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Essay on environmental politics
Essay on environmental politics
Impacts of global warming on the environment
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The environmental movement in politics is often overplayed causing people to loose interest in the issue, but Jarred Diamond makes it impossible to ignore the issue in his book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Jared Diamond hopes to catch as many peoples attention as he can; the name alone, “Collapse”, makes him appear to be an alarmist looking for attention. He has just cause though for blowing the whistle on society. He makes parallels to previous failed societies and to modern societies showing how the practices that we employ are similar to these failed societies. He is suggesting that America, as well as other countries, are headed down the path of ecocide more possible a global ecocide. Through his extensive research and numerous examples he makes it impossible to argue with his thesis. While all of examples seem redundant and like he is over emphasizing the point he does this to show his thoroughness. He also does it to show that he is correct. Diamond does not want to be wrong; he is a major author who gets a lot of attention when he releases a book. People look to discredit Diamond’s work. Due to this he gives ample resources to support this thesis. The prologue of the book clearly lays out Diamond thesis. He explains that past societies have collapsed based on five factors: human induced environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbors, friendly trade partners, and society’s response to environmental problems. He also explains how is wrote this book in a scientific manner using the “comparative method”, comparing natural situations differing with respect to the variable of interest. There is a slight flaw in this though. Showing these correlations between different societies,... ... middle of paper ... ...the book is not without flaws it is definitely worth taking the time to read. It is incredibly informative and takes a look at the environmental approach in a little different manner. People can relate to the ideas that Diamond is suggesting far easier than the typical “going green” approach. While Diamond is optimistic of the future he admits that there is not that much time to act on what he is saying. By the end of the book, if it is read with an open mind, you truly grasp what Diamond is saying and you realize that the book is worth your time. It is not the traditional environmental work; he is far more realistic in his expectations than most environmentalists. Due to this realism people need to heed his warning and take his fight to heart. Like he said ultimately humans created the problems and humans have the control to solve the problems that we face.
He mentions that Diamond’s argument was insufficient because he kept on arguing that the reason for the development of societies was due to their geographical location and their ease of domestication. And therefore, his statements lacked the important discussion about the role the culture played in the pace of progress and the development of societies. So let's look at Diamond’s weak points more carefully, as he said that development occurred because of plants and domestication but what is the idea behind that all these animals and plants were just there sitting around and waiting for the humans to come and make use of it? This sounds so ridiculous but that’s what Diamond’s is
It is easy to deny the reality that the state of the environment plays a large role in the survival of society. People who argue to protect and preserve it are seen as “hippies” or “tree huggers” and discarded by society. On the other hand, those who support deforestation are seen as “killing us all.” This conflict that is often portrayed on modern media is actually one that span all the way back to the beginning of civilization. Jared Diamond, recipient of the Lewis Thomas Prize and physiology professor at UCLA School of Medicine, his essay “Why do Some Societies Make Disastrous Decisions” published by Edge on April 26, 2003, argues exactly how societies can doom themselves. Diamond creates his own roadmap as to how and why problems occur. He shows the various ways of how a problem may arise and be
In the book “Collapse” written and theorized by Jared Diamond, historical societies known for their peril due to environmental and human catastrophes. Jared Diamond analyzes the root causes of failed societies and uses his knowledge to depict today’s warning signs. The main focus of this book is to present clear and undeniable evidence that human activities corrupted the environment. To prove this Diamon used past societies, modern societies, and social business societies as a foundation. The most specific and beneficial theories that Diamond analyzes would be the decline of biodiversity on Easter Island, the deforestation of the Greenland Norse, the mining mismanagements in Australia and big businesses.
Will this century mark the decline of society? Is the future safe from the mistakes of mankind? In “Learning How to Die in the Anthropocene”, Roy Scranton suggests that the question we should be asking ourselves about global warming is not whether it exists or how it can be stopped, but rather how are we going to deal with it. The purpose of the article is to convince everyone that current life is unsustainable, and that nothing can be done to reverse the process; we must acknowledge that the future will be drastically different and plan in advance if civilization is to keep moving forward. Dr. Scranton develops a realistic tone that relies on logos, pathos, and ethos appeals to persuade readers of his claim. Scranton sufficiently backs up
In How America Can Rise Again, John Fallows addresses the current state of the United States of America as he tries to establish whether the nation is truly crumbling as many critics and experts claim. Fallows’ analysis of the situation is aided by the fact that he spent some time in Asia, particularly China and India, and is therefore able to compare the situation in the United States with that in two of the world’s fastest rising industrial powers. His analysis is also constructed around the views and opinions of some experts who he addressed with the of America’s apparent collapse. While speaking with historians, soldiers, politicians and experts in various fields, Fallows sought to establish whether the fears of America’s demise were justified or simply a repetition of the regular alarmist claims of discontent parties in the nation. While Fallows’ arguments regarding America’s current state are largely infallible, his conclusions are skewed by the fact that he only compares the United States to China, and not other significant powers such as the European Union.
