Climate Crisis and Solar Radiation Management as a Desperate Measure in Kim Stanley Robinson's The Ministry for the Future

[Geoengineering News]

https://www.ijsr.net/getabstract.php?paperid=SR26119185124

‎

Authors: Nithya Prabha, Sasi Rekha, P. Suganya

January 2026

‎Abstract

Kim Stanley Robinson, an esteemed American science fiction writer, excels in climate fiction (cli-fi), a sub-genre that fuses flights of imagination with pressing environmental and sociopolitical issues. Solar Radiation Management (SRM) continues as a provocative geoengineering tactic in 2026, sparking worldwide research and contention over its anticipated launch. Amid 2026's intensifying climate emergencies, Solar Radiation Management (SRM) emerges as a deeply disruptive geoengineering method at the core of global research and ethical clashes in relation to its prospective value for rapid temperature reduction, paralleling the illegitimate stratospheric aerosol release in Kim Stanley Robinson's The Ministry for the Future, where a post-heatwave intervention reinforces prevailing conventions while igniting critical discussions on international governance. The initiation of Solar Radiation Management (SRM) research evidenced by stratospheric aerosol injection proposals and marine cloud-brightening trials, marks a significant and contentious expansion of climate intervention strategies. It is apparent that SRM is a provisional mechanism capable of delivering rapid climatic cooling.

‎

‎Source: IJSR