Climagogy and the “Dorothy” case: the aesthetics of the Emerald City and resistant climatic realism
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Date
2026-08-02
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Plovdiv University Press
Abstract
The article explores the possibility of substantiating the concept of “climagogy” as a form of
guidance and orientation for existing environmental policies within the context of a dynamically
evolving relationship to the future of planet Earth. It analyzes specific ecological strategies
implemented in the transformation of Sir Bani Yas Island near Abu Dhabi (architectural eschatology)
and in the creation of the Dubai Miracle Garden (aesthetic ecology). The study demonstrates why, in
the United Arab Emirates, architecture is conceived as part of an emotional economy of admiration, in
which each attracted visitor and each photograph shared on social media functions as an act of
legitimizing political authority.
The central part of the research is devoted to the “literary” example of Dorothy from The Wonderful
Wizard of Oz, whose adventures can be the subject of a "climatic reading". The “Dorothy case” initiated
by a sudden cyclone, provides an opportunity to examine the implications of adopting a stance of
resistant climatic realism, in which the desire to return home is not an aesthetic gesture of reverence
but an act of authentic care. Dorothy’s wish to return to Kansas, despite the magnificent and by
definition green, Emerald City, is interpreted not as nostalgia but as an expression of attachment to a
specific climatic environment. The main thesis of the article is that such attachment should be placed
at the heart of climate policies.
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Keywords
climagogy, climate aesthetics, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, climate sovereignty