...is really happening in the world today. It focuses on the proper values of an individual, the realistic facts about the conditions that the earth is in, how money is not used in the right way to fixing problems and how every human being can make a difference. With the aspect of the style of writing with the book allows the reader to better understand the point that the author is trying to get across. This book is definitely intended for the average citizen above the age of 12 and has extra section in the book to help the reader start on the right pathway and focus on main issues. With the point of the book being humanity and the global eco-crisis, it gets across the message that is needed to be made. If anyone has not read this book, its recommend to take the time pick it up, take the time to read and head down their pathway to helping the now and future generations
Jared Diamond’s book “Collapse” is a modern publication with a retrospective view of long-lost civilizations. He states on the cover “How Societies Choose to Fail of Succeed”, as a principle tone for readers. The thesis he introduces may best be captured as, any civilization can collapse if not developed in an environmentally stable means. Dimond then goes to offer more structure to his argument with the principal; that good governance and proper civilization/urban planning, which incorporates sustainable fundamentals, is the only long-term solution.
Brown gives concise, but very informative, summaries of what he regards the key issues facing civilization as a consequence of the stress we put on our environment which is a valuable contribution to the ongoing debate. For example, in chapter five Brown discusses the emerging politics of food on scarcity. Food prices soared rapidly between the years 2007 and 2008 and the social order in many countries begin to break down. He goes on to describe many different places that go through this process. One of Brown’s most important topics is that he explains how the world’s governments and social movements can still avoid the threat of worldwide disaster, on every continent this century, if we can act in this decade with the degree of urgency required by our situation. Brown understands why we have reached this point of worldwide crisis. He states that the interests of the fossil fuel and defense industries in maintaining the status quo are strong. Although Brown does not de...
Jared Diamond makes the argument that when humans decided 10,000 years ago to no longer be hunter-gatherers and made the decision to become sedentary and start domesticating their animals and crops, the result is that the human race has experienced a steady downfall. Diamond makes the point that “with agriculture came the gross social and sexual inequality, the disease and despotism that curse our existence,” (Diamond). While the present system certainly is far from being perfected, Diamond’s various complaints and solutions certainly would not be of much use in the present time either.
Jared Diamond author of “The Ends of the World as We Know Them” highlights the reasons for the disappearance of early civilizations. Civilizations like the Mayans, Incas and Aztecs once inhabited the earth for hundreds of years, However; when these advanced civilizations reached the pinnacle of their capability, they faced tragedies such as war, unusual weather, environmental deprivation, terminated trade markets and unscrupulous leaders who contributed to the destruction of their civilization. One significant idea portrayed from Diamond’s article is that there are many factors that threaten American civilization. America is threatened by the destruction of their own environment.
While the Industrial Revolution was beneficial to the people of the world, our greed of leading a luxurious life is continuously destroying the environment. Throughout The People of Sand and Slag by Paolo Bacigalupi, a novelette and “The Chalky White Substance” by Tennessee Williams (a play), the intended focus is to show the destruction caused by the human species and imply a future the entire population is heading towards. Both pieces of literature imply a common ending for the population: mass extinction due to the abuse of the environment.
The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less, by Barry Schwartz, is focused on the analysis of personal behavior in relation to decision making. As the title implies, the author emphasizes the main point that more choices actually lead to less of an ideal experience. In recent years, choices have become almost unlimited, and this has led to an increase in unnecessary stress placed on the consumer. The availability to make decisions in virtually every aspect of life creates a new level of responsibility on individuals. Decision making can lead to an enormous group of positive and negative feelings. Some of which include satisfaction, happiness, regret, disappointment and even depression. It is important to explore the broad category of decision making
It is important for people to understand and know what went on in all time periods and how one simple animal cause be the one thing that gets you by each day or how evolving to something greater can either be successful or a disaster depending on where anyone is located. Jared Diamond allowed us to understand how guns, germs and steel helped countries not be so isolated and be open to new technology that helped them prosper to something bigger than what they had. To conclude many nations use the three theories that jared diamond shares so that countries could prosper to something bigger than what they had hence, they also used it to conquer other civilizations so they could gain as much power as they could. To sum up Jared Diamond saw geography more than a way to expand from either east to west but a way to use what they had or what others brought so that they can gain more power while using the theories guns, germs, and steel
Clive Ponting's The Green History of the World and Daniel Quinn's Ishmael both critique the dominant paradigms of modern human civilization-especially where its relationship with environment is concerned. Both feel strongly that we are in trouble. Neither are quite willing to make final connections and present us with a systematic method for getting out of our impending ecological crisis, but they both do spell out what has been wrong, what is wrong now, and what will happen should we choose not to take evasive action.
One of the major points that Kaplan makes and he focuses on heavily in the beginning of the article is how environmental scarcity plays an impact on people’s decisions. There is a finite amount of natural resources in the world for people to use, and we are fast approaching a point where the world can no longer support our growing population. All of this is spurred on by an increase in practices that cause deforestation, soil erosion, pollution and global warming. A great analogy within the article is that we are robbing from tomorrow’s future to support the present, which is shown in that “…man is challenging nature far beyond its limits, and nature is now beginning to take its revenge.” (Kaplan, 1994) The new major threat that every nation and person has to be aware of is how the immediate results of our mismanagement of the environment can have a tremendous backlash, not only within our lives but the lives of future generations. All of these environmental concerns are dots that connect with Kaplan’s other main arguments.