As a sci-fi writer, everything connected to science is of interest if for no other reason than as fuel for writing. And that includes how science is twisted to enrich those with special interest. Climate change is one example. Is it real? What will Earth look like if the dire predictions come true? When insurance companies change their actuary tables based on changes in the frequency and ferocity of natural disasters, probably something of statistical significance is going on. While a lot of effort is spent on finding blame (the American way), regardless of what the cause there are a lot of things that could be done if people had a consensus viewpoint to do something. About 50 years ago it was proposed that mirrors in space could not only deflect sunlight away from Earth, possibly giving us more control over global temperature, but that those same mirrors could be turned to reflect sunlight onto areas in darkness to aid in emergency efforts. That’s only one suggestion. There are numerous others. Writing about a future and speculating about what actions we might take and then applying those actions to what life looks like in that future is sci-fi. Writers must try to imagine if we will do something or are we just a more intelligent frog in the pot of water?
Meanwhile for some less dire sci-fi, check out my Ocean Cowboys series.
