A 60 degree Michigan day in January? Never heard of it. How truly, truly poignant it is to be reading the first chapter of Eaarth during this weather. Never in my life have I stepped outside on any day in January and not needed a winter coat, scarf, and gloves. But this week, I had to take it off because I was sweating. It's tempting to be cheerful, after all, the sun hadn't shone for weeks prior to this outburst. But I find it very difficult to enjoy, particularly while reading this book.
Why haven't I heard about all of this? I kept thinking to myself over and over again while reading. And what's worse, the statistics in the book are all from 5-10 years ago. I can't even imagine the irreversible damage to our planet we've continued to wreak in that time. Bill McKibben truly achieved his objective with this intro and first chapter--in his words: "There's nothing airy or speculative about this conversation; it's got to be uncomfortable, staccato, direct." I've never felt so outraged, so helpless and hopeless, yet so incredibly called to action.
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| Anyone else feel an urge to go see as much of the world as possible before we wreck it? (Taken in New Zealand.) |
While reading, I was struck with the realization that if this is something that I'm passionate about--what am I doing, really, to help anything? And I began to think of the ways I can do better. The ideas I had? Okay, so maybe I'll
finally commit to this
vegetarian thing. And I recycle, yes. Time to take it to the
next step. How, oh how can I reduce my use of one use plastic more? (Anyone have some ideas?) As I said, Eaarth has truly challenged my way of viewing the world and my place in it.
It's probably abrasive, but I will try my best to get this book into the hands of any climate change skeptics I know (I can't believe they still exist.) Also I hope to retain as much of this info as possible so I can spread it around like wildfire (inopportune phrase usage.)
Audrey, you make a great point about reading this book while it's 60 degrees in January. I've had so many of those moments as I've started to read and discover more about climate change! It's become so obvious to me, in the past few years, that the Earth is just not quite the same...
ReplyDeleteYour image also resonates with me, especially the caption about wanting to see as much as possible before it's gone. I'm recently really depressed that I never got the chance to see the Great Coral Reef before it has essentially died out.
I completely agree that everyone needs to read this book. The statistics are crazy and they're only going to get worse. I also feel that this book is trying its best to present solutions, and when it does, we need to head them closely. Great post!
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