Science in the Capital Series (2004-07): Forty Signs of Rain | Fifty Degrees Below | Sixty Days and Counting by Kim Stanley Robinson

Science in the Capital Series (2004-07): Forty Signs of Rain | Fifty Degrees Below | Sixty Days and Counting by Kim Stanley Robinson

Generally, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) are not the settings for exciting story telling. However, noted science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson has made them (along with the University of California San Diego, UCSD) page turning science FACTion novels. 

Anna liked the NSF building’s interior. The structure was hollow, featuring a gigantic central atrium, an octagonal space that extended from the floor to the skylight, twelve stories above ... If the interior of the National Science Foundation were all you had to go on, you would have to conclude that doing science consisted mostly of sitting around in rooms talking. (Forty Signs of Rain)

The trilogy is set in the early 2000’s in a setting much like the world as it was then. The significant difference is that the planetary climate experiences first a major weather event that causes massive flooding in Washington, DC (Forty Signs of Rain), followed by a shutdown of thermohaline circulation of the Gulf Stream (Fifty Degrees Below) caused by global warming that melts Greenland’s icecap triggers a dramatic change in the North Atlantic the brings freezing weather to the East Coast and Europe. Sixty Days and Counting continues to follow the fallout of these two events as well as a massive West Coast drought that causes cataclysmic wildfires throughout the West.

And for those wondering, spoiler alert, but there is no global pandemic.

The arc of the story follows three key characters: Anna Quibler (an NSF program officer), Charlie Quibler (Anna’s husband who splits his life between being a stay at home father and staff member to California Senator Philip Chase), and Frank Vanderwal, a UCSD professor on a year-long appointment to NSF. 

Tying all these together are a group of Tibetian exiles who now hail from the Indian Ocean island nation of Khembalung (who have set up their embassy in the same building as the NSF headquarters), one of whom may be the Panchen Lama. 

A cast of supporting characters at the NSF, UCSD, and Southern California bio-tech startups round out the cast. Playing increasingly important roles as the trilogy continues (and also as the storyline pivots to follow Frank Vanderwal), two groups of homeless people living in Rock Creek Park and adjacent areas serve as a sort of Greek Chorus. 

Stanley’s embrace of what we now call The Green New Deal and Social Democratic fiscal theories brought to live through the cohesive narrative that stretches through the three books (in essence, this is one long story, like The Lord of the Rings, and the books don’t stand well on their own). Stanley provides a convincing series of possible solutions to human-generated climate change that involves reversing the impact through dramatic planetary engineering measures that are dependent on massive conversion to renewable energy resources and global redistribution of wealth (which looks to raise the world’s population to levels of US wealth).

A major part of sustainability is social justice, here and everywhere. Think of it this way: justice is a technology. It’s like a software program that we use to cope with the world and get along with each other, and one of the most effective we have ever invented, because we are all in this together. When you realize that acting with justice and generosity turns out to be the most effective technology for dealing with other people, that’s a good thing. (Sixty Days and Counting)

Fifteen years or so ago when the series was written, plot lines such as Stanley’s notion that saving the planet can be led by the United States, though he notes it’s not necessary, can now be refactored as the United States unwilling and unable to lead. 

But maybe the United States was not a make-or-break participant, the Europeans seemed to be suggesting. (Fifty Degrees Below)

From a literary point of view, his somewhat clunky portrayal of women and relationships has not aged well. I also would quibble with some minor points (Arlington, VA, even at the story’s setting, would not have been Republican leaning; the National Park Police would not be patrolling the National Zoo, etc.). At the same time, Robinson does have an accurate portrayal of many Washington neighborhoods, including the then NSF headquarters with its Pizzeria Uno and Starbucks. 

In looking at today’s non-pandemic headlines, for instance, “The tipping points at the heart of the climate crisis” in The Guardian (19 September 2020), Robinson seems particularly prescient, if just a few years off.  Interested readers will enjoy a recent interview with the author, “The Realism of Our Times: Kim Stanley Robinson on How Science Fiction Works” (23 September 2020). His latest work, The Ministry for the Future (2020) will be released in October 2020.

• Forty Signs of Rain (2004)  by Kim Stanley Robinson (2004) | Read: 5 September 2020 | Buy on Kindle

• Fifty Degrees Below (2005) by Kim Stanley Robinson (2005) | Read: 10 September 2020 | Buy on Kindle

• Sixty Days and Counting (2007) by Kim Stanley Robinson | Read: 21 September 2020 | Buy on Kindle

• See my complete 2020 Reading list on Goodreads.