Midterm

Me: Hello everyone and welcome to this weeks podcast! This week I am joined with three wonderful people Bill McKibben, Hope Jahren, and Robin Attfield. Thank you guys so much for joining me!

McKibben: Well thank you for the invitation. 

Attfield: Agreed.

Jahren: It is a pleasure to be here!

Me: While each of you have your own individual backgrounds, one thing that you guys have in common is your passion for the environment and the current crisis at hand. Today I would like to spend some time getting to know each of your view points regarding where we are at this time. The big question I have for you all is "Do you think the 'human game has begun to play itself out,' or do you believe we will avert the worst imaginable outcomes of climate change in the century ahead? If so, how? If not, why not?" Attfield since I came across your book first, why don't you kick us off. 

Attfield: Sounds good. To be completely honest, I do feel that in a way I believe in both. On one hand I feel that humans have begun to lack a a sense of morality and that is one of the factors that has lead us to where we are today. Actually early on in my book A Very short Introduction: Environmental Ethics, I discuss the importance of morality when beginning to introduce biocentrism. I believe the quote goes something like "recognizing the moral standing of living creatures does not make moral decisions impossible, or morality impractical. Instead, it enriches our understanding of the context of action and of moral decision-making, and redirects us to include our deliberations our impacts on living creatures of other species as well as human beings" (22) Due to the lack of morality, we have begun to harm ourselves as well as our own earth, almost to a point of no return. However on the other hand, due to concepts such as deep ecology and ecofeminism, part of me has hope that we might just avert this whole situation. When talking about deep ecology in my book I refer to Naess when discussing about our identification with other living things. Ah yes the quote is "whatever we are related to, whether human beings or other species; and realizing our true selves involves expanding and merging what we see as our individual interests with those of other beings, however diverse, and reacting so as to defend them accordingly. (78) I go on to say that "no further ethic or ethical reflection is supposedly needed. (78) So, as you can see, part of me believes that both sides can be true. 

Me: I see. In a way I feel the same way. I believe it's the pessimistic and optimistic sides of me trying to fight about whoever is right.

Attfield: Precisely! 

Me: McKibben, since this idea of the human game playing itself out comes from your book, Falter, what do you have to say in regards to this question?

McKibben: Ah yes I thought that you would use that as a segue. While I acknowledge where Attfield is coming from as I have been there myself, I would no say I lean more on the side of us being able to avert this situation. I start out my book by stating "Though we've taken the environmental idea semi-seriously, passing the laws that cleaned air and water, we've never taken it anywhere near as seriously as we've taken further growth." (14) Here I am making a point that, as a society, we have taken many other things more serious than our own environment. Things such as artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, money, etc. Thing such as these are what we have poured our time and energy into, instead of acknowledging whats right in front of us. After analyzing the human race as we know it in order to answer this very dense question, I have come to the conclusion that "the human project has long been a group effort. We're born bug-brained but unformed and vulnerable." (242) If everyone took the time to understand what was truly at stake and reflected on the morality of it all as Attfield pointed out, we might have a chance in averting the situation in which we are headed. As I say in the last line of my book, we'd better get started soon if we're going to get started at all"(244)

Me: Thank you for those wise words. I agree with you that it seems that we have poured all of our time and energy into the wrong things, but that there might still be a chance to turn it all around. Lastly, Hope Jahren, I am interested in what you have to say on this topic! Especially considering the fact that you're name is hope. I'm sorry I just had to point it out for some reason. 

Jahren: No need to apologize! I understand where your coming from. My entire view point on this comes from a state of acknowledgement. Acknowledging how we got our selves into this situation, as well is what we can do to get out of it. "we are endowed with only four resources: the earth, the ocean, the sky and each other" (14) That is something I like to remind myself of. We were given four very beautiful things, and for the most part all we have done is take and take from those resources without ever giving back. A big part of my book is the idea of everything we have taken from the Earth, especially in the sense of food. We've taken meat, fish, energy, etc. and in return what have we given back? Not much. We have just continued to throw away everything we have been given. On this topic of throwing away I remember a part from my book in which I said, "we spend our days making things for the purpose of discarding them. When we cast food into the landfill, we are losing more than calories: we are throwing away one another's lives. It is the ultimate demonstration of how our relentless pursuit of more has landed us, empty exhausted, squarely in the middle of less." (78) However, instead of dwindling on the negative aspect, I would like to provide the listeners with a few things to remind them to take action. Examine your values. (177) Gather information (178) Do you believe that you can make your personal activities consistent with your values? (179) Can you make your personal investments consistent with your values? (182) and Lastly, can you move your institutions toward consistency with your values? (183) Please just take time to examine where you stand in all of this. After all, there is always hope. 

Me: Wow. What a great way to end this discussion. I have always admired the inspiration you give to others. In closing I would just like to thank each of you for joining me this week and tackling such a dense question. I really appreciate it. Just a reminder to all of the listeners of this weeks podcast to go out and vote, and thank you for listening!