Last year was Earth’s hottest year on record, and climate scientists say it is only going to get hotter, with even more extreme weather events. And so, while the world is unravelling, calling it a “scam,” Trump has quickly unravelled every climate change policy passed by the Biden administration.
He pulled the United States out of the Paris climate agreement again, which means the US won’t be trying to meet emission reductions, nor have any financial commitments to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Declaring an “energy emergency” Trump opened up oil and gas expansion giving the government access to private land and resources unlocking what he called America’s “liquid gold.” “We will drill, baby, drill,” Trump said in his inauguration address. One section of the order states that the Endangered Species Act can no longer block any fossil fuel development. Numerous endangered species, including whales and sea turtles, are even more threatened beyond hope. Trump then opened up the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling, which is not only critical home to bear and caribou, more than 200 species of birds flock each year to nest and rear their young.
In his book, Shattered Earth: Approaching Extinction, Canadian Dr. Ian Prattis asks, what are we going to do now? Is there a future for our beautiful children and grandchildren? Beginning with a futuristic analysis of climate change, he then moves to the inevitable fate of the suicide pact engineered by corrupt corporations for most of humanity. It is not an uplifting account, even when it reverts to present time and reveals how unready we are with the climate emergency.
Prattis’ allegiance is to the truth, to our shattered planet writhing in agony. He paints a bleak portrait of today’s reality in which the corporate world uses its unbridled power and wealth to resist and denigrate ruthlessly any environmental movement in order to keep the privileged status quo for itself, regardless of the devastating consequences.
Shattered Earth shines the light on the urgency while offering a glimmer of hope before it is too late. If we want to survive, we need to unite, and attempt to reverse the human greed, callousness and cruelty inflicted upon Earth.
When we look at issues like climate change, economic inequality, and social injustice, how can empathy motivate us to act? Kieran Setiya, in Life Is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way, writes that the difference between doing nothing and doing something is the key. We have to try to live up to the obligation to do something about the injustice we’re entangled with.
But how do we overcome a sense of overwhelmingness when those problems can feel insurmountable? Setiya offers that when we look at what’s happening with the climate crisis there’s an inclination to say, “Should I be hopeful or should I despair?” – as if those are the only two options.
Nothing is just black-and-white anymore. We’re living in shades of grey, and that is not very comfortable for many. We are forced to ask ourselves, “Could I be doing something more? How much does the world demand of me?” If you are asking those questions, you’re in the right place. It’s a sign of what living well should look like where there is such grave injustice.
Everyone’s life is a mess of little successes and failures and attachments. We need to stop seeing ourselves through the lens of failure and success, and think instead of the journey that accompanies those particular achievements or failures. And what has this to do with saving the world, pray tell?
When we engage in protests we are never quite sure if it’s going to make a difference. But it’s not about the destination, Setiya writes, it’s about the journey. He argues that there’s still value in standing up against injustice and trying to make a difference, even if we fail. Projects fail, people fail; it’s life. It’s not about winners or losers. He warns, “don’t let the lure of the dramatic arc distract you from the digressive amplitude of being alive.”
You probably spent some time today on the internet, “doom surfing” as they say – skipping from headline to headline in a daze of horror (or fascination). Most of us click with a sense of guilt and shame. The superficiality of surfing deadens our emotions, as the scale of the world’s crises leaves us feeling overwhelmed. How many of us have quickly clicked something else, instead of looking at photos of starving polar bears or beached whales?
To Trump, the embodiment of industrial greed, humans are not only separate from nature but above and beyond. Anywhere that contains something concentrated, unusual, precious is to be hunted down and exploited. Stephen Harrod Buhner, in Earth Grief, wrote: “the truth is that we can no longer continue to think of ourselves as isolated consciousnesses on an inanimate, insentient, meaningless ball of resources hurtling around the sun.” (Or nearly as bad: that we inhabit a kind of park that is here for our unlimited amusement.)
