气候变化小说是科幻小说的分支之一，它不同于传统科幻小说虚构一些天马行空的技术或外太空，这类小说通常是反乌托邦的，聚焦人类面临的灾难。气候变化是人类面临的现实问题。有人认为气候变化小说可以改变人们的观念，让这些看上去高大上的问题更接地气，也可唤醒大众对该问题的关注。不过，也有人不认同小说能唤醒大众对气候变化问题的关注。信者恒信，不信者恒不信，科幻故事只能加强人们原有的信仰。

A new genre of fiction has emerged out of rising sea levels. Climate fiction， or “cli-fi”， is a sub-genre of science fiction. It imagines an often dystopian future where man struggles against the extremes of a changing environment.

全球变暖导致海平面上升，伴随而来的还有一种新的小说流派。气候变化小说，是科幻小说的一种。这种小说常常虚构一种黯淡悲观的未来情境，在那里人类努力与极端变化的环境做斗争。

Although it is still an unexplored territory in the Chinese literary circle， cli-fi in the English-speaking world has gained so much popularity that climate change literature is now a regular course in universities as geographically diverse as the US， the UK and India， according to a Reuters report. A brief amazon.com search of “climate fiction” returns more than 1，800 results， reflecting a growing demand for books that focus on environmental issues.

虽然气候变化小说在中国文学圈还是一块尚未勘探的领域，但它在英语世界国家已经大受欢迎。路透社报道说，在有些国家如美国、英国和印度，气候变化文学已经成为大学的一门常规课程。在亚马逊网站上稍微搜索一下“气候变化小说”就会出现1800多个搜索结果，这反映了环境题材作品的需求量在不断上升。

According to The Atlantic， cli-fi stories seldom talk about “imaginary technologies or faraway planets”， unlike traditional sci-fi. Cli-fi is a lot more down to earth. It examines the impacts of pollution， rising sea levels and global warming on human civilization. According to the article， the genres “ability to bridge science with the humanities and activism” makes environmental issues “more accessible to young readers， proving literature to be a surprisingly valuable tool in collective efforts to address global warming”.

据美国《大西洋月刊》所说，气候变化小说不像传统科幻小说那样讲的都是一些“虚构的科技或遥远的星球”。气候变化小说要接地气得多。它剖析的是污染、海平面上升和全球变暖对人类文明的影响。按照该文章的说法，这类小说“架起科学与人文和行动主义之间的一座桥梁的能力”，让环境问题“更容易为年轻读者所接受，证明文学是呼吁集体行动来应对全球变暖的令人惊讶的宝贵工具”。……