The Deluge

Book Author: Stephen Markley

The Deluge, by Stephen Markley, is a book examining the climate crisis from the perspective of a large and diverse set of characters. The book introduces us to the main characters in roughly 2013 and takes us to approximately 2045. This 30-year period allows Markley to explore the long-term impacts of climate change on society, politics, and the environment. While the description of the climate disasters—violent storms, wildfires, rising seas, and ecological devastation—is vivid and haunting, the societal breakdown and humanity’s initial response to the increase in disasters is even more terrifying.

There are several main characters in the book, including scientists, politicians, corporate executives, drug addicts, eco-terrorists, and, yes, “normal” everyday people. One of the first disasters described in the near future is a snowstorm over the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States that is as devastating as it is plausible in real life. As the climate crisis continues to unfold throughout the late 2020s, several aspects of society strain, triggering an even more significant, integrated crisis. 

As the years progress, the government is deadlocked, eco-terrorism is on the rise, social services are strained, people are displaced, and areas of the world are devastated. Mass protest movements led to aggressive government responses and significant backlashes, and eventually, people began to organize to do something about the crisis. The reactions are fractured, and ultimately, there is a compromise that feels realistic. It is not perfect, but it is manageable and requires major concessions and incentives for all parties to participate. 

The book concludes with an ambiguous future as the damage has been done; however, humanity has a solid chance to recover. Ultimately, The Deluge is a story of how people respond to crisis, trauma, and uncertainty and how we can find ways to work together and thrive in a rapidly changing world. 

Why I Recommend This Book

We hear a lot about climate change and just about everyone agrees that it is a problem. The issue we face is that, like the slowly boiling frog, we don’t realize the increasing scope of the problem because it is happening slowly and in the background. By spanning 30+ years in a compelling and unforgettable story, this book attempts to do just that. While we can all envision a hotter summer, coastal damage, and more violent storms from Hollywood disaster epics, one thing that we struggle to think about is how those climate changes will fracture society. A fictionalized version of this is so realistic that you are forced to think it through. 

Climate change is a “human coordination problem.” To solve it, humans have to band together and take collective action. Today, several factions put climate change at the top of the agenda, but no coordinated, collective action is taking place. Today, those factions are speaking in absolutes and not willing to compromise and work together. For example, can you see Greenpeace and Exxon working together? This book attempts to show how these factions can work together and why it is important to compromise. 

While the scope of the environmental destruction, loss of life and property, unrest, and societal breakdown is massive in this book, I found the book very optimistic. Very disparate forces eventually come together and start to manage the problem in a meaningful way. The road to the solution and the ultimate compromises could be better, but ultimately,  they are very human.