Land Sickness

As a heat wave hits Paris, the author’s entire existence is disrupted and disoriented by the effects of climate change. All his normal reference points are destroyed. He can’t sleep because of the heat, and he’s plagued by the thought that everything he does to try to cool down – turn on the air conditioning, take a cold shower – uses more energy and only makes the problems worse. To escape the heat and his growing anxieties, he flees to the small Mediterranean island of Porquerolles. But even on these idyllic lands, can he escape the harsh realities of the Anthropocene? Written as a fictionalized travelogue based on the author’s own experiences, encounters, emotions and thoughts, this inquiry into the existential and sociological issues raised by the climate crisis will be of interest to everyone concerned about the increasingly dire situation in which we find ourselves as we face the rapidly deteriorating condition of our climate-damaged planet.