Finishing The Story of More
- Sunday was the anniversary of the publication of Silent Spring. Would you agree that Rachel Carson's message to young people (see below) needs desperately to be heard today?
- There's nothing nobler than a good dog, is there? 147 (Have you read or seen Call of the Wild?) Is there an environmental lesson in the human-canine relationship?
- Global sea level has risen 7+ inches since 1880, more than half of that in the past 50 years. 149 Why is so much discussion around this issue presented as hypothetical?
- "The ocean's creatures have been thrown for a loop by this warming of seawater..." 150 For instance, nyt reports, Ocean Heat Waves Are Directly Linked to Climate Change-The “blob” of hotter ocean water that killed sea lions and other marine life in 2014 and 2015 may become permanent. COMMENT?
- "The people benefiting from the use of fossil fuels are not the people who suffer the most from its excess." 151 How do we make them beneficiaries feel the suffering?
- "I can't turn on my computer without hearing about climate deniers... as if winning an argument accomplishes something in and of itself." 153 Is there no point in arguing with misinformed people?
- Is there something tragic about the fact that species are going extinct almost more quickly than we can look them "in the face"? 157 Or is that just a cruel fact of life?
- We're on track to be a third of the way to the 6th mass extinction in 2050. 160 Will we be part of it? Can we get most people to care, if we're not?
- "We still have some control over our demise..." 161 How much longer can we say that?
- Hope's dad believed in a better world "because he loved me..." 163 Parents have an obligation to believe in a brighter future, she thinks. When we "devote ourselves to hope and love even our most fantastic dreams will eventually come true." Agree?
- Is carbon capture and storage worth pursuing?164 Fertilizing plant growth on the ocean's surface? 165 Blocking the sun? 166
- What are the chances of achieving E.O. Wilson's "half earth" proposal? 167
- Are you willing to forgo four out of five plane rides, use mass transport more, postpone the purchase of a new vehicle, ...? 168
- Would scaling back to Switzerland c.1965 make us happier? 169
- Are you prepared to vote for candidates who propose consuming less and settling for present levels of growth? Are there any such candidates on the horizon? Might you be one?
- Are you actively degrading the earth as much or more than the people you argue with? 170
- Do you know and work with people who care about these issues?
- "What will you do with [your] extra decade of life...? 172
- Are we at risk of paralysis and "lazy nihilism" by repeating the self-incriminating facts of how we've poisoned the earth?
- Is the story ahead unwritten?
- What one issue are you willing to sacrifice for? 178
- Do your possessions (or your desired possessions) contradict your values? 180
- A question better posed in July: "Can you go without A/C for more days of the year? 187
- Are you surprised that you could in theory, with relatively minor sacrifices, reduce your home electricity use by 70%? Will you try?
- Anything in the catechism (191f.) surprise you?
- Can we save the EPA? 201
- Ed: Is Hope a Spinozist? 208
Are we at risk of paralysis and "lazy nihilism" by repeating the self-incriminating facts of how we've poisoned the earth?
ReplyDeleteIs it a risk? Potentially. Is it necessary? Yes.
I have not studied Philosophy beyond the basic intro course, and it has been a few years, so forgive if I make a few missteps here.. If I remember correctly, Nietszche is commonly associated with nihilism. Our nihilism is rooted in the fact that "god is dead, and we have killed him" (more or less), leaving us seemingly directionless and doomed. However, the main crux of his argument was that man needs to overcome this nihilism by devising a new set of values and abiding by them, striving to become the best, ideal versions of themselves.
Similarly, if "this nature we slaughter is the invisible god we worship", we need to have a reckoning with our actions. It is only through acknowledging what is wrong, where the problem occurred, and why it happened that any progress can be made. The solution must be derived from the problem. We cannot afford to look away. So, instead of cowering in fear and nihilism after acknowledging this truth, the answer lies within educating ourselves and others to proper action.
Feel free to check me on my Nietzsche facts. I already see I misspelled his name in my post, ha. Off to an auspicious start.
DeleteFURTHERMORE: **BONUS RANT**
Fear mongering is definitely a key way to get approximately nowhere (just.. look at our politicians), but there is a difference between fear mongering and a "healthy", life preserving anxiety.
Is the story ahead unwritten?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, which is why I think we should energize ourselves to act right now. If the future is already written, there would be no reason to come together, as we are now, to discuss what we are to do about the climate crisis.
Are you surprised that you could in theory, with relatively minor sacrifices, reduce your home electricity use by 70%? Will you try?
ReplyDeleteI am surprised by this, and I am willing to give it a try. There are a lot of things I'm realizing that I can do to consume less, with very little inconvenience to me. Maybe part of the issue is a lack of education on the little things each of us can do that go a long way. We tend to focus on the big impacts, but not so much on the little impacts that add up over time.
Global sea level has risen 7+ inches since 1880, more than half of that in the past 50 years. 149 Why is so much discussion around this issue presented as hypothetical?
