> there is also the question of the
> environment. The planet is under constant attack, for example, by large
> corporations & the politicians that support them. It disturbs me that the
> water & air continue to be polluted, the rainforests are being decimated,
> toxic & nuclear waste threaten many communities ( I was in Eastern Europe
> during the Chernobyl disaster - it was pretty terrifying), cancer has
> reached epidemic proporations (especially breast cancer) etc. while we
> spend billions in space. What are the effects of the space program on the
> Earth's environment? What are the effects of environmental destruction on
> our bodies, right here on earth?
>
I don't really have an opinion one way or another on the rights and
wrongs of space exploration, but I suppose my position is quite close to
what you outline above. Since this is a lit group, could I mention a
novel by Catherine Bush _Minus Time_ that juxtaposes precisely these two
issues? I guess it's sf, insofar as it seems to be a near future thing
and
concerns woman-in-space. It's a while since I read it, but as I remember,
mother is involved in space program whilst daughter back on earth grows
increasingly concerned about/active in environmental protest/industrial
sabotage. I don't _think_ Bush ever explicitly discusses the potentially
contradictory relationship between human societies' (and individuals')
desires to explore (colonise?) other worlds and our pathetic inability to
even treat our own right. I suppose rather that the structure of the
novel is intended to
problematise the connection. I wasn't sure what to make of it at the time
- anyone else seen it?
I should maybe say hello, being new to this (and in fact all!) groups?
I'm not exclusively an sf reader, but I do dabble, and I do love feminst
utopian/dystopian sf. I'm a research graduate at Univ. York England
looking at how utopian and science fiction writing addresses environmental
issues in creating future worlds. My feeling is that utopian and science
fiction do better work in offering us sustainable futures than do
academic/activist/policy environmentalist discourses. It seems to me (at
a fairly early stage of work) that the most fleshed out and compelling
green futures come out of feminist work - I'm thinking mainly of _Woman on
the Edge of Time_ and Tikva in _Body of Glass_ here. Any suggestions for
further reading welcome - although given the wide range of contributions
to this list, I suspect I've missed loads already?
Lisa
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:27 PDT