1. Jos, P. H. (2012, July). Fear and the spiritual realism of Octavia Butler’s Earthseed. Gale Literature Resource Center. https://go-gale-com.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/ps/i.do?p=LitRC&u=cuny_hunter&id=GALE%7CA312617984&v=2.1&it=r&sid=summon&aty=ip

In this article, Jos explains that Earthseed, a fictional belief system in a dystopian world, offers a way to think about spirituality that focuses on human survival and social change. In a chaotic, fear-driven world, Earthseed gives both ideas and practical advice for facing future challenges. It highlights the importance of being flexible, taking control of one’s own life, and constantly growing as people..

2. Ruffin, K. T. (2005, Winter). Parable of a 21 st Century Religion: Octavia Butler’s Afrofuturistic Bridge between Science and Religion. JSTOR – Persistent Links for Library Resources – Research Guides at University of Oregon Libraries. https://researchguides.uoregon.edu/persistentlinks/jstor

In this article, Ruffin situates Octavia Butler‘s Earthseed within theinnovative, Afrofuturist religion that melds science, spirituality, and social critique. With its focused attention on the transformative powers of change and the imperatives of common survival, Earthseed presents a compelling plan for spiritual and social renovation in the 21st century. Ruffin considers Butler‘s work an important contribution to religious thought in her time because it deals with the complex intersections of race, science, religion, and social justice in ways that remain deeply relevant today.

3.Nakayama, M. (2019, July). Influence of Religion, Culture and Education on Perception of Climate Change, and its Implication. fuji press. https://www.fujipress.jp/main/wp-content/themes/Fujipress/pdf_subscribed.php

This article supports that perceptions about climate change do not rely on scientific knowledge but are carved by religious, cultural, and educational factors. These need to be understood in order to construct effective strategies of action on climate change by including them into policies and programs of education. By interpreting the various ways people understand climate change, the authors believe communities can develop much-needed skills to navigate the complexity brought on by a shifting climate and create more inclusive, culturally sensitive, and locally relevant climate solutions.

I used Hunter College Libraries’ OneSearch to search many topics in one search. I was always to adjust the resource type I wanted to use and the subject I wanted the information to be about. I want to break apart the role religion plays in understanding climate change. How are Clifi novels like Butler’s Sower and Ghosh’s Tide pushed to explore religion and what does this exploration do for the novel? Something of this nature I am still not too clear on how I want to phrase the question.

Jenkins, Willis. “Religion and Climate Change.” Annualreviews, Willis Jenkins,1,2 Evan Berry,3 and Luke Beck Kreider1, Oct. 2018, www.annualreviews.org/docserver/fulltext/energy/43/1/annurev-environ-102017-025941.pdf?expires=1715037725&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=556803653A0948C9CBF098FB160A3E46.

Nakayama, Mikiyasu, et al. “Influence of Religion, Culture and Education on Perception of Climate Change, and Its Implications.” Journal of Disaster Research, Fuji Technology Press Ltd., 1 Dec. 2019, www.fujipress.jp/jdr/dr/dsstr001400091297/.

Brissman, Ive. “The Search for Enchantment in Times of Climate Change: Religious or Spiritual Responses to Climate Crisis.” Wiley Online Library, Dec. 2023, onlinelibrary-wiley-com.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/doi/full/10.1111/dial.12836.

Schuman, Simone. “Religious Beliefs and Climate Change Adaptation: A Study of Three Rural South African Communities.” Gale Academic Online, Simone Schuman, Jon-Vegard Dokken, Dewald van Niekerk and Ruth A. Loubser, 2018, go-gale-com.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=cuny_hunter&id=GALE%7CA562807605&v=2.1&it=r.

Pihkala, Panu. “ECO-ANXIETY, TRAGEDY, AND HOPE: PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SPIRITUAL DIMENSIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE.” Wiley Online Library, 2018, onlinelibrary-wiley-com.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/doi/full/10.1111/zygo.12407.

I thought Weather and climate change were the usual centers in many Cli-Fi novels, as I’ve seen in Octavia Butler’s “Sower ” or Amitav Ghosh‘s “The Hungry Tide”, where extreme weather events or environmental collapse drive the plot, in Jenny Offill’s “Weather”, this is not the center of the novel. Instead, Jenny Offill’s “Weather”  approaches climate change more subtly. The weather in “Weather”  in the first two parts of the novel does not seem to drive the narrative compared to other novels.

“Weather” confuses me from the very beginning of the novel, locating the reader in  Lizzie’s  consciousness. We join her world without much context or explanation. This is parallel in some ways to the uncertainty of today concerning climate change: something is coming, yet not quite when and how it will actually happen. Offil’s novel doesn’t open with a dramatic scene of natural disasters or apocalyptic weather, as many Cli-Fi novels do. Instead, the climate crisis is the background, an unseen yet felt presence, which parallels the way that many of us today live our lives with knowledge of climate change but by no means acting actively concerned by it. In Weather, it is talked about and spoken through Lizzie‘s discussions with other characters. Lizzie‘s head is full of thoughts on the state of the world, but the weather itself doesn’t receive dramatic descriptions.

