The Collapse of Western Civilization
What fascinating reading this week
for class! We read both The Collapse of
Western Civilization by (Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway) as well as the
second chapter in our climate textbook, Climate
Cultures: Anthropological Perspectives on Climate Change.
The first of the two featured a
historical study from a fictional future perspective. This method was totally
genius because it did something fairly new and presented the information as if
we’ve already lost the battle with global climate change. The tactic used here
provided an effective sense of urgency unlike most science and politics tend to
do today because the book already has seen the outcomes. Let’s just say they
aren’t pretty. Most of the coastal cities are under water as well as most small
islands and food shortage has caused global chaos. Perhaps most effective is
how the book describes the situation as much worse than had been predicted by
scientists of the present day. The fact that temperatures, “increased by an
additional 6 degrees Celsius over the 5-degree rise that had already occurred”
(Oreskes and Conway 29) should have us all scared to the bone right now, yet we
haven’t seen real steps of action towards saving civilization. It is my hope
that COP21 establishes some real steps of action towards a global civilization
makeover. Otherwise, we may as well accept our fate now.
The other reading had some
interesting insight about the history behind our knowledge of environmental
human interest. What caught my eye was the use of cartoons found online to
depict some of the climate issues. It focused on different areas of the
physical worlds such as: mountains, glaciers, desserts, etc. and how each of
them have been approached by numerous organizations. Surprisingly, despite the
number of acronyms I glazed over in the reading, little progress has yet to be
made. This just goes to show how complicated these issues are. Moreover, the
complexity of the situation at hand is much too serious to brush off any longer.
I can tell you one thing is for sure; this is one assignment we won’t be able
to procrastinate with a passing grade by our professor, Mother Nature.
Just for fun, I put one of the
cartoons used in the book (my favorite) at the top courtesy of Ian Falconer and The New Yorker.
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