If you have seen Princess Mononoke, you know that the conflict between the preservation of nature and the need for human development can result in beautiful stories with strong messages on how to balance both. In Sustainability Science, this balance of socio-economic development aimed at bettering human lives while also preserving the ecological stability that makes Earth the planet it is, is called Sustainable Development. While there is debate around them, SDGs or Sustainable Development Goals are some key checkpoints most of the international community has agreed upon in our journey towards such balance, which range from ensuring clean water for everyone to uplifting women and eradicating poverty.
For fiction writers, who wish to write stories around sustainability, this can be a good source to find themes and conflicts for their stories, especially since some scholars say that sustainable storytelling isn’t just awareness or entertainment but must have the intent to inspire action (whether that happens or not). While disaster movies and dystopian stories have been around for quite a while now, hopeful stories or stories that focus on the social aspect of sustainability can not be just as fun and thought-provoking, while also helping establish discourse among the general public by putting these large issues in terms they can empathize with and relate to. And if your story is done well, they will be entertained while dealing with such issues, making them more likely to not abandon your work mid-way.
So today, let us look at some popular stories, which have themes that I would say align with sustainable development goals or sustainable living, that go beyond solar-punk, climate apocalypse, and the balance between nature and humans to see how we can find and use these themes in our own works, even if not all of these might have had the intent to inspire action.
Stories That Have Sustainable Undertones
Star Wars
While a classic tale of good v/s evil, and the place of love and family, this hero’s journey also has a connection with environmentalism, especially if we look at the wider franchise. For example, in the prequels due to the blockade of the Trade Federation and the subsequent military escalations, the semi-aquatic ecosystem of the Gungans- Jar Jar’s people- was destroyed, forcing them into exile and desperate migration elsewhere on their home planet of Naboo. While not directly related to any of the SDGs, this shows themes such as possible climate migration and displacement due to threats to our delicate ecosystems, and underscores the importance of global corporation so that such problems are better tackled, if not entirely avoided, and also reminds us of the importance of resilient infrastructure, in the era of climate change.
Another storyline where we see something similar play an important role is the storyline of Mandalore, where due to internal fights, their ecosystem of Sundari is ruined and they live in large domes, which despite being reliable technology easily falls prey to the Empire’s attacks.
Following a displaced people or a protagonist from such a group can lead to some interesting stories, which might mirror Westerns in style, as done in the show The Mandalorian. Or you can do something along the lines of Firefly or even Doctor Who– a show we will look at later in this piece.
Not only is such exploration rife with emotional angst and tension, but also serves as a reminder of the important ties people make with their forests, homes, and such places and how this geography alongside history determine cultures which in turn can influence people’s values and personalities, something that has probably been explored best in fan works of the next popular franchise on this list.
Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings universe is filled with various fantasy races, such as the peace-loving garden preferring Hobbits, the regal elves, the mountain-dwelling dwarrors, and the humans in their towns and cities. There are also the Orcs in Mordor, the goblins in their tunnels, the Maiar and Valar as divine forces, and creatures like the fearsome dragons. We see prominent themes of environmentalism in scenes and plot lines like the Sacking of the Shire, where The Shire, an idyllic village in tune with nature, is suffering due to a mill that is polluting. Or say the scene where the forest walks to and tears down Isengard, in a show of how nature will protect itself when exploited. Too many trees were being cut down so they took care of it. And while, modern sustainability might argue that there is a place for non-polluting mills and urban development, these scenes as well as Modor being a smoking wasteland while the Shire Frodo hails from being a place full of nature and greenery is a message in itself.
But for this piece, I want to focus on the dwarrow, especially in fanon. The dwarves or dwarrow in this universe live in halls of stones. One abandoned kingdom is in the Blue Mountains, which does not have enough resources to support them anymore, which is why King Thorin Oakenshield has to undertake the dangerous mission to win back Erebor from the dragon Smaug. While of course there is a metaphor in Smaug being a force of nature that is attracted due to greed or overconsumption and leads to displacement and poverty, there is another message in the Blue Mountains which shows how far lack of resources and sustainable consumption can push a people. Whether it be SDG 13 and clean water or SDG 12 and sustainable consumption patterns, the story of the Blue Mountains, especially when contrasted with the Shire where hobbits value nature and treat home and cheer as more important than hoarded gold, is an important sustainability message.
Sure, none of these stories and metaphors are explicitly focused on sustainable living but good stories often have several themes wrapped in metaphors and motifs like a burrito role with the true nugget tucked within. But if you are looking for a more open metaphor, why go further than the popular show Game of Thrones, adapted from A Song of Ice and Fire, and it’s Night King?
