A Friend of the Earth

The Cli-Fi novel I have been reading is A Friend of the Earth by T.C. Boyle. Unfortunately, this novel did not arrive in the timely fashion that I thought it would so I have not had the opportunity to read as much of it as I would like. However, what I have read has been extremely interesting, yet also confusing. From what I have read, it appears that the novel takes place in the future, where the effects of climate change have dramatically hurt the Earth, and also the human race. The number of animals that currently live on Earth have decreased significantly due to the extreme weather patterns created by climate change. This all seems to make a decent amount of sense, but there is a twist.

          Things start to get confusing when a man who works as a caretaker to animals that are still alive on Earth (In protected places, sort of like a mini zoo) has flashbacks to a time when climate change could have been solved. It is revealed that he was once a radical activist about climate change who participated in violent and dramatic crimes to raise awareness of the damages being done to the planet. My mind immediately jumped to the novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, which a fellow student read earlier in the semester. The violent crimes committed in both novels are shocking to most readers and could result in the death or serious injury of other people.

          So far the book has been very exciting and a great read! I cannot wait to see what else happens throughout this novel. Again, the only really difficult concept to grasp is that the main character has flashbacks and it is not always very clear when those take place. The pace of the novel is decently fast, and can keep any reader interested. Also, the syntax of the novel is easy to understand (minus the flashback parts) and provides the right amount of details. Anyways, I am very excited to read more, and I truly have enjoyed the novel up to this point. 

Solar Storms by Linda Hogan

For my first piece of classic climate change literature I chose to read the novel Solar Storms by Linda Hogan. This novel was published in 1997 and has been a very interesting read so far. The most stand-out aspect of this novel for me was Hogan’s writing style and approach to the subject. She uses great description words to really paint a clear picture of the scene, which is great for keeping a reader like me excited about what will happen next. Also, this book seems to draw some parallels between climate change and humans overall which is quite interesting.

            As I am reading further and further along in this novel it seems that the way the nature is responding to events is similar to that of one of the main characters. Personally, I think this is a great way to help the reader understand more about climate change because it gives a new look on the subject. As awesome as this novel is in many aspects, there are certain parts that were not the most appealing or exciting.

 

            My main disappointment in this novel is that it can be very slow at times. Yes, the language being used and the sentence structure are quite advanced and beautiful, but that does not get points across quickly. I am the kind of person who likes to get the facts and understand everything in as little time as possible. I still greatly admire the writing of Hogan, just wish that in certain areas the novel could pick up a bit and move onto the next component.

Anyway, overall this is a great novel however the target age range is probably a bit higher than that of a high school student. If someone really enjoys deep, descriptive novels, then this one is perfect, especially if you are interested in climate change and looking at different aspects of our climate. So if you are in fact interested in this novel, you can purchase it on Amazon at this link! Also, she has written another novel called Mean Spirit, which I plan on reading in the future! 

Drop in the Ocean Documentary

The documentary “Drop in the Ocean?” (Click on the link to watch the full documentary) was very informational and focused mostly on the effects of climate change on Ireland. I thought this was quite an interesting location to focus on, because it usually is not discussed. Even though most of the video is centered around Ireland there are other topics discussed. For instance, people in politics discussing climate change, people in Africa speaking out about how visible climate change is in their area, and the rising sea levels are also subjects touched upon in this documentary. However, for me, the most interesting aspect of this film is the reactions from the local people of Ireland that they interview to see what people really know about climate change.

            First off, the initial responses from people who live in Ireland are that they always associate climate change with people suffering in Africa and never pay too much attention to it. They honestly feel that they have more important things to focus on in their daily lives because climate change has not directly hurt them. This is the number one issue the globe is facing when it comes to this increasing problem of climate change: people not being well-informed or as concerned as they should be. As the video continues they also interview people living in Africa who are witnessing and feeling the damages climate change is leaving on the planet.

            The people in Africa are finally speaking out about how outraged they are that the actions of the rich countries are harming the land of the poor, and that not much is being done to stop such activities. Many people in Africa finally understand that the droughts they are currently experiencing are being caused by the CO2emissions from motor vehicles and large factories in the United States and other major countries. They are asking, almost begging that people find green forms of energy to use that will not only benefit the people of Africa, but benefit the entire globe.

            Finally, people in Ireland point out the fact that obtaining or using green energy is not done as easily as it is talked about. The cost is so great that many of the locals have no way of changing the form of energy that they currently use. If solar power and wind power were as cheap as other forms of energy it would obviously be used as much as possible. Also, many people are against wind energy because they are uneducated about the actual effects the wind-turbines leave. Ireland is no-where near as large as the United States, yet their emissions are insane and quite damaging. This documentary was very eye-opening and really helped put the damage that we do to the Earth into perspective.  

Comfortably Unaware: What We Choose To Eat Is Killing Us

Comfortably Unaware by Richard Oppenlander was a very eye-opening read for me. The main concept behind this novel is that the foods making up our diets are actually harmful to the environment. Personally, I thought this was a very interesting take on the subject of diets due to the fact that it is not about the health of the person but the health of the environment. When people buy food they usually are not thinking about how it affects the environment. No one realizes the true cost of the items they buy, most specifically food.

The points made by Oppenlander were a bit surprising because it really is a subject that is not usually discussed or thought about regularly. What I found most interesting about this novel was that Oppenlander did more than just state the issue. He went into great detail explaining the problem and a possible solution. Also, he did not just focus on the doom and gloom of the situation, unlike the novel Eaarth.

