Nick King

Sankofa originates from the Akan inhabitants of Ghana, and broadly describes the importance of remembering and incorporating knowledge from the past in order to move forward.  Or put another way, learning from the past in order to better steer the future.

A major new entry to the Oz-pocalypse sub-genre was recently published, which may be one of the most profound works of cli-fi seen to date.  This is the novel Juice (Tim Winton, Picador, 2024), which paints a vivid future history of a climate change-ravaged Australia, and wider world. 

If critical masses of people could recognise this fully, and join forces to finally say ‘enough!’ to this misleading belief about ‘making it’, perhaps there would be a real chance that something better could arise in its place.

Whatever model replaces the current one in providing comfortable, well-nourished, safe and stable societies will clearly need a lot of work to define and drive, but should clearly aim to achieve these things without the need for lots of shiny but unsustainable toys.  Time is short, but there’s no time like the present to get started.

History also teaches us that times of uncertainty and instability are fertile conditions for populists and those with dark agendas, as people under stress often seek simple answers to complex problems, which often dredges up an instinct to blame and see ‘us and them’ divisions.  This looks to be bubbling to the surface as unrest in many parts of the world, of which the UK is now exemplary. 

The ‘tipping point’ at which humanity became a majority-urban species finally occurred in 2008; this trend has continued (55% by 2018), and may be 70% by the middle of the 21st century.