Author: phussey (Page 4 of 6)

Why are we not doing anything to stop climate change when we know it is an issue?

We wonder why when a problem presents itself, why do some brush it under the rug? Could it be some are too stubborn to change? Or something as simple as laziness? We know that climate change exists and there is plenty of data to support that.  A lot of people hear statistics with a lot of numbers and shut down at that point. Then there are people, me for example, who actually have there minds changed from hearing the numbers. Others see movements and have there minds changed.  But some just think it is too big for anything to change and too big for one person. Bill Mckibben is an environmental activist and he supports this by saying, “There’s always stuff to be done and more of it all the time and that’s what movements look like.” (22:16) We have to start somewhere and when we do, that is when things can change. If we don’t believe that climate change is right then we have to do something. In the book If Your House Is On Fire written by Kathleen Dean Moore, she states “If the culture forces us to live in ways we don’t believe in, then we have to change the culture.” (6) We know there is an issue and spreading the word in any way shape or form can help.

When we hear of something that is destroying our planet it is alarming, but when we hear that it was caused by us, it’s sad. Climate change has been affecting our planet for generations and continues to get worse. Many experts have confirmed this and KNOW that eventually, it will become irreversible. Bill McKibben states in his movie Do The Math“We’re no longer at the point of trying to stop global warming, too late for that. We’re at the point of trying to keep it from becoming complete and utter calamity.” (6:31) But how can we stop this? It is hard to make a memorable and worth wild change but not doing anything is worse. Most know the issue and try to change small things through the day. Things such as avoiding plastic and other non-biodegradable items and more people are trying to recycle.

NAYSAYER

There are some who say doing those things are useless. Not using plastic straws is so small, it isn’t going to change much. Some believe that climate change will not get to the point of unsustainable living. Even with the small changes that we can do on a daily bases, they believe that it is not worth it and a waste of time. Even the skeptics cant argue with science and confirmed figures.  In Do The Math Bill McKibben talks about the question NASA answered which was how much carbon is too much to be in the atmosphere. They found that anything greater then 350 ppm is not sustanible for human development. Scientist say that today the atmosphere is 395 ppm and its rising 2 ppm every year (8:20). It is next to impossible to argue when NASA and scientist are involved. This would give anyone the information and answers that they need to prove their doubts.

Climate change has been a controversy for centuries and continues to be a problem, but it continues to be an issue. Why does something continue to happen if we know its a problem? Kathleen Dean Moore talks about the moral urgency of climate change. On big concern is the fact that many think we are too small to do something big. Moore heard a very strong argument against that when she heard Desmond Tutu. He gave an example about how this is incorrect; the thought that we are too small to make a change, “He knows from experience that it is possible to bring down entrenched institutions.” (3) We see from that even with that thought that it is impossible to bring down these corporations who have been part of climate change, that we do in fact have power. One big influence is a person’s morals. Morals are what tells us what we are doing is wrong.  Moore believes that moral arguments are the best appeal (8). She goes on to give three reasons why moral arguments are prominent. On example she gives is “Moral arguments speak to all people. Economic arguments speak only to a few.” This shows that even being small, we are still able to do something about these global concerns. Do we not have a moral obligation to face climate change? (2)

Change is hard to accomplish. When we see a problem in society and want to change it, it takes time and connections. In the movie Do the Math by Bill Mckibben, he talks about the effects that fossil fuel industries and the effects fossil fuel has on our environment. He also expresses the challenges that we face trying to end this crisis and how to begin to start this progress of change. McKibben states “My theory of change was I’ll write my book, people will read it and then they’ll change but that’s not how change happens.” (0:40) He expresses that he thought writing his book would get things going but in fact, it was much more difficult and complex than that. A movement doesn’t happen overnight. In comparison, in Charles Duhigg’s book The Power of Habit he talks about how change is done from our strong and weak ties. Our strong ties are people that we are close to and weak ties are acquaintances.  Both of these people are important to get a movement started. Duhigg explains that ” A movement starts because of the social habits of friendship and the strong ties between close acquaintances.” (87) We can not start a movement with only our close friends. No one has enough friends to start any type of movement large enough to make a big change. Duhigg understands that we need people to make a change. Both Duhigg and McKibben talk about the same ideas and how we all want to get to the same endpoint, peace.  We can’t have peace without starting somewhere and we can’t have peace without connections. With both of these things, we can reach our end goal.