The world we knew is not just gone, but – as the centuries-long process that has led to an iceless Arctic demonstrates – it never really existed, its certainties founded on fantasies about our privileged status and separateness from Nature.įor writers of fiction the challenges posed by this transformation are both profound and particular. It is ethical, social, historical, economic, political, cultural indeed its effects ripple outward into every aspect of our lives, touching and transforming all they meet. This dissonance is a reminder the crisis we face is not merely environmental. The psychic dissonance of this situation is intense, and growing. Even though we recognise we are in the midst of a planetary emergency, as both individuals and a culture we seem unable to take even the most minimal steps to alter our behaviour. Many – myself included – can appreciate the enormity of what is taking place while simultaneously continuing to behave as if nothing untoward is happening. Like so much about the environmental catastrophe unfolding around us this story is at once unthinkable and oddly workaday. Even a decade ago it was unthinkable this might happen before the middle of the century, yet the Arctic ice has retreated so much faster than expected that some scientists are predicting the Arctic will be ice-free in summer by the end of this decade.
As I was writing this essay news came through that a Russian tanker had crossed the high Arctic without an icebreaker.
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