When we teach the causes of anthropogenic climate change, it is impossible to not also investigate its consequences. Doing so then invariably leads to some of the defining questions of our students’ generation: What is being done to stop the looming climate catastrophe? What else could we do? What will we have to face in our future, and when?

The answer to the first question is heartbreakingly straightforward: the actions taken by developed nations, and the speed at which those that are being taken are implemented, are woefully inadequate. The answers to the other questions are much harder. In attempting to answer them, we educators often feel torn between the need to be realistic, and the importance of not giving up, all with the desire to inspire some kind of hope, and maybe even action. All of these are the foci of The Ministry for the Future: A Novel,...

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