"Don't be distracted by the myth that 'every little helps.' If everyone does a little, we'll only achieve a little." -MacKay, 114
This book seems like it will most definitely live up to it's title. David MacKay is full of honesty. How many people would be able to shove the above comment in the world's face? 'Every little bit helps' is the mantra of the environmental movement, but he makes a truly valid point. Sure, everyone can unplug their cell phone chargers but that saves takes a small chunk of energy usage. Humans are the most adaptive species on earth, that is why we survived and beat out the archaic sapiens we roamed the earth with. So sure we have survived massive climate shifts before (the Pliocene to the Pleistocene) but this man-aided global warming is a different beast. Describing the doubling of CO2 emissions as having the same effect as raising the temperature 2% MacKay writes,
"Such temperatures have not been seen on earth for at least 100,000 years, and it's conceivable that the ecosystem would be so significantly altered that the earth would stop supplying some of the goods...taken for granted." -MacKay, 10
So what do we do? With a rising population about to top seven billion and a developing South, how do we shift the focus to better use of fossil fuels and alternative energy? We cannot keep taking little steps, but make large leaps. Do not just unplug your charger but your television, microwave, coffee maker, hairdryer. Sell your car and ride the bus. I have recently done this (not sold my car, but riding the bus into school), and it may not be the most fun, but I am saving tons of money. Country wise, the ethical thought needs to be 'the polluter must pay.' It simply makes the most sense. As MacKay puts it however, not just the contemporary polluter, but look at each countries historical footprint and gage from there (14). Big changes need to be made with supply and demand. MacKay offers some ideas on pg 115,
1. Reduce our population! He includes a controversial quote, "While the footprint of each individual cannot be reduced to zero, the absence of an individual does do so."
2. Changing our lifestyle. Examples: live where you work, ride your bike, use cloth shopping bags, consume only what you need, slow down.
Main point: Think big, act big. Go beyond just unplugging your chargers and buying organic label food.
Emily! I actually wrote down that quote when I was reading the reading for the week. I feel like it really sums up why the environmental movement hasn't had a full blown take off, we need to do more than just a little. Nice job with your analysis. McKay is really very honest, and that's exactly what we need in order to succeed in creating a better world. If we really want to change something we have to know what we need to do to accomplish it.
ReplyDelete"Think big, act big!" Now there is a mantra that we can perhaps actually hope to live by! I like your inclusion of early "human" history in the analysis. It is true that "we" dealt with climate change in the very distant past, but as the recent "natural" disasters make clear, the infrastructure that we depend upon for our current way of life cannot survive a significant shift in climate intact -if we want to preserve this "life" we must make big changes. We must think big, act big and achieve big (as we have done so many times in so many different ways to get where we are today).
ReplyDelete