The book "Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet" by Bill McKibben is proving to be a very relevant and important read. In the first chapter McKibben hits us hard with the very real and honestly terrifying state of the world. He also reminds the reader time and again that WE and we alone are the cause for the problem. I couldn’t help but get chills. I’m not going to lie, I think this book is going to scare me. I’m talking I’m-going-to-have-trouble-sleeping-at-night terrified. McKibbon says “The planet has nearly 390 parts per million carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.”(15-16) while the previously thought of “safe level” was 350 ppm. He goes on to speculate that “even if you erred on the side of insane optimism - the world in 2100 would have about 600 parts per million carbon dioxide.” (20) The scary thing is that with all the climate change deniers out there, this 600 ppm future could come sooner than 2100. I have little faith in humanity as a whole to wise up and fix the problem it alone created.
I recently discovered a sculpture artist by the name of Jason DeCaires Taylor, whose sculptural works are most often installed at the bottom of the ocean, really begging the question “Where IS our place in nature?”. His sculptures seemed especially relevant to me after reading this chapter. He even has one piece titled “Anthropocene”.
The picture that McKibben painted of our future earth, one that is far hotter than ours, one with acidified oceans and not as much biodiversity. It reminded me too much of Nausicaa’s world from the Studio Ghibli film Nausicaa Of the Valley of the Wind. In which the soil and water are both so toxic that the plants that grow on that soil are poisonous. The lakes are so acidic that if you step into them the water immediately begins to corrode your flesh. In the story, the protagonist, Nausicaa, discovers through growing poisonous plant spores in pure filtered water that it’s not the plants that are toxic, it’s the outside soil and water. She laments about how humans have poisoned the earth. I watched this movie when I was very young, so the notion that humans aren’t good for the environment has always been in my mind. Then again several of Studio Ghibli’s films deal with humans and their tendency to disrupt the natural order of things. Even still, just the first 50 or so pages of Eaarth really drove it home with hard facts and numbers.
I love that you integrated works of art into this post. They're both really quite relevant and help me to visualize the ideas even more through thinking about our place in nature as well as the consequences we could have when our world becomes toxic.
ReplyDeleteThis first chapter was scary! Climate change has been a topic of discussion for a long time, but I had never seen it as something that would have a huge effect in my life time. While reading I couldn't help but think about all the recent droughts, flash floods and wildfires. I hope that we can begin to make real progress on this topic and prevent our planet from ending up like Nausicaa's.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Maddie; I really enjoy how you personalized your post by including artwork. Also - I recently became familiar with Jason DeCaire Taylor's work as well and am really fascinated by it. Have you read that much of his work is now performing similar functions to coral reefs? That gives me at least a little bit of hope for the future of our environment, as the chapter referred to the rapid decrease of coral reefs as we know them.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you connected the chapter to Nausicaa of the Valley and the Wind. I used to really, really like Studio Ghibli films, and I think it's kind of funny how a world that seems so far-off and fantasy-like is really much closer to reality than ever before.
Along with what the others have said, I really enjoyed your inclusion of art and stories in your post. Before this class, I had not been exposed to the word Anthropocene, so I am interested to learn more. I, too, found it very challenging to continue reading the first chapter. If global warming is really as harmful as the statistics show, I can't imagine why we aren't doing more to prevent Earth from being completely destroyed.
ReplyDeleteI loved this post Clara! What you said about Nausicaa of the Valley and the Wind reminded me of the part in the first chapter where McKibben mentions how baby oysters are dying because of how acidic the oceans are. (pg. 10) This is terrifying to think that shellfish can't make shells thick enough to protect them from the waters they inhabit.
ReplyDeleteI really want to see this film. Should it be on the list for the class?
ReplyDeleteYou should! I think the film is very important as it speaks of life having value regardless of form, and how it is resiliant and hopeful. It also has a very prominent anti-war message.
DeleteI don't know if it is relevant enough to have the whole class watch it...although it might be. I would definetly recommend it to anyone who has a spare hour or so.
I never knew that there was a sculptor that put his work on the bottom of the ocean! That's pretty awesome. I think that guy gets it. We are sharing this earth with so many different species, why not give them a taste of our art? It's truly appalling what we have done to their ecosystems, their homes. Your post helps me reflect on the moral implications of climate change that are often overlooked. We are so busy talking dollars and cents that we forget that we as humans have a higher obligation to take "clean up our mess" as Dr. Webb mentioned in class.
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