Bill McKibben’s End of Nature was “the first book for a
general audience about global warming.”
It was only after I began reading the book that I became aware of its
publication date. 1989. It was quite the unpleasant shock when I realized that
individuals like McKibben were already spreading warnings of climate change before I was even born, and yet it is still
a prominent environmental issue, exasperatingly viewed as “indeterminate” by
the general public.
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| Yep. This is science. |
I’m both mortified and incensed that
my earliest “education” of climate change was media-hyped blockbusters like The Day After Tomorrow. I feel as though
my community and society have failed me. 1989! And yet it was only after
entering college—20 years after The End of Nature—that I was finally offered
serious discussion about a global issue that will most assuredly impact the
rest of my life (especially according to Bill McKibben).
My copy of The End of Nature was reprinted in 2006, which is once again almost
20 years after the original publishing date. The fact that this book could be
successfully reprinted only supports the frustrating admission that climate
change remains to be a relevant, escalating issue that has been—and continues
to be—exceedingly neglected.
“Despite a few international
conferences and grand declarations, we’ve done next to nothing to stem the flow
of carbon dioxide that fuels global warming.”
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| Roll credits. |
In the 2006 introduction of The End
of Nature book, McKibben tries to rationalize the initial inaction towards
preventing climate change. He confesses, “There were details then that no one
yet knew.” However, McKibben is not blind to the general accuracy of the 1989
predictions. “Sadly, the story has played out as I expected at the time.”
And the story is nothing short of the end of nature.
“For the first time, human beings had become so large that they altered everything around us. We had ended nature as an independent force. Hurricanes and thunderstorms and tornados become not acts of God but acts of man. That is what I meant by the end of nature.” –Bill McKibben, The End of Nature
And what about climate change
action now? Why is the world still
paralyzed in the face of this very real
danger? McKibben blames the “powerful campaign of misinformation” directed
towards climate change. This is an eerily identical case to the reaction of the
tobacco industry after associations between cigarettes and lung cancer were found.
But facts are facts: climate change
is happening. So says the most haunting quote from The End of Nature:
“The only thing I would really change [about this book], if I could, are the facts. I’ve spent every day since its publication praying that this book would be proved wrong. Those prayers have not been answered.”
“The only thing I would really change [about this book], if I could, are the facts. I’ve spent every day since its publication praying that this book would be proved wrong. Those prayers have not been answered.”
You’re welcome for ruining your
day.
I keep hearing about Mad Max and this movie, The Day After Tomorrow. Interestingly, no one seems to recommend them, but they must be part of our cultural heritage and I am missing the boat.
ReplyDeleteOur inaction is depressing, and the typical human response is to act when their is a crisis instead of a preemptive strike, but eventually we will act (we already are in small ways)...it is just that this is a slow process and harder to reverse once it's gained momentum. Still. This book to me is a game changer in the way I view the world and how we in the field of conservation should be responding to the crisis. I'm so glad to have found him...hope you check out his other books...they are more motivating b/c there's more action in them instead of demotivating facts!