CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS IMPACTS ON SOUTH ASIA: AN ECO-CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF NEW YORK 2140 BY KIM STANLEY ROBINSON

Abstract

This research paper examines the New York 2140 (2017) by Kim Stanley Robinson through an environmental eco-critical lens and postcolonial perspective addressing issues of environmental change and globalization as subject, socio-economic inequality, governance, and morality. A qualitative, interpretive approach is used in the study, including the close reading and thematic analysis to analyze how ecological hazards, adaptation strategies, collective action, and human resilience are depicted in the narrative. The novel depicts a New York City partially submerged, showing how the marginalized groups are disproportionately vulnerable and criticizing the socio-political inequities inside the system that contributes to the risk of climate effects. The research has found out how Robinson instils the ethical responsibility and social awareness by examining the use of narrative elements, including polyphonic views, descriptions of the elements surrounding the characters, and the use of scientific and policy discourse. The results find that climate fiction like New York 2140 can be used as a tool that enables to connect scientific and socio-political critique and imaginative and engaging narration of the problem of climate. The insights of the novel are especially pertinent to South Asia, the region characterized by high population density, socio-economic inequalities, and calamities caused by climate. The paper shows that literary narratives may encourage critical thinking, moral acuity, and modulative approaches and reminds about the transformative process of climate fiction in responding to climate justice, sustainability, and human agency.