Environmental Problems & Solutions
bbbbbbbb
SavetheEarth.pptxSave the Earth?
Faustian bargain
Making a deal with the devil.
Pay a high price.
Short-termism: sacrificing the future for temporary rewards.
House of cards: tenuous (fragile, flimsy); built on quicksand.
Shift in values…
Emphasis on the good life, not the “goods life” (more things).
‘We must rapidly begin the shift from a “thing-oriented” society to a “person-oriented” society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.’
Dr. Martin Luther King
Speech given at the Riverside Church in New York City on April 4, 1967, one year before he was killed.
Quantitative growth: to increase in size.
Qualitative growth: sophistication & maturity.
Satisfying basic needs.
Enriching one’s life (to better oneself).
False binaries (either – or)
When two options are given as the only possibilities.
Capitalism or Communism
The market or state management
Coke or Pepsi™
Dividing into extremes, this or nothing.
7
Cultural tipping point
A fundamental change in thinking.
Social sciences research: only 5–10% of the people in the world, or a country or locality can bring about major social change.
Miller, Tyler., Spoolman, Scott. (2016): Living in the Environment. Cengage Learning.
19th Edition, page 695.
Cultural tipping point (partial list)
Abolition movement
Women’s rights movement
Civil disobedience
Indigenous people’s movement
Occupy Wall Street
LGBTQ rights
Environmental justice
Resistance against apartheid
Nuclear free world
Animal welfare
Three stages of truth
Arthur Schopenhauer, 19th Century German Philosopher.
1. Ridicule.
2. Violent Opposition.
3. Acceptance.
An existential crisis (self-scrutiny)
Questioning the purpose of life: Who am I? Why am I here?
When core beliefs are challenged.
Wake up call: forced to reevaluate our lives.
Can be a rude awakening (unsettling).
I may be responsible?
Asking why can hurt.
‘The question will be asked and the question will be answered, what kind of species we are? Are we locusts, a curse on the planet? We’re busy, we’re working, but what we’re doing is so heedless and so destructive we leave nothing but disaster in our wake. Or are we honey bees? Honey bees work hard too, but they fit in with the ecosystem and they’re actually are a blessing on the planet, they’re a blessing to all creation because their work actually makes more life possible. That’s our challenge as a human species, to be honey bees.’
Van Jones
Heist, The Movie (2012)
