Rachel Rosen on Sustainability
- nina.sfgirl
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
hosted by Nina Munteanu
May 15 2026 - 07
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The Sustainability thread is a thematic series of articles, curated by Canadian SF author Nina Munteanu and sponsored by Reality Skimming Press. Pieces in the series appear twice a month. Query Nina Munteanu about appearing on the thread at nina.sfgirl@gmail.com
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Interview with Author Rachel Rosen
My guest today is Canadian speculative fiction author and activist Rachel Rosen. Her novel
Cascade, the first book in The Sleep of Reason Trilogy, is a work of climate fiction.
Nina: · How would you define sustainability and what do you consider the key components to be sustained?
Rachel: For me, it’s a way of reframing our relationship with the natural world, and connecting
our actions today with their consequences to the planet and future generations. It’s about
viewing ourselves as part of the natural world rather than something apart from it or superior
to it. Our survival, and the survival of our biosphere, are intimately entwined, and to sustain
both we need to develop equilibrium.
Nina: What does the phrase of our thread title "Sustainability Before Ambition" mean to you and how does it affect you : how you live, what your write?
Rachel: Anyone with a realistic understanding of the climate crisis knows that our desires—or
more specifically, the desires of the most wealthy and powerful amongst us—are unsustainable
in the long term. What we might want for ourselves, whether it’s a new car or the convenience
of just-in-time production and delivery or whether it’s untold wealth and power, is at odds with
our responsibility to ensure that future generations can survive at all.
This is easy to understand in theory but much harder to practice. I may understand the effects
of plane travel on carbon emissions but does that stop me from taking a flight to a convention
in another country? To what extent are my individual choices, as both a non-billionaire and as a
resident of the Global North, even relevant here? I don’t own a car and I’m vegan, in both cases
for environmental reasons, but what does that matter when a billionaire takes a private jet on a
daily basis and 100 companies are responsible for 71% of global carbon emissions?
Which is in no small part why I write, because the solutions are not individual. My work is
broadly about collective action and I see it as part of broader social movements.
What does “ambition” mean, anyway? The billionaire class would like us all to aspire to a
constant grind to produce ever-higher profits for them. I aspire to a world where everyone can
meet their needs, enjoy art and culture, and have enough time and resources to live the lives
they desire. It’s an ambitious program for sure but it’s theoretically more sustainable than the
ambitions of the powerful.
Nina: In your community, what do you see as the major barriers and facilitators of sustainable living? What do you think are the major barriers and facilitators for organizations and nations?
Rachel: I live in a community that could easily be transformed into something sustainable if
there were the political will to do so. We have reasonably dense development, green space,
and accessible, if underfunded, public transit. Very few people need a car. There’s a lot of
interest and enthusiasm for at least small scale solutions.
This falls apart on a broader scale because our ability to live like this is propped up by Canada’s
economy, and that happens to be three resource extraction companies in a trenchcoat. There’s
an ugly reality that no one in this country wants to confront, and that is that what we have now
will not last forever. We are going to have to disentangle ourselves from fossil fuel one way or
another. Either we consciously plan degrowth in a way that is gradual and that protects the
lives and livelihoods of our population, or we have degrowth forced upon us in an
unpredictable and probably violent way. I think we’re already starting to see the cracks appear
globally, but pursuing sustainability and degrowth won’t be politically popular short-term, so no
one is willing to do it.
Nina: Industry and corporations (and governments, including our own) use the phrase “sustainable development.” What are your thoughts on that term? Do you think it is a useful term or not?
Rachel: Like the phrase “Western civilization,” I think it would be a very good idea.
The entire concept of development is flawed. It suggests a linear, upward trajectory—more of
everything, forever—that is at odds with the carrying capacity of the Earth. Certainly, we should
be developing more energy efficient technologies, but a belief that we can simply innovate our
way out of a crisis that is caused by the exploitation of humans and the natural world is just a
non-starter.
Nina: What roles can individuals , corporations and governments play in ensuring sustainable living?
Rachel: I notice a few groups are missing from that list, including unions, community groups,
and social movements. The power of individuals acting as individuals is inherently limited; this
is a collective proem with collective solutions. We can’t rely on individuals to solve systemic
issues, and we can’t rely on corporations to solve problems that they caused in the first place.
The purpose of a corporation is to make money. Not to be responsible, not to provide a useful
product or service, but to wring profits from its workers that are higher than the profits it made
the year before. This line-goes-up thinking is at odds with the framing we need to be
sustainable.
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Rachel A. Rosen (she/her) is an activist, graphic designer, and for her sins, a high school teacher. She is the author of Cascade, the first book in The Sleep of Reason trilogy and its sequel, Blight. With Zilla Novikov, she is the co-author of The Sad Bastard Cookbook: Food You Can Make So You Don’t Die.
More of her writing can be found in the Toronto Star, Trollbreath, Beyond Human: Tales of the New Us, Instant Classic (That No One Will Read), and The Dance.
Rachel co-hosts the Wizards & Spaceships podcast with David L. Clink, and designs book covers in her theoretical spare time, and is the harried personal assistant to two cats.
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Nina Munteanu is an Canadian ecologist, author, editor and writing coach, notably but not exclusively in the realm of Speculative Fiction (SF/F). In addition to nine published novels, Munteanu has written short stories, articles and non-fiction books, which have been translated into several languages throughout the world. Munteanu is a member of SF Canada.
Nina Munteanu on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ninamunteanu/
Nina Munteanu Writing Coach. https://ninamunteanu.me/
Nina Munteanu (Wikipedia). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Munteanu