environmentalconsciousness

Kim Stanley Robinson is one of the great living science fiction writers and one of the most astute observers of how planets look, feel and work. His Mars Trilogy imagined what it might be like for humans to settle on the red planet. His best-selling novel “The Ministry for the Future” is a masterful effort at envisioning what might happen to Earth in a future of unchecked climate change. Robinson has a rare command of both science and human nature, and his writing crystallizes how the two must work together if we are to rescue our collective planetary future from possible ruin.

In his most recent book, a rare turn to nonfiction called “The High Sierra: A Love Story,” Robinson trains his attention on the planet we inhabit in the here and now, particularly on one of his favorite places on Earth: the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California and Nevada. The new book is part memoir, part guidebook, part meditation on how time, space and even politics take shape in a wondrous geological landscape.

We discuss why Robinson decided to start writing outdoors, what it was like to experience the Sierras on psychedelics in his youth, what “actor-network theory” is and how it helps us understand our relationship to the planet and to our own bodies, why we should think of climate change more like we do plane crashes, what hiking backpacks say about American consumerism, how we should change our relationship to technology in order to be happier, why the politics of wanting are so confusing yet important, why Robinson is so excited about ideas like a wage ratio and rewilding schemes, how the “structure of feeling” around climate has changed, why Robinson is feeling more hopeful about Earth’s future these days and more.

Mentioned:

“The Most Important Book I’ve Read This Year” by Vox Conversations

“Your Kids Are Not Doomed” by Ezra Klein

“Design for the Real World” by Victor Papanek

“Thomas Piketty’s Case for ‘Participatory Socialism’” by The Ezra Klein Show

Book Recommendations:

A Brief History of Equality by Thomas Piketty

The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow

The Echo Maker by Richard Powers

Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.

You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.

“The Ezra Klein Show” is produced by Annie Galvin and Rogé Karma; fact-checking by Michelle Harris, Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair; original music by Isaac Jones; mixing by Isaac Jones and Sonia Herrero; audience strategy by Shannon Busta. Our executive producer is Irene Noguchi. Special thanks to Kristin Lin and Kristina Samulewski.

This is part two of our investigation into the Progress of the Human Race, and we would like to restate our goal here. All the mainstream media ever talk about is how the world’s in dire straits, how we’re going in an irreversible direction, and how it’s all our fault. We explored this narrative in depth in season 4 of the podcast. And we’d like to promote an alternative narrative–one where, in almost every direction you look, you find progress at a rate that, for most of history, would sound like sci-fi.

This episode, part two, once again heavily features Marian Tupy, dad’s guest on episode 14 of the current podcast season. Marian is a senior fellow at Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity and co-authored the incredible book “Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know,” which I’m sure many of you will know.

Also featured in this episode are Michael Shellenberger, Dr. Saifedean Ammous, Viscount Matt Ridley, Steven Pinker, and Bjorn Lomborg. 

Dr. Peterson visits Texas for a lecture on his 12 Rules for Life! This episode is a standout from his 2018 tour.