Game of Thrones
The Night King is a metaphor for climate change. That isn’t news. Which is why he is shrouded in mystery and often regarded as an old wives tales instead of a serious threat, because to many common people climate change is similar. A threat far on the horizon that simply ain’t their problem. It isn’t real unless you stand at the wall. And by the time you can see it, the Witch King’s blade is too close to home. Weaving this tale with the historical war theatre that are the other storylines of the show is an art. The Witch king and his army’s plotline show us the inevitable of trying to ignore climate change, and also put in terms the magnitude of our problem. Unless we see global corporation, another SDG, we cannot defeat climate change. Like Varis said the land is littered with shallow graves (or emissions) whom the Night King can use against us.
Essentially stories about climate change or climate fiction, do not always need to be doomsday narratives. Or disaster tales. They can be hopeful stories and draw from a variety of sources, even beyond the SDGs. In Pacific Rim, for example, the kaiju can be seen as a representative of climate change and they were defeated with ingenious tech, team-work, and the power of science. While tech alone won’t be the silver bullet solution to climate change, awareness plays a large part, and I for one, would love to read a Vampire story about the immortal undead dealing with rising sea-levels and Europe in an ice age while mass migration takes place elsewhere, leading to huge economic loses, new opportunities, and more pandemics. Just as seen in The Last of Us, another story that highlights the tensions between humans and nature.
Before I leave you, here are tow last franchises and their sustainability related storylines that I wish to talk about. Doctor Who and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Doctor Who (New Who)
The 2005 Doctor Who starts with Nine taking Rose to see Earth go ka-boom! While the episode ends with an uplifting message of how even when things end, humans survive, or rather people survive, there are deeper messages in this and other episodes of the show. For example, in the 15th Doctor’s run we see a foe that the Doctor struggles to defeat, who causes everything to decay and die. To me, the visuals used to represent this looked a lot like unchecked desertification, a problem India and many other regions in the world are facing, and combating which alongside other climate extremes, is an SDG. But does that mean the storyline uses that as a theme? I would say not and instead turn out focus on another episode from the season where the lack of music leads to a nuclear winter. While of course, not all stories (including this episode) that talk about global corporation or art connecting people are exploring a SDG, the idea that the lack of art and expression and new thought could lead to global devastation is extremely poignant in the era of climate change. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below, while I bring us to…
Avatar: The Last Airbender
We all know that the Fire Nation was supposed to be a colonial conquering power using advanced technology against its neighbors and thus disrupting the balance of the Four Nations. While new technology or thoughts aren’t always bad, targeting others to use their resources for personal gain without giving the originators their due is one the core philosophies- the othering of nature- that led us to the climate change problem. Opposing this ideology is Aang, someone who believes in peace and harmony and learning from all the four nations. Sozan Comet is again a natural phenomenon which would give Fire Benders unmatched power, and this leads to parallels with natural resources which are distributed not equitably all over the world and make some resource-intensive places more powerful than others. Yet, sometimes, this places can also be the very ones which are targeted for their resources, something we do see in certain episodes such as when the Fire Nation went after the Water Tribes who were to get the next Avatar. Ending the focus on conquest and moving it to corporation eventually led to Republic City, a place with fascinating growth in culture and technology (despite its own problems and inequity). While not directly connected to anyone SDG, the stories centers around corporation among different people to combat a common foe- whether that be a colonial power or an ecological dragon.
As I have said, these stories do not target the SDGs specifically for themes, but many common themes align with SDGs and even social progress alongside ecological preservation- making them sustainable stories in my books. Whether it be stories of resourcefulness in troubling times, or a fisherman trying to balance feeding his family while ensuring no one overfishes or facing depleting stocks, stories that talk about the human experience in challenging times, especially when faced against resource failure and natural phenomenon, are all climate fiction to me but that’s just a personal opinion and not the dictionary definition of the genre. Yet, given the wealth if technological, ideological, and SDGs focused discourse, well, are you sure there isn’t a theme for your sustainability novel out there that might make someone think about climate change or comfort someone’s eco-anxiety a little? But then again, does climate fiction actually raise awareness? That’s a topic for another blog! Stay tuned at Anjali’s Musings. Until then, do let me know what you think of my sustainability focused short story The Mall (Once Upon a Sublime) and whether it moved you to action!
Psss… if you wish to start to your sustainable living journey but have no idea where to begin, I have made a low-waste planner that hopefully breaks down the process of building sustainable habits so that you can transition to an eco-friendly life tailored to your needs and values, without burning out. And as always, sustainable living tips inspired by my life and education are available on RealisticallySustainableDiary.
