Book Review: This Changes Everything

In his essay titled “Climate of Denial”, Al Gore, a well known environmental advocate and former vice president, verifies the reality of climate change and global warming. The piece is an attack on corrupt companies and news outlets that attempt to persuade the public that global warming is not a critical issue. Gore also earnestly conveys our environment’s current state and offers possible solutions that would increase awareness about global warming and begin to revert the planet back to a healthier, more sustainable state. The overarching purpose of Gore’s work is to call attention to the widespread climate change that is occurring. However, he also focuses on the corruption and bias within the media, and their attempts to conceal the truth about global warming. Writing to those who are conflicted about who to believe, he makes a valid argument that defends the beliefs of he and his fellow activists and encourages others to become more active in the climate change issue.

the Climate,” where she addresses the relationship between human activities and the climate change. Throughout the article Klein argues that people and carbon fuels do not cause climate problems. In her opinion, the issue is due to an arrangement between the people and the materials that pollute the earth. Klein argues that capitalism leads to finding resources and exploit them, which lead to climate change. Klein believes that this capitalist agenda is a habit that now we are used to, but she thinks that we can change if we decide to take the following steps: 1- reviving and reinventing the public sphere, 2- Remembering how to plan, 3- Reigning in corporations, 4- relocalizing production, 5- Ending the cult of shopping, and 6- Taxing the rich and Filthy. In the end, Klein claim that responding to climate change would necessitate us from to break a number of capitalist rules, which need to be done urgently (Klein, para

Naomi Klein begins her essay by describing the look of the old garment factories in Toronto and how, "no one has come up with a way to make a profit out of taking a wrecking ball to these boxes of brick, and in this

Mckibben once again articulates his repetitive view that, “it’s a moral question, finally, if you think we owe any debt to the future.” (748). In many circumstances it is believed that if it had been done to us, we would dislike the generation that did it, just as how we will one day be disliked. The solution given in the essay on how to handle these environmental issues is to start a moral campaign. In other words, “… turn it into a political issue, just as bus boycotts began to make public the issue of race, forcing the system to respond. “ (748). As a part of the overall populist causing these issues, Mckibben understands that the hardest part about starting this moral campaign is identifying a villain to overcome. Briefly

Temperatures are reaching a new high, snow and rainfall patterns are shifting, and more extreme climate events, such as drought, flooding, are taking place. It is not a forecast anymore; greenhouse gases are intensifying the global warming. In 2013, 81.2% of the energy consumption in the world are produced by fossil fuel (International Energy Agency). Could you imagine how much greenhouse gases are produced? Ever since 1980s, scientist has found that the emission of the greenhouse gases is the major factor contributes to the global warming, which intensify the climate change that the human civilization may collapse one day. In the book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, the author Naomi Klein describes that we are headed toward a catastrophic levels of warming. She suggests that the solution to climate change, in short, is to fight for a change in the economic model of capitalism and move towards a low-carbon economy. Making this adjustments will affect every aspects of our life--from how the energy generate, what we consume, and the technologies we use. “Change of this magnitude creates risks but also opportunities. There will be both winners and losers as the world moves towards a low-carbon economy (**).” One of the important aspects which many people care about is the impact of climate change policy on employment. Does the movement improve the employment? Klein suggests that climate change policy has a huge

The second is that this is precisely the kind of project that climate science tells us can no longer be tolerated” (McKibben). This allows the reader to follow McKibben’s thoughts into a deeper explanation and understanding of the issue on the Keystone

The poem The Change written by Tony Hoagland, carries a strong message, yet using western, modern examples. The poem is a story, written as if the poet is retelling it to a friend or just another person. It can also be taken, as if the poet is reflecting on an event that had just occurred. Hoagland seems to be writing to an American. Although it seems he is writing from a white, American male perspective it is unclear if he is writing to a specific ethnicity or just Americans in general. This is important to note since his message, whose over arching theme is change, has used the example of a African American female tennis player to show a moment of change. Hoagland uses extended comparisons, especially similes, to explain that change is inevitable

In his esteemed novel, “Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming,” Paul Hawken inspires with a call to environmental attention. As a both writer and entrepreneur dedicated to our world’s ecosystems, Hawken seems to understand the impact we have created on our planet. Despite this, he also appreciates the human capacity to create an equal impact on the other end, and make positive progress. He defines this as the “Movement,” being an assembly of environmentally-minded groups and NGO’s coming together to save the dying ecosystems of the planet. Although Hawken’s optimism should be admired, his outlook seems slightly quixotic.

