# Climate Fiction Author Helen Phillips Explores How Stories Shape Our Environmental Future
Helen Phillips won the New Scientist Climate Fiction prize for her novel "Hum," which imagines a near-future shaped by present-day environmental choices. In an interview, Phillips reflects on the relationship between storytelling and climate action, examining whether fiction can drive real-world change.
Phillips positions her work within a tradition of speculative fiction that extrapolates from current conditions. "The book is in the future, but everything is seeded from our present," she explains, describing how "Hum" builds its world from existing trends rather than inventing entirely new problems. This approach grounds her narrative in plausibility, making the stakes feel immediate rather than fantastical.
The author addresses a persistent question among climate fiction writers: does storytelling actually matter in a crisis? Phillips acknowledges her own anxieties about this question while defending fiction's role in expanding how people imagine possibility. Stories, she suggests, operate differently than scientific papers or policy documents. They create emotional resonance and allow readers to inhabit futures before they arrive, potentially shifting perspective in ways direct argument cannot.
"Hum" explores the intersection of technology, nature, and human choice in a warming world. Phillips crafted the novel to avoid simple villain narratives or hopelessness, instead presenting complex systems where individual decisions ripple outward. The work engages with climate anxiety directly, treating it not as something to dismiss but as a legitimate response to genuine risks.
Phillips' approach reflects broader shifts in climate fiction. Rather than catastrophe-focused narratives, contemporary cli-fi increasingly examines adaptation, resilience, and the texture of daily life in changed circumstances. This strategy keeps stories from becoming either paralyzing or dismissively distant.
The New Scientist Climate Fiction prize recognizes fiction that grapples seriously with environmental futures. Phillips' win underscores growing interest in