The Making of the Representative for Planet B
Perhaps the greatest Doomer book I can think of is “The Making of the Representative for Planet 8,” by Doris Lessing. When I was a kid, science fiction wasn’t regarded as great literature. In the hands of Doris Lessing, it is.
Let’s recap the book: A peaceful, agricultural society lives on planet 8 in a star system distant from earth. The people are pescatarian and raise animals for dairy only. A great lake provides abundant fish. There’s a high development of arts and culture. War doesn’t seem to be known in this pacifist society. It’s a benign world where no one would tell their kids to fear strangers.
But then star travelers appear and announce that hard times are coming. Because of an alteration in their planet’s orbit, an ice age is coming — but the people can take measures to prepare. And before things get too bad, the star travelers say everyone will be “space-lifted” to safety on another world.
Now we witness the beginning of prepping for hard times. A gigantic wall is constructed girdling the planet near the pole from where ice will be advancing. A great cooling begins. Soon, the seemingly always warm lakes are freezing, and food is growing scare. The good people have to slaughter and eat the animals to survive. And that’s just the beginning.
The story is in the hands of ten key individuals, all charged with different tasks in the preservation of society. They lead the people. It’s Doris Lessing’s take on what core missions are needed in order for a civilization to survive. They are:
• Doeg — the Memory Maker and Keeper of Records, the story’s narrator
• Alsi — an apprentice, engaged with the nurture of growing animals
• Nonni — another apprentice
• Marl — Keeper of the Herds
• Klin — the Fruit Maker, Guardian of the Orchards
• Masson — the Representative for Housing and Sheltering
• Bratch — the Representative for Health
• Pedug — the Representative for Education of the Young
• Rivalin — the Custodians of the Lake
• Zdanye — who leads those who sheltered and protected
These see their missions changing as conditions steadily grow worse. With the climate changing, fruit no longer grows. Herd animals have to be sacrificed. The lake ices over and fish decline.
Then disaster of another sort strikes. The star travelers tell the inhabitants of Planet 8 that the world chosen to be colonized is now no longer suitable. That way out is no longer an option.
The people become involved in a desperate struggle to survive. Fighting breaks out and friends turn into enemies. Some decide to try to make it to the world’s south pole, where they believe climactic conditions may be better. It doesn’t turn out that way. They don’t make it. No one makes it through the climate catastrophe — physically, at any rate.
As this band of good people bravely try to survive at all costs, lessons are learned, and they grown spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically. They find deep determination to live in spite of tremendous hardship. They realize a new destiny in sacrifice. And finally, as the book ends, they are all able to leave their physical bodies and become a new entity, the representative for Planet 8, which has, we understand, a high destiny in the universe where the lessons learned will be fulfilled in another manner that we can’t imagine.
What can be seen as a grim tale ends on a note of raising consciousness, redefining success and zooming out into a cosmic perspective.
The lesson for us, facing our own climate catastrophe and the prospect of quickly diminishing resources, is profound. Always be open, always be flexible. Use your tools as well as you can. Keep striving, keep the peace, nurture what is best in human nature. Don’t give up, even in the face of the greatest calamity.