A full life

America meets its doom in this fascinating short story. Rue has moved across the US as climate disasters destroy the places her family try to make a home. Paolo Bacigalupi takes us on a tour that shows how past and present efforts to conserve our planet are insufficient and warns us of the many crises already surrounding climate change in the present day. “It described the world Rue experienced every day. The one the grownups in her life seemed bent on pretending didn’t exist. Like if they pretended really, really hard, they’d be okay. Like they’d pretended the Miami seawalls were big enough. Like Nona had pretended that flying on aeroplanes was fine. They’d closed their eyes and pretended.”