LISTEN. Today in Environmental Ethics we continue to seek grounds for a less-than-devastating response to Bill McKibben's more-than-rhetorical subtitle query: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?
One of us opined last time that climate change is not really all that frightening. Well, we know that some humans consider fear a sign of weakness. "Don't fear COVID" apparently reflects such an attitude. Sometimes, though, acknowledging one's wholly rational fears in the face of an unconquered challenge is the first step to mounting a suitable response, to respecting it as a necessary condition of subduing it... (continues)
“We should all be happier.” As a neophyte happiness philosopher, I cannot agree more. I would say that we should all strive to be happier. We should ask how we can be happier playing the game if we think there is no hope of winning the game? What’s the point? Well, I’d say that the point of playing the game is playing the game, regardless of whether you win or lose. It matters not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game. Happiness philosophy teaches me that happiness, a life well-lived, comes from engagement in a life with meaning. We are here now. Our life is in the present. Doing what we can to make it a better world is engaging in a life with meaning. If it ends tomorrow, c’est la vie, we should enjoy every moment while we can.
ReplyDeleteGrantland Rice, Happiness Philosopher!
DeleteConsidering climate change non-frightening is a very privileged stance to have in my opinion. To not be worried about climate change likely means you will not be affected by it. Again I find people saying if i can't see it it must not be real. Just because your home won'be be flooded due to increasing sea levels, or your neighborhood won't be burned to the ground by climate induced wild fires, or you won't have to starve to death because crops won't grow where they are supposed to, doesn't mean others own't have to suffer the consequences of climate change. Of course someone who is privileged enough not to have to worry about these things would think climate change is not a threat. Maybe not TO YOU but countless lives will be lost and many in poorer countries will needlessly suffer because of the actions of a few in power. If you're not worried about it that's fine but i honestly won't hear something so selfish and privileged.
ReplyDeletePlenty of people who profess not to be worried are indeed privileged and selfish, others may just be innocent and uninformed. Either way, the rest of us will just have to be prudently frightened and motivated on their behalf to push back against their privileged or innocent inaction (whether they like it or not).
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