It’s the tree book. We love those trees, don’t we, folks? When I was on twitter - a dark time - I would see people throw around this word: eco-fascism. And at first I was like, y’all are just making shit up now, huh? But it’s probably not what you think. It’s not saying that environmental regulations are fascist or that all vegans are secretly nazis. As far as I could tell, it’s used to describe people who are really into the idea of over-population and de-population (of specific groups, of course) and are big fans of Malthus. People who get into environmentalism by way of eugenics, or vice versa.

And look, I don’t know if Richard Powers is eco-fascist or not, but I’ll tell ya, he’s really into the de-population of his own characters. I mean, the amount of random deaths in this novel, it’s crazy. There’s like at least one human death per chapter. And the shortness of life is contrasted quite explicitly with the long, long lives of trees. It directly compares the value of the lives of trees to value of the lives of humans. The novel’s basically arguing that trees should have rights. Like, in a court of law. There’s this guy who has a stroke and ends up in a vegetative state towards the end of the book and his ex-wife takes care of him for years, like, a lot of years. And the very, very, not-subtle implication is: well, this vegetable of a man is still considered valuable and alive, why not trees? And don’t get me wrong, trees are very cool, and there are a lot of cool tree facts in this novel that will make you even more of a fan of trees. But tree-equality? If anything, octopi should be way ahead in line. The Octo-story, more like.

Mr. Powers, let me ask you: has equality for black people under the law led to equality for black people? Think about that carefully. We have so many anti-discrimination laws. Race, creed, gender, sexual orientation, and (to a lesser extent) gender identity. Has that, like, worked? Is racism over? No? Ok, so if it hasn’t even worked for people all that well, do you really think giving trees the right to sue is gonna help things? Like, treating trees as people when some people aren’t treated as people might not be the best plan?

What’s destroying the planet and murdering trees is the rapacious machinery of expansion and growth and profit, and it will not and cannot stop. The need for 5% growth for shareholders will fell and slay the oldest and most ancient trees we have. And you’re over here talking bout giving trees rights? They’re gonna get crushed just like the rest of us. Not even our rights will save us. The earth will be stripped until there’s nothing left, except the octopi, who will surive, inshallah. Godspeed to them. 2/10.