The Doomslayer Analysis

The world as we know it is going to come to an end and will become what most would consider an apocalyptic war zone with chaos and downfall, Roy Scranton believes this will happen in Learning How to Die in the Anthropocene. Roy Scranton was a soldier in the Iraq war, he was stationed in Baghdad right after the invasion where he witnessed many terrifying and life changing events. After he was done serving for the military he went on to become a writer, he mostly wrote about the war and the experiences he had during it. After he witnessed the destruction of hurricane Katrina he wrote about the threat of global climate change by writing Learning How to Die in the Anthropocene. Scranton believes that if we learn to live like we are dead, then we

McKibben implicitly states that humans have “killed off nature,” (pg. 82) and details that we stand at a cusp ushering in a new era of change. McKibben expresses uncertainty in the accurate reading from the changes soon to come, and implies that developments will happen in eventually. Regarding the considerable concern for rising sea levels, McKibben refers to his previously mentioned gases found in the atmosphere and correlates them to the an increase in sea levels in the future. (pg. 94) Arguably, there is no obsolete notion that this will happen, but McKibben’s statement of confidence persuades readers effectively. Furthermore, McKibben frequently visits back to topics he mentioned before and addresses in which specific fashion this will affect the environment. (ie. DDT-pg. 126, Artic ice pg. 84) In a sense, McKibben makes sure that readers remain focused and understands the true outcome of both laziness and action.

Environmentalists worry so much about the well-being of the planet for merely the human species’ survival. Things such as natural disasters, which reasons.org say “Part of that response acknowledges that the forces behind these ‘natural disasters’ play a critical role in Earth’s capacity to support life.” If people are so concerned about the planet, then people should realize that these natural disasters actually help the Earth regenerate itself. Without these natural ‘disasters’, the planet would not be how it is today. As Nash continues to criticize humans, he states, “...capitalist-driven culture in its cancer-like tendency to self destruct.” Pollution and destruction of wildlife is a problem, but it is something that can be fixed, or having Earth fix itself. Nash is saying that humans are destroying the planet entirely, which is kind of ridiculous. If people were really destroying the Earth as much as Nash says, Earth itself would have already gotten rid of people through things like natural disasters, disease, or natural selection. The Earth will take care of itself and as Tom Haering says, “Nature plays no favorites: Survival of the fittest.”

The thesis of “Despair Not” is “… the time has come for outspoken, full-throated heroism in the face of the great moral danger of our own day: the environmental crisis – an unfolding calamity whose main victims are our own children and grandchildren.”

His tone in this part of the speech conveys his standpoint on the climate emergency and shows he deeply believes that we must do something to change our current way of thinking in order for us to believe that we are in an emergency state. Gore explains that our relationship with the Earth has had a drastic turn since the creation of technology and that through technology our way of thinking has changed. As the technology grows our life span increases. While this may seem to be good thing, it has also had a negative affect. With the increase in population, new technology has evolved to the point where we are making a greater carbon footprint, than we have in the past. The newer the technology the greater the demand and the greater the demand the higher the co2 levels rise. We are so busy creating things we have forgotten that some of these creations have negative consequences on our environment.

Additionally, Wilson’s exaggerations are not far off from what people might say in real life. When reading Wilson’s statement about what the environmentalists will do with their power (i.e. locking someone up because an endangered spider was found on their property), one might be reminded of the 2016 election, and how ludicrous statements were uttered to combat the opposition.

“Sooner or later, we will have to recognize that the Earth has rights, too, to live without pollution. What mankind must know is that human beings cannot live without Mother Earth, but the planet can live without humans.” -----Evo

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)

I had never heard of soil degradation before this video either, but it makes sense. I never knew that the waves and currents in the ocean could just stop and become stagnant, either. A point made by David Orr that I think is very intriguing is when he points out the disconnect between public opinion and public policy. He says that, even though the vast majority of people would like to use more renewable energy and be more efficient, the government still has yet to respond. Another extremely fascinating statement comes from scientist David Suzuki, and he says that it is “estimated that it would cost us $35 trillion dollars a year to do what nature is doing for us for nothing.” According to the study where that estimate was made, that exceeds the entire world’s collective economy by about $17 trillion. He also says later that 99.9999% of species that have ever lived on Earth are extinct, so it seems like the human race will eventually die out, too. The solutions provided near the end are interesting, too, such as using the way spiders spin webs to make new materials, studying fungal processes to help prevent downstream pollution and harnessing renewable resources to

Throughout the years, Earth has had many ecological problems and still to this day has. Foster explains in this chapter about these problems with statistics and information that will make you astonished. These ecological problems we have do affect the world and humans do this, the only way to not have all these problems are if humans stop doing the wrong things. Humans have to start being aware of what we are doing because everything we do influences something

“Environmental wackos” and “anti-environmentalists”, according to Edward O. Wilson’s The Future of Life, both have a hidden agenda. He claims that these hidden agendas are rooted in personal interest and ideas which only benefit them and not the people, nor the environment. Through the use of absurdity and irony with a sarcastic tone, Wilson satirizes these agendas that make the environmentalists and people-first critics unproductive.

All the pollution, climate exchange and global warming happened in the short time people have been on the earth. I love how the author Bill Bryson views the world. He has admitted before that he isn’t the most scientific or logical person on the planet but the way he writes makes every fact relatable. Something that he has said that has always stuck in my mind is how he described our lifeline on earth. If our arms are a timeline for life on earth, then mankind’s time on earth would be a nail filing.” Which shows how in our short time on this planet we have stripped the earth of valuable resources and polluted the earth. I don’t want my daughter to grow up in a world like that. I want my little girl to see the world for how beautiful the world really

Minters style of writing is one of a kind, he is not your ordinary author especially not with his curly brown hair and nerdy characteristics, mainly not your ordinary book. He presents us with an extraordinary reading, based on our most inner guilt's that we may not yet come to realize, that we are slowly harming our planet with our wants and needs that are not sustainable for the environment as we think and as they claim to be. For example did you know that “ iphone touch screen isn’t made from the same glass as a beer bottle...it contains a range of so called rare elements, including indium, a valuable mineral...costs more than $200 per pound” (Minter, 256). Minter reveals to us extraordinary evidence that he acquires by actually contacting

The author made the interesting analogy concerning the reaction of our governments to the deadly seriousness of climate changes comparing it to a patient being informed that he has cancer.  First there is denial, then the desperate search for a cure.  But as he mentioned, we are not close to find a solution.

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