Dystopia vs. Utopia in Carbon Dreams a novel by Susan M.Gaines

The purpose of this study is to investigate dystopia versus utopia in Carbon Dreams, a novel by SusanM. Gaines. Carbon Dreams tells the story of one scientist's struggle to come to terms with herconflicting responsibilities to science and to society. An original and compelling story of scientificdiscovery and political strife, this remarkable novel explores professional and political stakes ofscientists' efforts to understand—and warn the world—about human-induced climate change. A novelcan both endorse and undermine the scientific consensus on climate change through different portrayalsof scientific authority. Carbon Dreams try to engage readers emotionally they might be able tocommunicate the complex, often distant realities of climate change in an accessible and relatable way.Susan M. Gaines's Carbon Dreams was an early example of a literary novel that "tells a story about thedevastatingly serious issue of human-induced climate change," set in the ۱۹۸۰s and published before theterm "cli-fi" was coined. A ‘dystopian turn’ in the literary representation of the future essentiallyrepresents a growing pessimism about mankind’s ability to deal with its greatest threats, particularlythose due to climate change and global warming, overpopulation, and the possibility of nuclear war. Thefunction of dystopian fiction is presented as assisting us in both identifying such threats and avoiding theworst-case scenarios facing us.