CLIMATE CHANGED: A Personal Journey Through The Science
by Philippe Squarzoni
English translation by Ivanka Hahnenberger.
Published in 2014 by Abrams ComicArts.
Edited by Carol M. Burrell
Designed by Meagan Bennett
Production Manager Alison Gervais
Managing Editor Jen Graham
Original French language publication in 2012.
. . .
“We choose an image that fits the idea that we started with . . . so we hold on to that idea . . . so we keep choosing that same image . . . and BAM! We’re stuck in a loop of one vision of the world.”
. . .
Review by William D. Tucker.
Climate Changed is a five hundred page non-fiction comic book covering all of the core aspects of human caused global warming on planet Earth. It goes over the scientific basis of climate change, the research methods of climate scientists, and how the data are worked into comprehensible educational products for the benefit of politicians, business leaders, and concerned citizens. Climate Changed weaves a harrowing tapestry of doomsday scenarios while also pointing to systematic solutions. It confronts the central injustice of global warming: wealthier, technologically advanced societies contribute the most to global climate change which causes the poorest societies to suffer the worst outcomes.
Climate Offender Number One is, of course, the United States of America, which consistently denies climate science in favor of a no limits fantasy regime of endless cancerlike economic growth, unlimited consumption, and the absolute externalization of all environmental harms in the name of infinite profits. Climate Changed unmasks this fantasy regime as ultimately doomed once certain physical consequences kick in-peak oil, lethal heat waves, superstorms, rising water lines, huge populations of climate disaster refugees, plagues of insect borne illnesses, water wars, collapse of democratic rule, rise of authoritarianism-and makes a compelling case for a global transition away from fossil fuels and the extremist ideology of completely deregulated right wing libertarian capitalism.
Climate Changed also offers a metastory about its own making. French Writer/Artist Philippe Squarzoni tells his own story of a journey from climate innocence to climate experience. He casts his memory back to his Edenic carefree childhood, and crashes those visions against his present day immersion in charts, graphs, endless days of reading and note-taking, long form interviews with France’s top tier climate researchers, and deconstructs his own culpability as part of the global capitalist prosperity religion of consumption without consequences. Squarzoni doesn’t do phony optimism, but neither does he rant and rave. Yes, he feels deep pessimism about the prospects of drawing down the system that will very likely limit the future prospects of the human species; but Squarzoni also describes substantial solutions in convincing detail. Climate Changed is a persuasive argument for a new kind of “globalism” that is authentically global in its concerns, and not just a techno-capitalist sophistry justifying the domination of the poor by the wealthy.
There’s also some self-deprecating humor and wit. Squarzoni weaves in his cinephilia, particularly for the films of Coppola, Sidney Lumet, and Akira Kurosawa. Squarzoni seems to draw inspiration from The Godfather’s indictment of capitalism; Frank Serpico’s crusade for rule of law; and Ran’s warning against the dangers of foolish gerontocratic despots having their way. At one point, Squarzoni indulges in a superhero fantasy of him and his wife using lightsabers, a katana, and an AR-15 to symbolically massacre a hulking Voltronic consumption monster, a carbon polluting SUV, and a gang of Santa Clauses. Squarzoni knows very well that these passages play like corny-ass The Matrix fan fiction, but after hundreds of pages of sober analysis of climate policy paralysis, well, even a stoic film bro has to cut loose.
Climate Changed is over a decade out from its original French language publication. Some of the milestones it describes in terms of lethal heatwaves and storms have been long surpassed. The situation has only gotten worse. And yet its depiction of the core malfunctions of carbon pollution, inadequate governance, and capitalist avarice have become more valid than ever. It is also a weirdly enjoyable read. To be clear, Climate Changed is not a giddy celebration of doom-that’s the book I would’ve written. In fact, the book is engaging because it is so meticulously reasoned and thought through. Squarzoni isn’t trying to bamboozle himself or the readership with false hope or non-productive hysterics. He acknowledges his frustrations and his fantasies while also pushing beyond them to deal with reality itself. And all of this is accomplished with black and white line art that ranges across abstract visualizations of intricate climate processes, lyrical evocations of childhood nostalgia, and incisive satirical caricatures. Climate Changed is an impressive panorama of nostalgic memory, fantasy, science, and irrevocably harsh physical reality.
There’s nothing comics can’t do.
Except, perhaps, convince politicians and business leaders to do what must be done to avoid climate catastrophe.
Alas . . .
