Ian McEwan: Stop Doing Bad Things, Start Doing Good
Acclaimed novelist Ian McEwan sees hope in climate action, pointing to solar power breakthroughs in China and marine life exploding in protected Scottish waters. His message is simple: we know what to do, and it's working.
Booker Prize-winning novelist Ian McEwan has spent decades worrying about the future his grandchildren will inherit, but lately he's been feeling something unexpected: optimism.
The author of Atonement and 19 other novels recently read about a stunning shift happening in global solar power. China is leading a renewable energy revolution so massive it could bend the curve on greenhouse gas emissions. For the first time in years, McEwan felt genuinely hopeful.
"We're now at that point where we could deflect the rise of greenhouse gas emissions," he says from his home in the Cotswolds. "For a few days, I was walking around thinking 'I feel completely different.'"
His new novel What We Can Know imagines life in 2119 after climate change has reshaped the world. Yet even in that future, people adapt and endure. McEwan wrote it not as a warning but as a reflection on choices we're making right now.
Nature is giving him reasons for hope too. Off the coast of Scotland, protected fishing zones have been left undisturbed for several years. Marine biologists are astonished at what's happening: fish, scallops, seaweed, and marine plants are surging back to life.
"Wherever we stop doing bad things, nature really pushes back," McEwan explains. Even Chernobyl's exclusion zone has become one of Ukraine's most biodiverse regions. Nature has built-in resilience when we simply stop poisoning places.
McEwan practices what he preaches. He recently installed 51 solar panels in a field near his house. Sending electricity back to the grid gives him an extraordinary feeling of satisfaction.
The Ripple Effect
McEwan believes thousands of similar projects are happening worldwide, from rewilding efforts to community solar installations. These scattered points of light haven't connected yet, but he sees them building toward something bigger.
"There's a possibility that there are 1,000 points of light across the world in which all kinds of people are working on all kinds of projects," he says. The transition to an electric economy and away from fossil fuels isn't science fiction anymore. It's happening in real time.
His formula for the future couldn't be simpler: "We just have to stop doing bad things and do good things."
Based on reporting by Positive News
This story was written by BrightWire based on verified news reports.
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