Bestselling science fiction author brings message of hope for the future to campus

‘Red Mars’ author Kim Stanley Robinson talked to the University community about how different sectors can come together to tackle the climate crisis

Members of the San Francisco State University community packed the Seven Hills Conference Center Monday, Nov. 4, to hear climate thought leader and bestselling author Kim Stanley Robinson talk about climate change solutions, hope and storytelling. The free event, titled “Visioning Climate Change Solutions: The Power of Hope Through Storytelling,” was sponsored by the San Francisco State Foundation and Climate HQ, the University collaborative dedicated to nurturing tomorrow’s climate justice leaders. 

“I think it’s important to remember hope is a team sport. You need to share it and then they will lift you,” Robinson told nearly 200 students, faculty, alumni and staff members in attendance. He first heard the idea from Hungarian economist Annette Mikes, who started the Oxford Ministry for the Future, named after Robinson’s book.

Robinson was joined by a faculty panel of climate, policy and fiction experts: Professor of Management and Social Innovation Geoff Desa, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy Charli Sakari, Professor of Race and Resistance Studies Gopal Dayaneni and Professor of Creative Writing Andrew Joron. Before the panel discussion, a group of 12 Creative Writing students also had a brownbag session with Robinson to talk about the writing process.

In addition to being a bestselling author, Robinson’s numerous accolades include being Time magazine’s “Hero of the Environment.” On the topic of climate solutions, he’s collaborated with leaders across various sectors, including scientists and the United Nations. His 2020 novel “The Ministry for the Future” was one of President Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2020 and one of Bill Gates’ summer books in 2022. 

“I wanted to tell a story of things going well without a master plan, with everybody throwing their weight into their part of the project,” he said of the novel. “It’s a science fiction story. We have to make it come true or else it’s just a fantasy that I told to kind of comfort us as we fall into chaos. But what I’ve found is that in the four years since the book came out is that people are hungry for that story.”

Other topics included climate justice, trusting science, advice for budding journalists and scientists, how students can minimize the effects of climate change and how to teach storytelling as activism to grade-school students. 

“What I deeply appreciate about this conversation is grappling with the moral implications of both action and inaction and who gets to speak, whose voices are heard,” said Desa, who served as panel moderator.

Learn more about Climate HQ events and get involved in climate solutions.