The Lost Cause (2023)
Cory Doctorow (1971)
358 pages
Significant technological advances have occurred over the last decade or so that support the shift to a cleaner, more sustainable future, in particular in terms of stemming the tide of greenhouse gas emissions. As just two examples: electric vehicle sales have increased faster than imagined even a few short years ago, and solar panel prices have dropped to the point that they have become a cheaper energy source than fossil fuels.
Shift one’s focus from the technical to the political, however, and the situation appears far bleaker, as the toxic present-day atmosphere in the US of rank partisanship and extreme polarization has led to the politicization of so many issues, including that of climate change. With even the reality of the threat of greenhouse gas emissions a point of contentious debate, progress on reducing them has become difficult to achieve.
In his novel The Lost Cause, Corey Doctorow foresees this impasse dragging on well into the 22nd century. He imagines increasing sea level rise, wildfires and droughts making portions of the US uninhabitable, even as die-hard deniers cling to their position, undermining attempts to address the problem and its impacts. Meanwhile, wealthy tech industrialists, with support from acolytes and fans, circumvent the government and impose solutions mostly beneficial to their own profits and lifestyle.
The story centers on high school senior Brooks Palazzo, who lives in Burbank, California with his grandfather, after the death of his parents some years earlier during a pandemic. About to graduate from high school, Brooks plans to work on a project south of Los Angeles, in a coastal town shifting its buildings higher up into the hills, in reaction to rising sea levels. With the passage of a Green New Deal bill a decade earlier, a broad set of policies now exist to address climate change impacts, and Brooks and his friends have become part of a larger movement that considers itself “the first generation not to fear the future.” Building on this new-found optimism, these young activists engage in a variety of concrete programs designed to create a better world.
Brooks finds his idealism undermined at home, however, as his grandfather hosts meetings of friends – “Magas” – who vehemently reject the dramatic changes being implemented and rail against the loss of what they consider their Burbank and their country. They view with disgust those who, like Brooks, want to transform the town into a more sustainable community, as well as a welcoming community for climate refugees from more profoundly affected parts of the US.
Tensions rise to a breaking point early in the story when a stream of climate refugees arrive, escaping “farms [that] had dried up and blown away after a solid decade of drought.” (61) While Brooks and many others in Burbank look for ways to welcome these internal immigrants, and find or build housing for them, the “Maga clubs” gear up to push the newcomers back out of town, by any means necessary. As threats of violence grow, Brooks must decide how far he is willing to go to fight for his ideals.
Doctorow leaves no doubt which side he’s on in the story, particularly through his representation of the Maga’s, whether individually or as a group, as rabid fanatics. At one point, for example, Brooks notes that
The Maga Clubs were really feeling their oats. With [a Republican back] in the White House, they were convinced their long nightmare was ending and with it, the obligation to look after one another and acknowledge that the world is a shared space full of living, breathing humans who deserved the same happiness and comfort that you did. They just hated that idea. (62)
On the other side, Doctorow represents Brooks and his friends as largely high-minded individuals who want only the best for the world.
One can broadly agree with Doctorow’s position as expressed through Brooks, and yet still feel that the novel rather cartoonishly oversimplifies the social and political dynamics at play. Aside from some politicians who struggle to hold onto their positions by attempting to placate both sides, everyone in the story falls on one stereotypically represented extreme of the conflict or the other – effectively, either a member of Greenpeace or of the Proud Boys.
Even Doctorow’s title makes evident his sympathies. In a story about climate change, one could imagine that the lost cause references a definitive failure to address it. It quickly becomes clear, however, that Doctorow has a different meaning in mind, apparently likening the Magas in his story to the history of groups promoting the lost cause of the confederacy.
As someone who laments with how unwelcome nuance has become in most any political, economic or cultural discussion these days, I struggled with the lack of it in Doctorow’s novel. That said, if one takes his starting point as the likely scenario – that little will be accomplished over the coming century to decisively address the issue of climate change and its impacts – perhaps the world will arrive at a point in which one must clearly choose one side or the other: either fight for solutions or continue to resist any change.
The extent to which he goes to make it easy for readers to distinguish good and evil in the story actually ends up giving it a bit of a confusing out-of-time feel. This confusion begins with the headlining comment on the inside front jacket cover, which states in large letters: “America, a generation from now,” and has a story summary ending with “they’re our grandfathers, our uncles, our neighbors.” It feels like the setting – if one thinks of a standard generation of 20 or 30 years – lies perhaps just a decade or two in our future. And the use of present-day terms like Green New Deal and Maga reinforce that impression.
As one proceeds into the story, however, the setting in time becomes unclear. The extent of the sea level rise, for example – submerging Miami and pushing coastal cities in California to rebuild farther inland – seems something unlikely to occur just a couple of decades from now, even in worst-case scenarios. In addition, Brooks recalls a Republican presidential candidate who “won in ’34,” (49) which, at least in the 21st century, is not a presidential election year.
It gradually becomes clear that the setting is not 2036, but 2136, and that the Maga people are not our grandfathers but our grandchildren, or even great grandchildren – the grandfathers of the new generation of climate activists in the early 22nd century. And, in that case, it becomes hard to believe that – however the next century plays out – anyone is still using the terms the Green New Deal or Maga. Just consider how dated slogans and most anything from the early 1900’s feel today.
And, although my sympathies lie with the novel’s protagonist, Brooks, he presents an odd combination – an 18- or 19-year-old who seems to contain both youthful idealism and yet an oddly mature adult engagement with his community. I kept waiting for his seemingly simplistic view of the world to catch up with him, for the other shoe to drop as reality becomes more complex than the good versus evil he imagines – but, it never did.
A bit of a litany of complaints here, I know. Especially given that I did enjoy the story, in particular the variety of technologies that Doctorow imagines being developed to quickly react when climate impacts inundate some part of the world and, as well, his vision of a profoundly engaged generation not taking ‘no’ for an answer in their fight against climate change. Sad to think that he might be right that another century will pass without significant action on that front, but, in the end, he does provide a hopeful view of what might – eventually – be possible.
Other notes and information:
Have you read this book, others by this author, or even similar ones by other authors? I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts.
Other of my book reviews: FICTION Bookshelf and NON-FICTION Bookshelf
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