{"id":7503,"date":"2019-12-19T08:06:39","date_gmt":"2019-12-19T08:06:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=7503"},"modified":"2019-12-19T08:06:39","modified_gmt":"2019-12-19T08:06:39","slug":"resurrection-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2019\/12\/19\/resurrection-trust\/","title":{"rendered":"Resurrection Trust"},"content":{"rendered":"

Resurrection Trust<\/strong><\/em> is a book of \u201cfunny, dark, mad, bad, upbeat, downbeat and fantastical short stories about living sustainably\u201d. They arose from the University of Southampton's Green Stories writing competition<\/a>. \u00a0\u00a0The editor, Amanda Saint, says that the stories \u201cshowcase a myriad of different ideas about how humans can live more harmoniously with nature, and each other.\u201d The final two stories in the book were originally published in the \u201ccli-fi anthology<\/a>, Nothing Is As It Was\u201d, published on EarthDay 2018. \u201cThese were used in research for the Resurrection Trust book by Dr Denise Baden at the University of Southampton [into] what kinds of stories inspire more sustainable behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n

I read this book, fittingly enough, on a long train journey and it held my attention despite competition from fine landscapes. \u00a0About half-way though the book I wondered if I was really the best person to review it as I don\u2019t read many short stories (preferring novels), and I don\u2019t read much science fiction either \u2013 and that is the genre into which these stories fit most readily, despite the hint (noted above) that \u201ccli-fi\u201d is the more appropriate term. However, I\u2019m glad I did read it as the stories are, for most part both enjoyable and stimulating. \u00a0Despite this, they left me with more questions than answers, but that's probably all to the good, given the ineffability of the transition we're trying to make.<\/p>\n

The stories are extremely varied in focus and you wonder as you read them (I read them in order) what holds them together. \u00a0In the end \u2013 for most of the stories \u2013 I think it is the necessity of exercising choice; coming to that fork in the road when you can choose, or not, to change how you live. \u00a0It\u2019s important to note that we come to that fork every day; indeed, many times a day as we decide what to do. \u00a0Not everyone in these stories chose the most obvious sustainable path which added realism to the collection (because that's what we do most of the time); and for some of those who did, I found the ease of many of the transitions rather too glib to be believable.<\/p>\n

I particularly liked Adrian Ellis' story\u00a0The Buildings are Singing<\/strong><\/em>. It\u2019s about someone, Genie, who tries to rebel against the conformity of the AI building where she lives, by taking a stray cat home for company. The admirably anti-cat, pro-wildlife, building is having none of it and withdraws some of her privileges until she makes amends. \u00a0Tellingly it blocks all her TV channels except Eco-life; just imagine how you'd feel if there was nothing to watch every day but Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan. \u00a0Genie's brother's girlfriend, meanwhile, has kicked him out preferring the sexy Cool-o-Matic 4000 fridge whose AI system she found particularly alluring (and, let's be honest, less trouble). \u00a0It\u2019s a long way from Edward Abbey's magisterial The Fool's Progress, but I was reminded of it anyway. \u00a0I found this the wittiest story in the book and one of the most effective at raising the sort of issues \u2013 such as the necessary trades-off between the loss of personal freedoms and the gain of enhanced security that we already face, and which are likely to become more acute.<\/p>\n

Jonathon Porritt, in a review of the book, said that it\u2019s hard to imagine \u201cwhat living sustainably might really mean \u2013 and neither dry facts nor hypothetical scenarios seem to help very much.\u201d \u00a0I think that\u2019s right. \u00a0Convincing books are rare too. \u00a0There are obviously Iain M Banks\u2019 culture novels where the problems of energy availability have been solved and want \/ need questions don\u2019t seem to apply as everything is in abundance \u2013 but that\u2019s a post-human world and out of reach \u2013 even if it would be worth reaching for when bossy AI buildings seem bad enough. \u00a0Then there\u2019s\u00a0Bedford 2045<\/a> \u2013 John Huckle\u2019s tour de force in which he describes a society where everyone is striving for the common sustainable good. \u00a0That is, human nature has been tamed and there seem to be no deviants who want something better (or just different) for themselves and their families. \u00a0I always wonder what happened to all the deviants; something popped in the water, perhaps.<\/p>\n

In the world we live in none of this applies which is why books like this are a help as we inch our way forwards, decision by decision; day by day.<\/p>\n

Resurrection Trust Ed: Amanda Saint. Retreat West Books (2019) ISBN 978-1\u20139164483\u20138\u20134<\/p>\n

................................<\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n

Abbey E (1988) The Fool's Progress<\/em>, London: The Bodley Head<\/p>\n

Huckle J and Martin A (2001) Environments in a Changing World<\/em>, London, Prentice Hall<\/p>\n

Saint A (Ed) (2018) Is As It Was,\u00a0<\/em>Retreat West Books<\/p>\n

................................<\/p>\n

This review first appeared in the NAEE journal, Environmental Education<\/em>,\u00a0Vol 122 (November 2019).<\/p>\n

Happy Christmas and New Year. \u00a0Back in January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Resurrection Trust is a book of \u201cfunny, dark, mad, bad, upbeat, downbeat and fantastical short stories about living sustainably\u201d. They arose from the University of Southampton's Green Stories writing competition. \u00a0\u00a0The editor, Amanda Saint, says that the stories \u201cshowcase a...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-new-publications"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7503\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}