ReplyDeleteI think there are different approaches of why people only present this issue as hypothetical. I want to focus on the fact that most are underestimating affects and issues that can arise from the rise of the Global Sea Level. Seven inches is not the world for most people, and even the fact that the Ocean is warming up by one degree Fahrenheit might not even phase many. Measured on our daily life, these differences do not seem to be a problem.
That is the main thing with a lot of things in our life, if we cannot see it or cannot give it enough importance, we will not believe and not do anything about it.
How many people actually live where the glaciers are melting? And how many people are looking at the evidence and pictures taken by scientist at these places? If the issue is still presented as hypothetical, then that means not enough.
Hope is telling us in her book, that fish are moving miles away, the ocean and its currents are disrupted, but is that visible to us? Scientists are talking about cities like Miami or New Orleans being flooded with a steady rising sea level. I have said it before, but I just do not believe many people will be satisfied or believe how much of a problem Climate Change is until they see it and it has an impact on them. It is not lack of knowledge or evidence that is holding us back right now, but people rather discussion every fault and blank space there is, instead of what we already know.
The only thing that is hypothetical about this topic are the specific consequences the rise and the warming of the oceans might have. When these actually hit in a more drastic way, even the last person will have to put their doubts aside and start seeing the world in consequences and results, rather than hypothesis.
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Would Scaling back to Switzerland c. 1965 make us happier? 169
ReplyDeleteI think that scaling back to the energy per capita of Switzerland circa 1965 would make us happier overall, but it would require some drastic alterations to American society. I think the first major change would have to be the creation of mass transit alternatives to cars and planes. The most logical thing to me is to invest in high speed rail, both at the national level and the local level. If we could decrease our reliance on cars and jets, we could drastically cut our fossil fuel emissions and use less energy to transport the same amount of people (transporting 1000 people by train uses less energy than transporting 1000 people by 1000 cars.) Switzerland and other European countries have always had better train infrastructure than the U.S, and if we could embrace mass transit, we would go a long way towards decreasing our energy use.
I think another sector to focus on reducing our energy consumption would be housing and urban planning. American suburban houses tend to be either two-stories, or one-story homes with really high ceilings. Multiple stories and high vaulted ceilings are more expensive and energy-intensive to heat and cool. Back in the 1950s/60s, most Americans lived in single-story ranch style homes with smaller total square footage than today’s homes. Smaller homes with lower ceilings are more energy efficient. I’m not sure of the nature of Swiss society in the 1960s, but I would imagine the mountainous geography and more Urban nature would mean most people lived in apartment buildings, rather than free-standing single-family homes.
If a greater percentage of the population moved to cities and lived in apartment buildings, (and by that I mean large apartment towers as opposed to the two story apartment complexes common around here) people would have to drive less, and would be able to either walk or take trains to work, school, or shop. Once again, it seems the two big culprits in excessive energy consumption are the forms of transportation we choose, and how far we live from where we need to travel.
I drifted away from the question of “Would scaling back make us happier?”, but I think if we simplified our lives by making cars less mandatory and homes just what we need rather than large showpieces, then people could live less for working to afford these status symbols, and more for improving and enjoying the quality of their lives.
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Can you go without A/C for more days of the year?
ReplyDeleteMy answer is yes, and perhaps it came to me easily because this summer I unfortunately came face to face with a ruined A/C unit. While I certainly missed sitting in a breezy cool bedroom, I realize there is no reason I couldn't regularly live like that. It is such a small thing to do to shut off the A/C and just open a window and live with the outside air as a way to reduce carbon footprint. However, that is coming from someone who drives with no A/C and the windows down in the summer heat on the way to work to ease into the feeling of being warmer than ideal at work.
I love that you bring up this topic. At home we do not usually have AC, not even in schools. In the summer, we might get days off early because it gets too hot but overall, I really do not think it really bothered me. Of Course, it does not really get as hot as it does in Tennessee but it is certainly possible to live without it. Sometimes I am really annoyed with AC, because in the summer I need to bring a sweater to class because the AC is blasting while it is 90s outside and then in winter it is way too hot while its 40s outside. On most public places there is just no in between and I feel like if you work on insulation and stuff ACs are not necessary.
DeleteWe're on track to be a third of the way to the 6th mass extinction in 2050. 160 Will we be part of it? Can we get most people to care, if we're not?
ReplyDeleteI do not think we will be part of it. Getting people to care about it, though... There is certainly enough information out for people to educate themselves about how to prevent the things that will lead to a mass extinction, but we wouldn't be on a trajectory for mass extinction if people were already taking the initiative to do so. Ideally, maybe, someone with a global reach will come along who possesses a strong power to move people personally and suddenly the world will care enough to change behavior. Realistically though, I can't see people caring enough about an extinction even if it were to happen in their own lifetime, much less an extinction they will not be around for.