The most shocking aspect of this novel is how many different things are affected by which foods we chose to purchase and eat. Oppenlander discussed many issues that branched off of global warming and climate change. I was quite surprised to read that the air we breathe (along with a multitude of other things) are greatly affected by the foods we ingest. Once again, a very informational and interesting read that has expanded my current knowledge of climate change. I would deeply recommend this novel to anyone and everyone, so they can be well-informed on this subject.  

For more information about this book and the subjects it discusses, please go watch this short video! http://freefromharm.org/videos/educational-inspiring-talks/video-dr-richard-oppenlander-and-comfortable-unaware/

Relation Between Floods and Global Warming

For my class presentation I was assigned the topic of flooding and how it has been affected due to global warming. Also, if the flooding has increased or become more severe in the years following the publishing of the McKibben’s novel Eaarth. The amount of rainfall has been increasing over the past years, due to the atmosphere being warmer than it was previously. This increase in temperature allows for more moisture to remain in the air, thus letting it move to new locations where it will release of the rain in one spot. If the temperature continues to increase as it has been, the amount of rainfall will also increase. Over the years, evidence of the increase in such intense rainfall has been quite clear.

 I was lucky enough to discover that a huge flood had taken place in December of 2015, (about a month ago) in Northern England. This is just the most recent extreme flood, and was caused due to an abnormal amount of heavy rainfall. There is dramatic footage of the aftermath of the event, captured by a drone. This is just one example of the increased flooding that has occurred across the globe.

The amount of rainfall and its locations has drastically changed over the past ten years. Many areas that are not accustomed to high amounts of rain are now receiving more than can be removed. I even have a personal experience with flooding and the problems it poses. My hometown was flooded about two summers ago, resulting in thousands of dollars in damage. People were kayaking down the streets and cars were abandoned in the deep waters. The weeks following the flood, consisted of many people moving items ruined by the flood onto their lawns for the garbage man to pick up. This yet again, is such a minor event in the scale of how much flooding, and the damages it creates have increased over the past years.

The predictions being made for futureflooding is extremely alarming. Many places near coastal areas and islands will probably be completely submerged underwater, along with the community and people who live there. This problem will increase even more as the amount of severe storms escalates to an all-time high. Unfortunately, with the increasing knowledge and data to back up the increased rainfall levels, there are still doubters making the solution to this problem almost impossible.       

Eaarth: Chapter 2

For most of this chapter, McKibben discussed the idea that slowing economic growth would help with the current climate change problem. This concept made complete sense to me, however I am not sure how plausible it actually is. Overall, the process of slowing economic growth would also slow population growth among other things. More specifically, if the economy decreased, the sale of items such as SUV’s and other vehicles would also decrease. When this happens the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere would also decrease. This is one of the leading problems currently facing our planet.

The main reason I am a bit skeptical of this plan is that slowing the growth of the economy is not going to be an easy task. First off, the politicians and big business companies will not like this plan at all. And as many people know, those two things hold a lot of power not only in our nation, but all around the world. Secondly,  actually getting them, and the United States as a whole to agree to this plan will take years, years we do not have. Finally, how exactly would they go about slowing economic growth? The rate at which our economy expands is ridiculous, slowing it will be a challenge even if everyone is on the same side.

This chapter was slightly more uplifting than the previous, and the facts comparing China and the United States were shocking. Most specifically, McKibben states"If the Chinese, say, ever owned cars at the same rate as Americans, the number of vehicles on the planet would go from 800 million to almost 2 billion." This made me truly realize how damaging the United States alone, is to the environment. I fear that the process to reducing further damage will not occur fast enough, and more gasoline will be added to the fire. Cannot wait to see what the next chapter has in store! 

Eaarth: Chapter 1

Last year I was lucky enough to take a college level, environmental science class which brought my attention to the multiple problems the Earth is facing. More specifically, the problem humans have created for the Earth and now themselves. Many aspects of that class focused on how we are greatly impacting and altering the earth. These changes are permanent and are virtually impossible to reverse, proving to be a real issue that needs to be attended to today.  In 2010, Bill McKibben wrote the novel Eaarth which focuses heavily on the fact that these changes in the environment are going to become “normal,” and that we will have to adapt to these as best we can.

While reading this first chapter my mind immediately jumped to one of my favorite movies, Interstellar. Interstellar came out in 2014 and is a science fiction film that depicts an earth that is becoming more and more unstable, resulting in humans having to find a new home, on another plant, or even in another universe. McKibben states, “…researchers calculated that the new aridity and heat have led to reductions in wheat, corn, and barley yields of about 40 million tons a year.” This is eerily similar to what occurs in the movie Interstellar, many of the crops die out until they are only left with corn for a source of food. Also, there are wild dust storms in the film which match up with the extreme forms of weather described in Eaarth as well.

The interesting thing about this connection is that in Eaarth, is seems that corn crop production is decreasing significantly over other crops, yet it is the crop that survived the longest in Interstellar. Why would the film industry choose to not use real world data to provide an even more real depiction of the changes of Earth? It is just food for thought, and what seemed odd to me while I read this novel.

Finally, the way McKibben presents his information is in a very realistic and concerning way. Our home, planet Earth, has been changed permanently because of the human race. There is no going back now, the Earth people knew years and years ago is gone, and we will have to live with the consequences. He closes with the concept that we have changed the Earth, and now it is making us change with it. “That’s life on our new planet. That’s where we live now.”