When training new employees, I made it a point to tell them to recycle whenever possible (not just at work but at any time). Yet, I followed it with the depressing truth of "although it is already too late to significantly alter the global climate. But do it out of principle, please; show Mother you still care."
Are we now simply functioning to die? This is a question for
a philosopher (as claimed by author Roy Scranton), but I believe this to be
question asked to each individual and community. It will, inevitably, warrant a
different answer per different subject, yes. But it is a learning tool as the
more we compile, the more we can find trends in methodologies/ideologies. These
trends can pave a road to understanding perspectives of death a larger (and in
turn, stronger) community prepared to die together. However dark Roy Scranton describes
the unavoidable conclusion to our existence (from our own hands), the cryptic
nature of this concerning outlook will (or should) transport us to comprehension
and acceptance of the end.
Several points sparked from “Learning How to Die in the
Anthropocene”. They are listed below and I wish to discuss them as a class:
- · How can we plan for disaster (in the broad sense) if we haven’t confronted it before?
- · If scientists have moved the date of no return to 2030 (from the cited 2047), will more years be cut off in coming years until we are suddenly amid the “historically unprecedented”?
- · In the Pliocene (as discussed by Sir Scranton), oceans were 75 feet higher than today’s levels. At the acceleration we seem to desire as humans, when will we redevelop gills?
- · When species are added to the list of extinction each year, are we (homo sapiens) alone both the undoing of their survival and death? If so, how can we save them in time and save ourselves? **Note: We cannot truly save ourselves when the end is already here (as Scranton argues; I concur), but can we attempt to all die together (“as a civilization”) or is evolution also unavoidable in the newest dark era?
- · Do you believe humans should practice Tsunetomo’s “Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily”? Follow-up: Does this frame of mind distract from the ability to live (rather than simple existence)?
- · Millennials and Gen-Zers grew with the fear of climate change and its impact. Now that it is here, what type of call to action do we deploy for other (past and future) generations to maintain a global society regarding consequentialism while being able to be an individual? Will there be individuals in times of close or are we factions struggling or do we group as one Megazord willing to battle and die together?
Your negotiated cynic,
-PanLibDem
Hello!
ReplyDeleteMany of the points you made from the reading were ones I also found myself concerned with. I was not aware that the date of no return was originally 2047, it is somewhat terrifying that time limit has been pushed up to 2030. This paired with the fact the current state of our government and the whole not joining the Paris Accord thing makes it feel like we missed the boat on some potential world saving.
While the idea of evolving gills sounds pretty cool, the environmental impact of a 75+ feet raise to the ocean level is also terrifying. This is all just so terrifying.
The type of call to action that I can wholly support is to make extreme restrictions to that list of top 100 companies that are polluting the earth. We have names of the people behind this climate change and the time to be polite and litigate is too far gone.
I am pro-Megazord.
Happy blogging.
Hi! Is it too late to reduce our footprint on the environment? How do you know this? Maybe we have gone a long way without taking appropriate measures to ensure the longevity of our world, but who's to say it's too late to start the healing process for future generations?
ReplyDeleteBlog Post #5- Query
ReplyDeleteTime is a precious thing just as our world is also. When we thing about the end of the world we always will push it saying thing like "it the next generations problems" the reality though is that their might not be a next generation after our own that will live to see a green Earth.
If 2047 was the point of no return, yet it has been moved up that means it is in that ball park that something must be done now or we will lose our own planet. What can we do to change this outcome in a little over a decade?
We either fear our own deaths or accept the unavoidable. Some though think both that even though we will die it is what we do in the moment that counts. Recycling may have little impact and a much larger scale but when a lot of little things are done they can cause a much large impact as a whole.
If our end is coming all we can do is try to slow the process and save what we can. Adapt to new ideas or be left in a cold, dead world.
What do you choose?