Provoked proximally by in_parentheses and eighthblackbird and Al Gore, I've been thinking a lot lately about What I Can Do to Help Fix The Climate Crisis. (Wow. That sounds so cheezy
( Read more... )
The people who have the most control over the fate of our planet right now (considering the looming environmental crisis) are in the Chinese government. Whatever America and Europe do to change their industries, China will outdo both in damage. Affecting change in China is such a mind-boggling task, that puts scientists and pragmatists at a loss. What we need is imagination and creativity in thinking through the international and Chinese-national forces that enable this growing damage, and ways in which they could be diverted.
It's wide-open terrain. You have as much to offer, if not more because of your broad training, as anyone else.
Umm, America...we're no. 2 in greenhouse grass production. While the China is indeed no. 1, we still have an obligation to find ways to massively reduce our greenhouse gases
( ... )
You're absolutely right, we have obligations everywhere to reduce the damage. Scott, however, seems to want go beyond moral obligations, and to help in whatever way he can into solving the crisis.
I do think that there's a good change that if the rest of the world reduces damage, China would be forced to, as well. (China is not only #1 in damage, but also #1 in growth of damage, and it's accelerating.) However, that's exactly the kind of speculative thinking of human action and consequence that needs to be done by people who have their finger on the pulse of how human history actually happens. And that's what the modern Humanities are about.
but nutshell: read noimpactman's blog, he has lots of concrete advice about what-to-do. also: get really good at whatever you're good at, and at some point the steps will be obvious. maybe for you it's writing lots of theory that transcends the academy. or something? for me, i'm seeing how my accidental stint in youth development non-profit program directing is giving me skillz for maybe community organizing around environmental things eventually. but then my gardening obsession could very well turn into small-scale farming, which is way more localized. you could learn chinese. you could stay where you are and revolutionize chicago. frog iz tired. follow all your crazy impulses and see where they lead. intuition trumps brain almost every time. promise.
Comments 4
It's wide-open terrain. You have as much to offer, if not more because of your broad training, as anyone else.
Reply
Reply
I do think that there's a good change that if the rest of the world reduces damage, China would be forced to, as well. (China is not only #1 in damage, but also #1 in growth of damage, and it's accelerating.) However, that's exactly the kind of speculative thinking of human action and consequence that needs to be done by people who have their finger on the pulse of how human history actually happens. And that's what the modern Humanities are about.
Reply
but nutshell: read noimpactman's blog, he has lots of concrete advice about what-to-do. also: get really good at whatever you're good at, and at some point the steps will be obvious. maybe for you it's writing lots of theory that transcends the academy. or something? for me, i'm seeing how my accidental stint in youth development non-profit program directing is giving me skillz for maybe community organizing around environmental things eventually. but then my gardening obsession could very well turn into small-scale farming, which is way more localized. you could learn chinese. you could stay where you are and revolutionize chicago. frog iz tired. follow all your crazy impulses and see where they lead. intuition trumps brain almost every time. promise.
love a.
Reply
Leave a comment