Ian McEwan said he believes humankind "will scrape through" the escalating climate crisis while discussing his new novel, What We Can Know, which imagines a Britain partially submerged by rising seas.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme and the BBC World Service ahead of the book's release, the Booker Prize–winning author described both hope and weariness about the present era. He said he had noticed hundreds of "pinpoints of light" globally — rewilding projects and conservation efforts — that demonstrate "the power with which nature comes back" if harmful human activity is reduced.
"I've really noticed, over the last 20 years, that although we are deeply worried about climate change — and it doesn't seem to be getting better at the moment — that across the world, there are just hundreds of pinpoints of light, of little projects of re-wilding, of all kinds of biological movements that are really very hopeful," McEwan told the broadcaster. He added that many species display "extraordinary resilience" "if you just stop doing bad things to them."
What We Can Know is set in 2119 and is narrated in part by an academic researcher, Tom Metcalfe, who is searching for a fabled, long-lost poem from the present day. Metcalfe lives in a world where lowlands of the UK have been submerged and many plants and species have been lost. McEwan said his hope is that future inhabitants looking back will feel "not only dismay at the decisions we took or didn't take, but also envy, because there are many wonderful things about our civilisation — especially in the first world — that he (Metcalfe) no longer has."
The novel uses digital records to examine the current era and interweaves that inquiry with the complex private lives of its characters. The second half of the book focuses on Vivien, the wife of a famous writer whose lost poem Metcalfe is obsessively trying to locate. McEwan described his ambition for the book as an attempt "to bring the past and the future and the present into a kind of dialogue."
McEwan referenced what he calls "the derangement" in the novel: a recognition that society broadly understands the science of climate change but has not collectively acted firmly enough to prevent substantial damage. He acknowledged that conditions will likely worsen before they improve, but emphasised agency where it exists.
In the interviews he also contrasted past modes of reflection with contemporary forms of communication. He noted that contemplative letters from historical figures such as Napoleon and Charles Darwin often provide deeper personal insight than the briefer emails and digital records common today.
The novelist addressed concerns about free speech and public order in the wake of the arrest of comedy writer Graham Linehan at Heathrow Airport on suspicion of incitement in relation to online comments about trans people. McEwan said he would "expect questions" if an alleged physical threat had been made, but described the presence of armed police officers at the arrest as "a bit heavy-handed."
McEwan has previously voiced opposition to the use of sensitivity readers, a practice in which manuscripts are reviewed before publication to identify potentially offensive material. He reiterated his long-standing position on the role of writers and editorial judgement in the creation and evaluation of literature.
Scientists have warned for years that human activities are driving global temperatures higher, increasing the risk of more frequent and severe flooding, heatwaves and biodiversity loss. Many climate researchers say urgent action can still limit the worst effects of warming, but public debate and policy responses vary widely. McEwan's novel arrives amid that ongoing conversation, offering a fictionalised, future-facing perspective on how cultural memory, technology and individual decisions might be read by later generations.
What We Can Know continues McEwan's longstanding engagement with moral and historical questions in fiction; his earlier novels include Atonement and Enduring Love. The new work frames contemporary decisions about environment and society as legible to future historians, while also exploring the private human stories that persist even as landscapes change.