards of respecting
natural order, conservation and sustainability.
So what kind of ecological principles can be embedded into eco-fiction story?
You can talk about Nature in terms of redundancy without ego,
diversity with connections, and adaptations for survival. You can express
amazement at nature’s master plan of organization from the nematodes to the nimbus
clouds. Without this two-hydrogen-one-oxygen molecule, any Earth life process wouldn’t
exist. You can talk about responsibility
to common goals, a democratic pattern of individualism and cooperation played out
in ecological terms. What about the human factors of intervention, exploration
or exploitation?
In fact, you can become more specific and talk about the
reality of 4 levels in an ecosystem with plants and animals you see; but you must also involve
nonliving elements (air and water) and microorganisms. Microorganisms include
the bacteria, algae, fungi, and protozoa that are usually seen only with a microscope,
but they must not be ignored because of their vital roles in decomposition,
oxygen production and symbiotic relationships with plants so they can grow to serve
as food for animals and humans.
For example, nitrogen
gas (N2) makes up 80% of the Earth’s atmosphere and is one of the primary nutrients
critical for the survival of all living organisms. It is required for DNA,
proteins and chlorophyll. But nitrogen gas is largely inaccessible to most
organisms, and must be converted into ammonia (NH3) and nitrates (NH4) before
it can be used by plants as food.
Enter the nitrifying bacteria which transform nitrogen into
an oxidative state for plant roots to
absorb...the essential nitrification cycle.
Now, on one hand, you can read a complex scientific treatise about this transformation or you can
meet a nitrifying bacteria who explains his actions and his roles in the
ecosystem. Fiction, yes, but science based as well with far reaching implications.
Or, you can read a scientific volume or two about the carbon
cycle and how carbon compounds can make a series
of conversions in the environment, from incorporating carbon dioxide gas into
living plant cells by photosynthesis, and returning as a gas through
respiration, or decaying dead organisms, and the burning of fossil fuels.
Or, your story line can introduce a hydrocarbon molecule composed
from the elements carbon and hydrogen who can explain his role from coal and crude
oil to making natural gas, plastics, pesticides, even cosmetics and
medicines. His experience shows how the
burning of hydrocarbons produces greenhouse gases which in turn depletes the
ozone layer and cause climate change. Fictional character simplified, yes, but with a huge convoluted impact on the environment and ecosystems.
In summary, we need more eco-fiction stories that can talk about the relationship between natural settings and human communities.
Their characters need to inhabit an ecosystem based on ecological principles that call attention to act responsibly to be good ethical stewards of the Earth.
They need to share the reality of microorganisms, photosynthesis, food webs, carbon dominance, pollution, and changing weather patterns as first-person experiences.
We must hear their joys, fears and hopes. We must pay heed to their warnings
of dangers and not ignore their messages.
Also, most importantly, we need stories that show what happens
when anti-ecological principles are
followed; such as, believing the only bond to nature is based on cash
exchanges or using nature’s bounty as individual gifts, not for common purpose. There are
ecological threats everywhere from tropical forest to coral reefs to extinction
of animals, once gone, forever.
People need more first-hand stories about global warming, culture
diaspora, survival of the weakest links, advocacy to protect our unique natural world and create a mythology we are all connected…what happens to
one of us, happens to all of us.
It’s strange to say that the term eco-fiction has never been a media sensation and therefore has not become “com-modified or capitalizable, lending to its wildness.”
Maybe its time to change that to help save our planet.
What kind of nature story would you like to hear or write? What are your fears about our planet?
Comments and questions are always appreciated. Please leave a message for a time to chat...1 833 471 4661
Annemarie
amarie10@gmail.com
https://helpfulmindstreamforchanges.com
PS: Interested in writing a paper about eco-fiction, or even teaching it? Check resources here.
Note this blog about Disney making a movie based on an eco-fiction character and story line ... in fact, the most important superhero essential to our planet's survival.
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