From earthquakes and volcanic eruptions to drought, frequent typhoons, and floods
Written in 1993, Octavia Butler's sci-fi novel 'Parable of the Sower,' set in a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, described a city set aflame. In the book, an entry marked February 1, 2025, reads: "We had a fire today." This entry marks a series of intense, destructive fires that depict the city and beyond devastated by climate change, violence, and economic disparities. Butler cites Los Angeles life in a great deal of her work. She passed away in 2006 and was buried in the city's Altadena cemetery, which suffered some damage during the fires.
Want to find out more about the intriguing similarities in Butler's work with the current wildfire crisis? Click on.
In June 2024, Pasadena, a city in Los Angeles County, California, decreed that June 22 would officially be known as Octavia E. Butler Day in honor of the writer’s significant legacy.
In 2022, the middle school Butler attended, Washington Junior High School, was renamed Octavia E. Butler Magnet, in honor of her life and in celebration of her work.
“People didn't believe in her,” Dayana Diaz, a student of Octavia E. Butler Magnet said. “But she still made it either way and that's what I would like to do as well.”
Butler’s legacy continues to inspire generations of sci-fi writers who seek to bridge social issues in everyday life in contexts that may seem otherworldly.
The January 2025 LA fires have brought her work back into the spotlight due to the anticipatory nature of her book, 'Parable of the Sower,' written over 20 years ago.
The book begins on July 20, 2024. The book’s main protagonist, Lauren Oya Olamina, grows up in a fictional LA suburb called Robledo.
Robelo is a walled-off community struggling to survive in an era of class war, violence, severe drought, racism, and fire-setting criminals that seek to wreak havoc and destruction. Pictured is a Milan exhibition inspired by Butler's writings.
The scale of loss of the LA fires is still incomprehensible. They are expected to be the most costly wildfires in US history, with thousands of homes and critical infrastructure destroyed. An initial estimate places damages around US$150 billion.
LA Fire Department Captain Erik Scott shared that the wildfires are “the most devastating natural disaster to hit the Los Angeles area.”
Images of celebrity mansions ablaze may give the idea that the wildfires raging through Los Angeles are primarily affecting the rich and famous, but this is far from the full picture.
The infernos took over entire neighborhoods around the city, leaving thousands of people homeless, dozens dead, and more missing. Historically Black neighborhoods that managed to create strong communities in an area of discriminatory housing practices are at particular risk.
Over 150,000 people received evacuation orders, as the LA Fire Chief Kristin Crowley committed to a process of repopulation in the background of charred neighborhoods and smoldering flames.
California’s controversial practice of using low-paid prisoners to conduct dangerous work has put inmate firefighters on the frontline of the LA fires for as little as US$5.80-$10.24 per day.
The city’s fire departments, severely understaffed and under-resourced, dispatched nearly 1,000 incarcerated firefighters, distinguished by their orange jumpsuits, to control the spread of the fires.
The fires that Butler describes in her book are apocalyptic but also a symptom of political and socio-economic inequalities, much like the contemporary conditions for LA residents.
Professor Gerry Caravan of Marquette University, who was also a co-editor of Butler’s work, shared that Butler had “seen the real future coming in a way few other writers did.”
Caravan believes that many of the narratives in Butler’s literature are reflected in life today. He shared his reflection with AP News: “It’s hard not to read the books and think ‘How did she know?’”
In an interview conducted several decades ago, Butler was asked by a reader if she believed the conditions she describes in her books would actually take place.
“I didn’t make up the problems,” Butler responded to the inquiry. “All I did was look around at the problems we’re neglecting now and give them about 30 years to grow into full-fledged disasters.”
The fires are not the only premonition the book makes. The sequel to the book, 'Parable of the Talents,' published in 1998, includes a political candidate who uses the slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
The tagline, largely attributed to Donald Trump’s presidential campaigns, already caught the attention of Butler’s readership during Trump’s first presidential campaign. The slogan was something Butler had heard during Reagan’s campaign decades ago.
So how do Butler’s books hit the nail on the head in terms of anticipating some of the things that occur today? In her 2000 essay, 'A Few Rules for Predicting the Future,' she outlined a few of the possible reasons.
“To study history is to study humanity,” Butler wrote. By studying history, Butler argues that we can identify repeating cycles, and therefore, understand what’s likely to come. Here, she referenced Nazi Germany.
In the essay, Butler also tells readers to expect the unexpected. She outlines how while she was growing up, Americans were preparing for domestic warfare from Soviet troops. At that time, it was unfathomable to the average American that the omnipotent Soviet Union would somehow fall. But it did. “There are always these surprises,” Butler warns.
Butler also warns of the dangers in attempting to “predict doom,” as fear can ultimately drive how we envision, or distort, what’s to come.
Butler did not see her writings as predictions of doom or expressions of despair. Instead, she saw them as methods to “discern possibilities” and hopeful responses.
In 'Parable of the Sower,' Butler’s protagonist finds a way to continue living on among the ashes of the devastating fires. The character suffers from a disease called “hyperempathy,” which causes her to feel the pain of others deeply.
Perhaps what Butler is encouraging her readers to do is to experience “hyperempathy.” Perhaps she is telling us to care deeply about what happens to other people and to build our actions based on that.
Butler’s ‘prediction’ of the wildfires is based on what she outlines in her essay; an understanding of history. Already concerned with global warming in the 1990s, Butler merely presents a picture of untreated problems and the consequences of such.
Sources: (Teen Vogue) (LA Times) (AP News) (Laist) (Democracy Now)
The connection between Octavia Butler's work and the LA wildfires
'Parable of the Sower' predicted the effects of climate change in LA
LIFESTYLE Literature
Written in 1993, Octavia Butler's sci-fi novel 'Parable of the Sower' set in a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles describes a city set aflame. In the book, an entry marked February 1, 2025, reads: "We had a fire today." This entry marks a series of intense, destructive fires that depict the city and beyond devastated by climate change, violence, and economic disparities. Butler cites Los Angeles life in a great deal of her work. She passed away in 2006 and was buried in the city's Altadena cemetery, which suffered some damage during the fires.
Want to find out more about the intriguing similarities in Butler's work with the current wildfire crisis? Click on.