Weather is not a central plot to which characters seem to relate directly in their decisions and actions like In Butler’s “Sower” where many places were inaccessible because of the climate crisis they were facing. In “Weather” instead, the climate crisis is a background against what is happening in Lizzie’s life. For example, Lizzie‘s brother is fixated on doomsday scenarios, whereas Lizzie herself seems resigned to the coming disaster but is uncertain about how to prepare or respond. 

From what I’ve read the novel does not seem to be about catastrophic events of weather yet. The weather conditions seem to be a metaphor for the anxiety that Lizzie is experiencing in her day-to-day life. Lizzie‘s life is a series of fragmented moments and interactions with her family and colleagues yet she has this underlying anxiety about the future. Lizzie’s character seems to be unmotivated and waiting for a disaster that seems inescapable.

In the first two parts of this novel, I have found myself wondering why it’s called Weather and questioning Offil’s choice of making this novel in what I consider a confusing narrative. Yet from all the books concerning weather this semester, Offil’s novel is the most realistic. We are currently experiencing impacting levels of climate change and I wonder if we are reacting the same way Lizzie does. In this way where something is not right, yet we still live our day-to-day lives not making this issue the center.

I want to use the Parable of The Sower by Octavia Butler

What role does religion play in the climate crisis and in novels that explore this Cli-fi narrative as well as the climate crisis?

I think this question doesn’t portray what I am trying to ask. Religion played a big role in reforming the new “world” that Lauren was creating. I wanted to know if religion does play a part and if other novels have also taken this route of what religion can do to shape or change the climate crisis. Throughout The Sower, Lauren took from the religion she was initially taught and used it to make a new movement, where the same scriptures she was taught didn’t leave people hoping for someone to save them. But left them in positions where they knew they had to do something to catapult this change.

In Jenny Offil’s “Weather,” our lead protagonist Linzie can be described as someone who takes life day by day and has no particular “goal” that keeps her going every day. This to me was very interesting because, comparing this to the protagonists in “The Parable of the Sower,” Lauren and Piya from the Ghosh’s “The Hungry Tide,” we have three different kinds of female protagonists. 

In Butler’s Sower, Lauren is this very strong female character that defies the norms of what a woman should be in her town. The women in Robledo were expected to get married and stay home with the children. If they wanted to work, they could work from home or service their community in “safe ways.” Lauren actively fought against these stereotypes; she was the pastor’s daughter, and this came with access to scriptures and books. Lauren lived in a totally dystopian world where at any moment they could lose their livelihood and their lives. Lauren made the decision to learn as much as she could about maps and nature to increase her chances of survival for when the inevitable happens. When the inevitable happened—the burning of Robledo and its community—the only person who was prepared for this was Lauren. This preparation gave her a chance to survive and create a new community where she is the leader but not a dictator.

In Ghosh’s Tide, Piya is a scientist who is going to Sundarbans to survey the Gangetic and Irrawaddy river dolphins. Piya is the kind of protagonist who also, in my opinion, defies the stereotypes placed on women. When other people tried to delay her trip, she found other ways around it. Even if this meant going to the boat of a stranger and trusting them with her life. This bravery she has is what leads her to meet Fokir, someone who becomes crucial to leading her to these dolphins. The thing I see most in common between Lauren and Piya is that they both have strong personalities and motivations that give their lives meaning. Their stories are based on this common need to survive or to excel.

This is important because going into “Weather” by Jennifer Offil, I was expecting a similar protagonist, with something in her life that’s pushing her to prove herself.. Linzie, however, is the complete opposite, in my opinion. The novel is written in random entries of Lizzie’s life, almost like her inner thoughts. Nothing is really explained, and yet from what I have understood, she doesn’t have this “driving force” in her life that she actively wants. Someone in class said that “she doesn’t affect life; life affects her,” and that’s the best way to describe her character. Compared to Lauren and Piya, Lizzie is married and has a child named Eli. She works as a librarian in what we assume to be a college since a few of her writings have some students she interacts with. This is an interesting parallel for me because we have Lauren and Piya, women, who ran away from the traditional gender roles, and they are made to be these motivated women, yet there’s Lizzie, who took this traditional path, and she is unmotivated—her job as a librarian she got from a friend. Life just happens to her, while Lauren and Piya make life move. I am interested in finding out where Linzie goes in this story and the role climate change is going to play and how this is going to push her to become a better version of herself, as it did for Piya and Lauren.