The slides for today offer an overview of climate and environmental SF, and the changed consciousness of the central characters in “The People of Sand and Slag.” In the Calorie Man,” US agribusiness companies have reshaped the world from India to the Mississippi valley, largely by engineering and releasing crop diseases that only their genetically modified products can survive. How has this changed world altered the consciousness of Lalji or another character in the story? At what particular point do you see a character comprehending the environment and their place in a striking way?
6 thoughts on “Bacigalupi and Environmental Consciousness–Group 2”
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Calorie Man and The People of Sand and Slag both show different ways in which a world can deal with a lack of resources. This motif really interested me because even though it is dystopian with the way our world is consuming fossil fuels and changing the climate this future may not be as far off as people think. It is interesting to think that food would become such a powerful thing in The Calorie Man, but it makes sense. As both an energy supply and a currency, food does hold two of the most important things to mankind. Even paper money does not make as much literal sense as the resource of food. The big business like relationship Ladji, as an individual, has with the crop plants is also truly applicable to class struggle and mobility issues that exist in the world.However, in the real world where strikes don’t always lead to higher pay, but firing, Ladji also experiences this reality shock when his crew is attacked by the patrol boat. Rebelling against norms and supporting a conflicting idea always comes with danger. People don’t like what they don’t understand and change is often scary.
In “The Calorie Man”, the dystopian world in which Ladjii lives in is completely under control of the agribusiness corporations that own a monopoly on the world’s sole energy source of kinetic energy. In a world where all other forms of energy have been exhausted and where corporations have forcefully monopolized agriculture through the releasing of diseases that only their products can survive, the characters of the story look for a way to free society from the new world order. When Ladjii comes to the US, he embarks on a journey with his crew in order to transport a powerful man who may be able to unroot the corporations grasp in the world. Despite the odds and the looming threat from the IP police, Ladjii perseveres up the Mississippi river and to his ultimate destination back to New Orleans. Ladjii and his group reach an inflection point with their run in with the IP police which leaves all but himself and Tazi dead. At this point, Ladjii realizes the tall task that he was actually embarking in all along, and its extreme difficulty and danger. As tazi gifts him the seeds however, he realizes that they have been on a mission with an ultimate goal much greater then themselves and thus fuels him with the perseverance to continue.
In both “The Calorie Man” and “The People of Sand and Slag.” We meet a world deprived of the resources we depend on now. However, in both stories they’ve found alternatives that have led to very different worlds. “The Calorie Man” is a more generic dystopian world where corporations seem to run everything. These corporations have patented seeds that allow them to essentially have a monopoly on food production. While food is clearly already the most important resource in today’s society in “The Calorie Man” it is even more vital. Food is also the source of energy and is treated as essentially a currency also. Our main character Lalji wants to uproot these corporations and create more freedom. During the short story we follow Lalji on this journey. As others have already said the key moment for when Lalji changes his view on the world is after he and his crew are attacked. After this moment is when Lalji becomes aware of the true gravity of what he is attempting to accomplish here. The death of his crew mates and the seemingly all powerful corporations fill Lalji with a new view of the world.
The day before the nighttime assault by the IPs, Bowman explains to Lalji and Creo how the agriculture companies used bioengineering to sterilize their essential crops. The monopolistic hold of the companies explains why Lalji abandons his home in India to work in the US. We learn little about Lalji’s explicit opinions about the world, but his narration about abandoning (his former love I think) Gita and his family illustrates how he yearns for a time before the agriculture giants. He feels a nostalgia for the meals he shared with his family and the time he spent with Gita, and it pains him to have capitulated to the demands of the economy and abandon his home by the Ganges. When the young Lalji eats the rotten seeds without sharing them we are shown how his decisions are motivated by self-preservation as well as necessity. Not only does he keep the seeds to himself, but he also uses Gita’s money to get out of India, leaving her behind for what he expects was imminent death by starvation or disease. Thus, while some of Lalji’s musings are idyllic, it is clear that he was living through a time of strife in his homeland and had no choice but to leave. Lalji appears to have steeled himself to this reality, allowing him to feel less guilt. It is not until he given the seeds by Tazi at the end of the story that he finally allows himself to fully acknowledge his yearning for a world more like the one he grew up. It is unclear whether he will able be able to return to the Ganges, but at the very least he has reached a more honest awareness of his feelings.
The Calorie man is set in a dystopian world currently suffering from major energy shortages. Following an economic boom in Fossil Fuel, called the expansion, society began to deteriorate as these types of fuels became more and more scarce. To counteract the growing lack of food, the Calorie man shows how society adapted in a way so as to use kinetic energy in different forms to power society. This energy is mostly powered by genetically mutated animals specialized to walk on treadmills. The animals get the energy from Biotech companies; whose high powered crops in turn fuel the animals.
As a result, I noticed that the collective conscious of individuals in the story was one of activity. At least in terms of the individuals Lalji journeyed with, there was a strong sense of needing to forcefully ‘break up’ the corporations. However, their options in terms of social mobility are often limited. I found it ironic that the society in the story is literally powered by physical movement, yet that it lacks mobility at its core.
I found that following the attack on Lalji and his crew, a sense of reality sets in for Lalji. After the attack, only himself and Tazi remain. Tazi gifts Lalji some seeds, demonstrating his loyalty. I think it is in this moment that Lalji understands how difficult it will be to overthrow the megacorporations, but also how important it will be to have comrades by his side. He truly comprehends the extent to which he is oppressed, and through the gift from Tazi, understands how important it will be to keep fighting.
In “The Calorie Man”, the world based on genetically made/modified crops and plants has put everyone in a very strained environment that is controlled by massive corporations. These corporations are the manufacturers of these “crops”, which gives them ultimate control because there is no overarching government body to implement policies and regulations. Therefore, most characters in the story, especially Lalji, are forced to conform to whatever these corporations set out or the opposer will get captured or even killed. The world they live in has affected Lalji’s outlook of it in comparison to the world we currently live in. Throughout the story, we can see how Lalji and many other characters lose their hope in being able to break up the monopolies that are currently running the world they live in. Without that, the characters lack economic and social mobility, making it challenging to become wealthier or have a better status. Lalji goes through a journey up the river determined to defeat these corporations, but as the story goes on, he loses motivation and eventually we as readers can see that all of these attempts to “break up” the corporations and overthrow their ultimate control of the world.
Ladji has a real epiphany moment after his crew is attacked by the patrol boat. Multiple people end up dying in the encounter, leaving just him and Tazi. He thinks “So many dead for such an idea”, which shows the audience he is realizing the brutality of going against what the corporations have been able to control. He briefly realizes that his efforts with a small crew will be so difficult to uproot the massive corporations. But the story ends with Tazi gifting Ladji the seeds, which shows him that there are others out there who are fighting with him. With enough people, they may be able to make major change in their society. This moment allows Ladji to continue on his quest to eventually grow as powerful as the massive corporations and compete with them, or even overthrow them, but we know that it is extremely unlikely.