The essay opens up with McKibben talking about how the political campaign against global warming is flawed because at our current point there is nothing much that can be done to fix it.(Mckibben,1) He then goes to state that humans are the biggest culprit behind global warming and supports this by giving examples such as SUVs and American ignorance.(2,9) He concludes by saying that if ten percent of America were to go green, it still would not save the planet, but ten percent could get the government’s attention to pass laws making everyone go green. (11)

On the surface big business and climate change seem like fundamentally different issues, but upon deeper investigation, we can see that these issues have an underlying direct correlation. How can two ideas that are fundamentally different interact so thoroughly on one topic? Naomi Klein dedicates her work to investigate how these two issues interact, and what microcosms of our society encourage this interaction. Klein has a revelation about the issues with big businesses dominance over our society. She also suggests ways for us to change our lifestyle to be more environmentally friendly and prevent massive damages to the environment. Klein’s works have the power to change how we think about these big businesses’ presence in our society

With this struggle between the interest of society against a business and by extension the state, a Polanyian analysis would consequently reveal the underlying factors that explain the persistence of the overriding interest of capitalism. To begin, Polanyi states that “the commodification of land, labour and money poses a moral threat to nature, human beings, and business respectively, inevitable generating grievances, resistance and the ensuing imperative of protection”. It is consequently unsurprising that fracking unfolds a discourse regarding the commodification of land and water for profit, and arguably a threat to not just nature and human beings, but the health and survival of the planet and its resources overall, given the precarious relationship between Earth’s climate and the energy industry. Moreover, the basis of Polanyian theory lies in the assumption that the state

The Western existence of modernization, especially technological and industrial development, economic growth, material prosperity, urbanization, and democracy, has been built upon a long line of industrial capitalism, an economic system predicated on the accelerating extraction and consumption of fossil fuels for energy (Clark & York, 2005). A major unintended consequence of the use of fossil fuels is an increase in the average temperature of the earth; known as global warming or climate change. Recognizing and responding to climate change, arguably the most challenging social problem of the modern era (Giddens, 2009), thus poses a fundamental critique of continued modernization processes around the world (Freudenburg, 2003). Climate change is a major issue that affects all life across the

Modernism represents an optimistic view of human impact on the environment that has been the dominant viewpoint for the last 200 years. The knowledge that mankind holds the ability to control the environment heavily stresses why climate change is not such a problem to worry about. One of the core beliefs of the modernistic perspective is that people have no need to fear future environmental disaster because the next technological advancement that will prevent it is right around the corner. Furthermore, those who share this view do not include themselves in their image of the ecosystem, believing they are detached from it. Lastly, a laissez-faire approach is taken to environmental problems, focusing on progression through technology, stressing that as long as progress is made in this area all problems will be fixed. For a modernist, climate change is nothing to worry about. This may be a real situation, but it will be solved with advancements in technology before one’s way of life is changed. What people should be worrying about is ensuring a laissez faire approach to the market with sponsorship to new technologies. As a result of reusable energy technology already existing, modernists believe that the problem of climate change has been solved and without disrupting free market system these technologies will be further implemented. As long as there are people given the opportunity to innovate, some will focus on and ultimately solve the concern of climate change. The issue of

‘Is climate change the new apocalypse? Are Western Nations too influenced by capitalism to effectively deal with the problem?’

Over the past few decades, a major concern is the threat climate change possess for today’s economy. Millions of people are affected each and every day by climate change but this is just the beginning of the worst. One thing that seems to go unharmed by climate change is social status; how long will money last as a barrier to the effects of Mother Nature? How does poverty increase the risks associated the devastating powers of climate change? When speaking in terms of poverty many different categories arise. Poverty in America is different than poverty in Asia or Africa. Every country has faced poverty. It is inevitable; some countries however, face a disproportionately high percentage of poverty.