ABSTRACT
Around the same time as the Haida controversy came a work of fiction: Tobias Buckell’s science fiction novel Arctic Rising, set in the near future of international competition for the oil and mineral rights under an ice-free polar region. Buckell’s novel seems to be the first science fiction novel centred entirely on geoengineering, and revolves around what some have termed a ‘Greenfinger’ scenario. In the novel a mysterious, wealthy corporation attempts to deploy geoengineering technology, but this technology also serves as a weapon. Arctic Rising builds upon some of the current US military and economic interests surrounding climate engineering, and places them into a narrative about optimistic environmentalists, pragmatic cosmopolitans and calculating agents of world governments. Part spy-thriller, part science fiction, Arctic Rising narrates a story of wealthy and powerful individuals who attempt to take control of geoengineering technology for dubious ends.
