Sandra Steingraber Despair Not Summary

For Better or Worse? The world around us, as we know it, is ever changing. The question is, is it for the better or the worse? As Sandra Steingraber speaks out in her essay “Despair Not”, we must not look at how bad our world may be polluted or trashed by us humans, and just give up. We must look at the positives, quit feeling sorry for ourselves, and do something about it. Do not lose hope. We are our own cure to this problem. We are the ones that can make a difference. We are hope. Yet, at the same time, can we change what has been done and turn all of our mistakes around? Or is hope just the beginning for the better or the worse? The world around us, as we know it, is ever changing. The question is, is it for the better or for the worse? As Sandra Steingraber speaks out in her essay “Despair Not”, we must not look at how bad our world may be polluted or trashed by us humans, and just give up. We must look at the positives, quit feeling sorry for ourselves, and do something about it. Do not lose hope. We are our own cure to this problem. We are the ones that can make a difference. We are hope. Yet, at the same time, can we change what has been done and turn all of our mistakes around? Or is hope just the beginning of despair?

The human race may well be suffering from some sort of “Well-informed futility”, as the psychologist Gerhart Wiebe would say. Or perhaps we are living in denial as contemporary risk communication expert Peter Sandman would have us believe. Maybe we are all watching the same horrific car crash over and over again, we are able to stop it, but at the same time we are frozen and refuse to do so. It’s odd that Sandman’s name is “Sandman”, because all humans are having the same nightmare, but we refuse to wake