Since chapter 1 was pretty depressing I thought I'd throw in some comics before I discuss chapter 2!
Spoiler alert: The Eaarth has not gotten any better.
In chapter 2 Eaarth, McKibben discusses globalization and how it has been enforcing global warming. I first am amazed at how long transformations take! McKibben explains that even though industries started to burn coal, it took almost a century before coal was burned more than wood in the United States. Growth has always been the focus of globalization. Each year, we have to produce more as a nation and in so doing use more of our limited natural resources. But, infrastructure is usually pushed aside. In the recent years, global warming has produced more weather-related issues: floods, hurricanes, etc. With weak infrastructure, there is no time to recover. Besides infrastructure, insurance is needed for the increase in diseases that are the result of global warming.
My main concern is the availability of gasoline in the coming years. McKibben's discussion of Limits to Growth, written in 1972, is interesting. Have we already reached the peak of our oil reserves? If the cost of gasoline rises, will more people switch to hybrids and electric cars? I think I will, eventually.
At the conclusion of chapter 2, McKibben states two steps that we should take, mature and jettison. I think about my job as a delivery driver and how that affects the added waste of food containers and global warming as the result of emitting carbon dioxide. I ask myself, what are the ripple effects that I contribute to?
My song for chapter 2 is here!
No comments:
Post a Comment