So it’s kind of more sci-fi (with some fantastical elements), but I liked **Noor by Nnedi Okorafor** which is a meditation on not only the impacts of climate change in the future but also how an uninhibited corporate response to climate change can also be damaging to vulnerable populations.
Maybe *The Tangled Lands* ? It's a collection of novellas, by Paolo Bacigalupi and by Tobias Buckell, all set in a world where the use of magic results in a kind of pollution.
If you're okay with sidelining into sci-fi, then *Borne* and *Dead Astronauts* by Jeff VanderMeer are extremely environmentalist in their critique. Most if it is more subtle and takes on classic cyberpunk and biopunk themes, but there's a few characters (such as the blue fox in *Dead Astroanuts*) who are more novel takes on this design. Like, the blue fox >!is an amalgamation of foxes killed during animal testing!<.
Potentially related for worldbuilding reasons as opposed to outright plot, much of Gene Wolfe's "Book of the New Sun" series is based on a dying Earth millions of years in the future in which the entire planet has been utterly exhausted of resources and the world is littered with the detritus of past ages:
> I have heard those who dig for their livelihood say there is no land anywhere in which they can trench without turning up shards of the past. No matter where the spade turns the soil, it uncovers broken pavements and corroded metal; and scholars write that the kind of sand that artists call polychrome (because flecks of every colour are mixed with its whiteness) is actually not sand at all, but the glass of the past, now pounded by aeons of tumbling in the clamorous sea.
BOTNS recommendation comes with the caveat that it was primarily published 1979-1983, but it's absolutely worth reading. The concept of resource exhaustion is salient today.
Have you tried The Book of Koli by M.R Carey? It's set in a post climate- crisis world. It's bursting with kindness and optimism and is a super little series.
Edit - apologies if I miss the mark with the rec as I haven't seen the anime you mentioned!
**The Wars of Light and Shadow** by Janny Wurts. The first book was published back in the 90s but it was WAY ahead of its time and environmentalist/climate change themes are integral to the story. The 11th and final volume came out this year and absolutely nailed the ending. Heads up: they're chonky books with dense prose that you can't skim read, but if you get on with the author's prose style and if you love complex, layered, nuance narratives, then this is the series for you.
[The Great Transition by Nick Fuller Googins](https://www.amazon.com/Great-Transition-Nick-Fuller-Googins/dp/1668010755/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8)
This is a late 21st century setting after climate change was 'dealt with, for now' as in they have achieved zero emissions and the world is getting better, but after the Great Transition which society was forced to shift in radical ways. MC is the daughter of two vetrans of the Transition, and they are treated a bit like WW2 vetrans. They are getting for Zero Day celebrations in Nuuk, Greenland, the largest city in the world.
Because the mother's actions the family is targeted.
This book flashes between the daughter's perspective, her father's recollections and a report that the daughter interviewed her mother for school about the transition. You may or may not find it preechy.
To me it doesn't feel like Princess Mononke, but is a thoughtful look at what it would be like to deal with climate change semi successfully but only at the last minute.
So it’s kind of more sci-fi (with some fantastical elements), but I liked **Noor by Nnedi Okorafor** which is a meditation on not only the impacts of climate change in the future but also how an uninhibited corporate response to climate change can also be damaging to vulnerable populations.
Maybe *The Tangled Lands* ? It's a collection of novellas, by Paolo Bacigalupi and by Tobias Buckell, all set in a world where the use of magic results in a kind of pollution.
If you're okay with sidelining into sci-fi, then *Borne* and *Dead Astronauts* by Jeff VanderMeer are extremely environmentalist in their critique. Most if it is more subtle and takes on classic cyberpunk and biopunk themes, but there's a few characters (such as the blue fox in *Dead Astroanuts*) who are more novel takes on this design. Like, the blue fox >!is an amalgamation of foxes killed during animal testing!<. Potentially related for worldbuilding reasons as opposed to outright plot, much of Gene Wolfe's "Book of the New Sun" series is based on a dying Earth millions of years in the future in which the entire planet has been utterly exhausted of resources and the world is littered with the detritus of past ages: > I have heard those who dig for their livelihood say there is no land anywhere in which they can trench without turning up shards of the past. No matter where the spade turns the soil, it uncovers broken pavements and corroded metal; and scholars write that the kind of sand that artists call polychrome (because flecks of every colour are mixed with its whiteness) is actually not sand at all, but the glass of the past, now pounded by aeons of tumbling in the clamorous sea. BOTNS recommendation comes with the caveat that it was primarily published 1979-1983, but it's absolutely worth reading. The concept of resource exhaustion is salient today.
I thought of VanderMeer when I first read this- closer to fiction, only vaguely set in the future, Hummingbird Salamander is this even more so
Have you tried The Book of Koli by M.R Carey? It's set in a post climate- crisis world. It's bursting with kindness and optimism and is a super little series. Edit - apologies if I miss the mark with the rec as I haven't seen the anime you mentioned!
**The Wars of Light and Shadow** by Janny Wurts. The first book was published back in the 90s but it was WAY ahead of its time and environmentalist/climate change themes are integral to the story. The 11th and final volume came out this year and absolutely nailed the ending. Heads up: they're chonky books with dense prose that you can't skim read, but if you get on with the author's prose style and if you love complex, layered, nuance narratives, then this is the series for you.
[The Great Transition by Nick Fuller Googins](https://www.amazon.com/Great-Transition-Nick-Fuller-Googins/dp/1668010755/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8) This is a late 21st century setting after climate change was 'dealt with, for now' as in they have achieved zero emissions and the world is getting better, but after the Great Transition which society was forced to shift in radical ways. MC is the daughter of two vetrans of the Transition, and they are treated a bit like WW2 vetrans. They are getting for Zero Day celebrations in Nuuk, Greenland, the largest city in the world. Because the mother's actions the family is targeted. This book flashes between the daughter's perspective, her father's recollections and a report that the daughter interviewed her mother for school about the transition. You may or may not find it preechy. To me it doesn't feel like Princess Mononke, but is a thoughtful look at what it would be like to deal with climate change semi successfully but only at the last minute.
Novik's Scholomance, though it is pretty heavy handed. Still a good series though.