Climate change and the apocalypse are frequently associated in the popular imagination of the
twenty-first century. This collection of essays brings together climatologists theologians
historians literary scholars and philosophers to address and critically assess this
association. The contributing authors are concerned among other things with the relation
between cultural and scientific discourses on climate change the role of apocalyptic images
and narratives in representing environmental issues and the tension between reality and
fiction in apocalyptic representations of catastrophes. By focusing on how figures in fictional
texts interact with their environment and deal with the consequences of climate change this
volume foregrounds the broader social and cultural function of apocalyptic narratives of
climate change. By evoking a sense of collective human destiny in the face of the ultimate
catastrophe apocalyptic narratives have both cautionary and inspirational functions.
Determining the extent to which such narratives square with scientific knowledge of climate
change is one of the main aims of this book.
