Pyric crisis and climate consciousness in Alan Gratz’s Two Degrees

Fire historian Stephen J. Pyne employs the term “pyrocene” to refer to an era characterized by fire and aggravated by climate change and unsustainable human activities. Such activities are also best understood by Rob Nixon’s idea of slow violence. It symbolizes how environmental damage develops covertly until it explodes in a disaster. This research builds on these existing frameworks by introducing the term pyric crisis to refer to wildfire as a cultural metaphor as well as an ecological tragedy. The story of California in Alan Gratz’s Two Degrees (2022) illustrates this problem, as fire serves both a direct threat to survival and a symbol of the end of the world. The book portrays children as both agents of climate justice and victims of ecological collapse. It presents climate fiction as a space where destruction becomes pedagogical necessity. Thus, this paper shows how Two Degrees represents the pyric crisis and raises climate consciousness and intergenerational responsibility.