Reimagining Global Solidarity and Planetary Healing: An Eco-critical Study of Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future

Abstract

This study explores Kim Stanley Robinson’s speculative fiction entitled as, “The Ministry for the Future” by using the theoretical framework of Eco-cosmopolitanism proposed by Ursula K. Heise. The main concern of this study is to find out the environmental degradation, which becomes a planetary problem, demanding the collective responsibility and international collaboration to ensure sustainable peace and equity. The selected novel is the true depiction of interconnectedness of environmental issues, specifically including the escalating atmospheric temperature, accelerated melting of glaciers, rising sea level, unprecedented heatwaves, diseases, and loss of biodiversity. This research adopts a qualitative thematic analysis as outlined by Clark and Brown. The researcher collected data from the selected novel and review myriads of research article within the domain of ecocriticism in order to find out the gaps. Additionally, this literary production highlights how the literary production like “The Ministry for the Future” can give a lens to predict the climate change in very near future and demands a global ecological citizenship to mitigate the impacts of climate crisis. By using the Eco-cosmopolitanism concepts, the researcher tries to present how environmental crisis is the root cause of other challenges including the violation of human rights, poverty, and injustices. This investigation would be the great contribution in the field of ecocriticism, and proposed mutual strategies to control global issues.

Keywords: Eco-cosmopolitanism, Environmental Degradation, Interconnectedness, Sense of Planetary