Trek Across a Changed Land: Book One of the Phoenix Treks, by Darren Rumbold, imagines a future after climate disaster and an a massive EMP destroyed most of civilization. George Reynolds set out from the small research community of Phoenix on a long trek to see how  a science and research community from before the collapse. His community foresaw enough of the coming climate disaster to make survival plans, but wasn’t able to stop it. This feels like an updating of classic disaster specfic like No Blade of Grass, The Empty World, or The Kraken Wakes. Trek is an engaging read for fans of those older scifi novels.

Readers can also see how our view on climate change has evolved. The Kraken Wakes, published in 1953, has a disturbingly prescient scene where a scientist notices an inch rise in sea level, and the press tease him for his alarmist behavior. Here, in Trek Across A Changed Land, George Reynolds explains to his son how the previous generations thought they had more time, or how there used to be a federal government, but the government ended disaster relief as natural disasters increased.  The fear isn’t that climate disaster might happen, the fear is that we haven’t prepared enough or planned correctly for the inevitable crisis. It’s timely twist on the disaster or post-apocalyptic story.  

For George’s third exploration outside Phoenix, he brings his son, Dan, and Dan’s girlfriend, Jennifer. This works well for the narrative, as George explains things like how the treks work and what the world used to look like, both for the younger generation and for the reader.  I recently read Earth Abides, and wondered more about Ish’s trek (and later his sons’ treks) through the post-apocalyptic world. I was curious about the world outside The Tribe and how other survivors were coping with this disaster.  I loved how Trek Across A Changed Land answers those questions, and introduces a world with small settlements of survivors trying to eke out a living in world with wild storms and harsh growing conditions. Some people are nomads, looking for food and shelter at a new site, and others are dangerous and violent, in a world without laws. Climate change has also made small changes to which species thrive and which suffer, and George’s job on this trek is to note this all for the scientists at Phoenix. 

The researchers at Phoenix don’t have the ability to help everyone, and they need to make harsh decisions about where their knowledge and limited resources will do the most good. This trek will assess what communities might benefit from seeds and agricultural knowledge… but it’s also a depressing triage for George, Dan and Jennifer to make, since some people are just too far gone for any help and some might be a danger to the researchers. George’s heavy moral decisions are set in the shadow of George’s grandfather’s decisions, bringing his best efforts and scientific knowledge to help predict and assess climate change, but unable to predict and prepare for everything.  The novel raises moral questions about balancing needs under pressure, as George and the other researchers try to do right for humanity, they must lie, keep secrets, and make choices that will result in deaths.  

I spent large portions of the book trying to decide if the story was optimistic or pessimistic about humans in this climate change future. It’s not a dark future, since there are strong friendships and kind actions throughout the book. But it’s a world with slavery, trafficking, starvation, and violence, and everyone is under threat from horrific storms all the time. 

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