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Climate fiction (cli-fi) is a broad genre that includes all fiction that references the climate in some significant way. Most cli-fi explores human-caused climate change and its impact on humanity and the Earth in the present or future.

Telling stories about climate change helps us understand this big, impersonal, long-term trend in more immediate and personal ways. Charts and graphs are great when we want to understand the details of the science, but storytelling really helps us make sense of it all as human beings. It allows us to experience climate change through the eyes of deeply human characters with complex hopes, dreams, and fears that may speak to our own feelings about the realities of climate change. A good cli-fi story entertains us while also helping us figure out what climate change means for us as individuals, communities, and human societies.

Cli-fi is growing in popularity because the consequences of climate change are becoming more obvious and serious with each passing day. More authors are writing cli-fi, and more readers are looking for it. In honor of this growing trend, here are a few fun facts about cli-fi.