How will climate change affect world politics one day when it already seems clear that the global South will pay the bill, with floods, sinking islands or extreme droughts? How is China involved as a new tech superpower? Marc Elsberg deals with these and other questions in his 604-page thriller “Celsius”. In an interview with the editor of ORF Lower Austria, Hannes Steindl, he also talks about his years in Baden and the success of the book “Blackout”.
noe.ORF.at: Mr. Elsberg, you wrote a thriller about climate change. Why? You might as well have written a novel.
Marc Elsberg: I don’t know if readers would read a novel by an author known for his thrillers set in a large real world setting. So I prefer to stick with my last one. I’m always looking for great topics that move us all, from which great social discussions arise, but which are also fun. Climate change is one of them. This has been an important issue for the last few decades and will continue to be so. I have wanted to write about the weather for a long time. The question was what lever, what narrative level, what perspective can I find that hasn’t been told yet. When I knew what it would be, I started.
ORF In his new book, the author of “Blackout” returns to address a burning issue of our time: climate change
noe.ORF.at: A central approach is geoengineering. Can you explain the term from your point of view?
Elsberg: Geoengineering is the generic term for all possible measures, mainly technological, to lessen or stop the consequences of global warming, although until now this has been a theory. This ranges from ideas, for example, bringing aerosols into the stratosphere to outshine the sun’s rays, to huge swarms of mirrors in space, to fertilizing the sea with iron filings to encourage the growth of algae, which then trap the CO2 in the water. .
noe.ORF.at: There are many conflicts for your book “Celsius”.
Elsberg: This book is about a general shift in power. China launches geoengineering program to stop melting Himalayas The Himalayas are the most important freshwater reservoir in the world. It feeds all of Asia’s major rivers and the lives of billions of people depend on it. In a few years and decades, the most populous countries will be in the Global South, including India and Nigeria. Changes are already happening there, especially when it comes to issues like the climate. This will have big repercussions.
ORF Marc Elsberg during an interview with noe.ORF.at
noe.ORF.at: You must have done a lot of research on this book. Do you worry about the future, are you afraid when you think about tomorrow?
Elsberg: No, I’m not scared. Ultimately, I am quite optimistic when you consider that humanity has developed positively over the long term with many ups and downs, that we will succeed this time as well. It won’t be easy, there will be a lot of downtrends, but I think we’ll make it somehow.
noe.ORF.at: Briefly about your biography and the relationship with Lower Austria. You grew up in Baden.
Elsberg: I was born in Vienna but grew up in Baden. I spent all my childhood and youth in Baden, where I graduated from high school. I have a relatively good memory of all this. I also earned my first money by serving in a tavern in Gumpoldskirchen.
Elsberg’s new thriller “Celsius”
Best-selling author Marc Elsberg, who hails from Lower Austria, has written a new thriller: “Celsius”. He works to combat climate change.
noe.ORF.at: Were you surprised by the attention and consequences after the book “Blackout”?
Elsberg: I definitely did not expect such consequences. I hear again and again that the book has had an effect even on legislation. Shortly after the book was published, I was invited to give talks on politics and business, and that continues today. You can’t plan something like that as an author.
noe.ORF.at: Do you think “Celsius” will have a similar effect?
Elsberg: You never know in advance. The right thought has to be written at the right time. With “Celsius” I at least told the subject of climate change in such a way that it somehow turned it on its head. We’ll see if the subject makes people think again.