GORP Guest Bruce Sterling Bruce Sterling is one of the founders of the cyberpunk, the 1980's science fiction movement that put virtual reality and cyberspace on the map. Read Bruce's Bio Read Bruce's forum

Bruce was a guest on GORP's Conservation Forum from August 9 to August 29. To kick things off, we cornered him in the vibrant walls of cyberspace with some pointed questions. Read over the interview, then jump in with your own questions and ideas.

GORP's Question:
Many of your books, such as Islands in the Net or even Involution Ocean, seem to have a dimension that's about climatic change. How did you come up with the Viridian Movement manifesto? Was there some single a-ha moment, some epiphany, when you realized that global warming was something you wanted to focus on, or do you think it's something you've been building towards?

Bruce Sterling's Answer

Well, I've been aware of Greenhouse climate issues many years it's an issue that's hard to miss, since it's a chronic, creeping situation.

I think that the Greenhouse situation is a lot like alcoholism. It isn't one moment or one single drink that does you in. Can there be a single "a-ha moment' when you realize that civilization has moved from social drinking (of oil and coal) into a substance-dependent, blackout situation? As an individual, when you're on that slippery slope, there probably is some moment of revolt when your sense of dignity is offended. You wake up in a pool of your own vomit for instance, or find your clothes ripped off by some total stranger. Time to put the cork in the bottle. Find something more life-affirming to do with your time.

Unfortunately our society can't rally the way a person can. So instead, we're ending up with these grotesque affronts massive heat waves, dying coral reefs, huge floods and so on, popping out across the face of the planet like an alcoholic's veins. But we're in denial about the Greenhouse thing.

I personally hit my limit when southern Mexico was on fire. The sky above my Texan home town was gray, everything stank the way it had never stunk before, children couldn't play outside, the elderly crouched by their air filters... At that point I gave up pretending that things were okay. Because they're not okay. They're getting much less okay.

Bruce Sterling's Answer:

Oh, we got about eight hundred now. It's an Internet mailing list. Mostly, I edit it and emit various rants, and readers send in news clippings and air their indignation about Greenhouse issues. We talk about industrial design a lot and speculate how the world might look if it kicked the carbon-smoking habit. We spend a lot of time imagining attractive consumer gizmos that don't run on carbon. Sometimes we run little art and design contests. The Viridian project is best described as an environmental design theory mailing list.

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