“Focused Anger” and “Radical Hope” in Young Adult Climate Fiction. An Affective Reading of Lauren James’s Green Rising

A 2021 global survey published in Lancet Planetary Health reveals that nearly 60% of young people (aged 16–25) are extremely concerned about the future of our planet (Hickman et al.). These pervasive feelings of climate anxiety are compounded by a sense of intergenerational injustice, leaving many young individuals feeling abandoned. While climate change is often framed as a tale of and for the children (Rogers 2020), young adult (YA) climate fiction offers a unique mode of engagement by transforming negative affect into ecological citizenship. This chapter examines Lauren James’s Green Rising (2021), a novel in which teenagers exhibit the supernatural ability to grow plants from their skin, as a case study in eco-storytelling. Drawing on YA literary criticism, affective ecocriticism, and critical dystopian/utopian studies, my analysis argues that the novel’s interweaving of focused anger with radical hope helps readers move beyond a simplistic dichotomy of despair versus optimism. In doing so, it demonstrates the transformative potential of climate narratives to foster public engagement and inspire climate-conscious action.