To be honest, most of Chapter two had me feeling hopeless. On page 52, McKibben talked about how if we raised prices on fossil fuels and banned together to “build a movement more powerful than the energy industry” we could really be making a difference. Unfortunately, my experience with people has shown me many people are stuck in their ways and are not willing to change a few things in their life to better the community. Shannon said something last class that really stuck with me: People seem to value stability more than change, and I’m afraid many people really do thrive on that outlook.
With American people being so individualistic, it’s no surprise that we may not see this change as fast as we want to. While it is natural to think of yourself and family first and thrive off convenience, our world is at stake. I don’t think people realize the magnitude of this situation. McKibben talks about how America could end up like a Third World country in a few decades, but I don’t think enough Americans could even wrap their minds around that concept to realize what this could do to our country. While I don’t think collectivism works for everything, I would hope that we as Americans could get together with a collective mindset for the sake of saving our planet. However, I just don’t know how realistic that really is.
The last line in chapter two, “We’re moving quickly from a world where we push nature around to a world where nature pushes back— and with far more power” really struck me. McKibben keeps showing us all these signs and statistics of how our planet is deteriorating, and if we continue this trend of ignoring the blatant evidence in front of us, we may get pushed back so hard that it could become impossible for us to recover. I hate to be so cynical, but from what I’ve read so far, I’m afraid we’re going to be stuck in a selfish, unproductive cycle for a while.
I feel the same way. Often it is difficult to get people to realize the extent to which their actions affect the world around them. People so seem to value stability over change, but hopefully we can change that.
ReplyDeleteI just read your comment about McKibben stating America could become like a 3rd world country--after reading a tweet that read "America is now an expensive third world country."
ReplyDeleteJessica, I agree with you on feeling hopeless through most of the chapter. McKibben shows that our world has changed and is changing so rapidly that it's near impossible to stop it. I also agree that most people lack the effort for real change, but there are also people who embrace change and help others see the positives in it.
ReplyDeleteThe last paragraph of chapter two also caught my eye. I think it is important for people to see what we have done to our planet in order to want to look for ways to fix it.
ReplyDeleteI think that's why classes like this are important. Everyone needs to understand the magnitude of the problem (and be a little scared about the future!) if they are going to value change instead of stability. McKibben makes some points in chapter 3 about how we have to change our outlook, and adopt a different mindset.
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