It is difficult to have any hope in the face of the enormity and unfathomability of climate change. This lecture will open up a discussion of what is meant by potentiality as we explore the the idea of hope in fuels (as distinct from systems of energy or power). Pinkus is trying to reconcile the impractical, speculative questions raised by the humanities with a desire for hope. Hope is not located in any particular technology or policy, or in any social formation such as the multitude or social movement like Occupy. Instead hope may exist in fuels – distinguished from systems of energy or power – as pure potentiality which the lecture will explore through literary narrative and images. This is the fourth in the Mellon-Sawyer Seminar lecture series, featuring Karen Pinkus, Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature, Department of Romance Studies, Cornell University.