Climate Anxiety and Environmental Crisis in Contemporary Climate Fiction: A Comparative Study of Gun Island and The Ministry for the Future

Shreya Sarkar

doi:10.22161/ijeel.5.5.1

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Journal Article

Author(s)

Shreya Sarkar

Keywords

Climate Anxiety, Environmental Crisis, Climate Fiction (Cli-Fi), Climate Change, Human and Nonhuman Migration, Environmental Justice, Ecocriticism.

Abstract

Climate fiction, commonly known as Cli-Fi, has become an important literary response to the growing concerns about climate change and environmental degradation. As climate change continues to affect human societies across the globe, contemporary literature increasingly explores not only environmental crises but also the ways in which they shape human emotions, perceptions, and ideas about the future. This paper examines climate anxiety and environmental crisis in Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island and Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future. Although both novels engage with climate change, they present the crisis from different narrative perspectives and cultural contexts. The study examines how the two novels represent environmental instability, displacement, uncertainty, and the changing relationship between human beings and the natural world. In Gun Island, climate change is closely associated with migration, ecological disruption, and environmental uncertainty, whereas The Ministry for the Future presents the crisis on a broader global scale, focusing on its social, political, and human consequences. Reading the two novels together makes it possible to consider how contemporary writers represent the effects of climate change in different ways. Drawing on ecocritical perspectives and recent discussions of climate anxiety, the paper argues that climate fiction does not simply represent environmental destruction. It also brings out the fear, uncertainty, and emotional responses associated with living through an ecological crisis. Through a comparative study of the selected novels, the paper explores how literature can make the human consequences of climate change more visible and understandable. It therefore highlights the close relationship between environmental crisis, climate anxiety, and human experiences of vulnerability and survival.

References

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Article Details

Published	14 Sep 2026
DOI	10.22161/ijeel.5.5.1
Pages	1-14
Views	13
Downloads	7

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