In brief
The U.N. climate summit in Baku highlights ironic tensions, especially with the recent political climate in the U.S., which magnifies the themes explored in Lydia Kiesling's novel "Mobility."
In a striking juxtaposition, the 2024 United Nations climate change summit has found its venue in Baku, Azerbaijan—a nation synonymous with the modern oil industry. This comes at a particularly ironic juncture, as the recent election of Donald J. Trump, a proponent of fossil fuel expansion and a critic of international climate agreements, looms in the backdrop.Capturing the surreal essence of this situation is Lydia Kiesling’s novel "Mobility," published in 2023. The narrative unfolds around the character Bunny Glenn, a young woman whose journey parallels the tumultuous backdrop of Baku’s evolving energy landscape. Starting her life as a State Department brat during the post-Soviet oil boom, Bunny transitions into a role in the Trump administration at BP, where she confronts the jarring realities of climate change and corporate greed.Kiesling’s choice of Baku is deeply personal; influenced by her own experiences as the daughter of a Foreign Service officer, she draws parallels between the disparities within the Caucasus region. In the late 1990s, she observed how geopolitical significance reshaped lives—Baku attracted a plethora of foreign interests due to its lucrative oil and natural gas supplies, while neighboring Armenia struggled with poverty and migration.In a recent conversation, Kiesling explained her fascination with Baku and its dual narrative of opportunity and crisis. “Climate change and oil production are inextricably linked," she noted, reflecting on the broader implications of her setting. As world leaders gather in Baku amidst heightened stakes for climate action, Kiesling's poignant satire encourages reflection on the paradoxes that define modern environmental policy.Through her novel, she invites readers to examine the complexities of climate diplomacy during a moment marked by dissonance and contradiction—offering a lens not just on Baku, but on the future of global partnerships in combatting climate change.
