My Stake in Climate Change is with Everyone Else
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Trusted Clothes (Unpublished)
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2016
Climate change is one of the major issues in the world at the moment. Climate change, or also known as global warming, is what some might deem the major problem in the world today with respect to the weather of any particular area of the world and the catastrophes seen via its effects around the globe over many, many decades.
To me, this is an important point in time to keep in mind that I feel like no one individual is necessarily at fault, but that large international entities such as hydrocarbon producing companies and corporations are at fault. At the same time, the consumers, us, seem to be a fault to me as well. So, it runs both ways, in two examples.
This is a major issue for so long, and it is something that I have grown up with. I really can’t, even after a few minutes of pause and reflection and attempts to remember a time without this as something in my life. It just kind of is. Something that I have grown into, something that I have known in more of my cognizant life than not.
And it is something that I haven’t and probably will not be able to escape in terms of its importance to my considerations of both national life and international responsibility. Is this a healthy concern? Is this proportioned a consideration? I ask myself these questions about this topic because it’s something that is not going to disappear, and will likely remain with me until I die.
So, there’s two kinds of response: let the ‘inevitable’ happen or think about solutions. I’m the latter person more often than not. Besides, the former splits into two kinds of folks: the panic-stricken and the complacent. The panic-stricken are the ones that are unable to permit themselves the ability to calm down and think about the variables at play in the situation.
Although, I do know that this is a very relevant feeling and emotion for those that individuals that are worried about the state of the climate. I would feel the same way, if I did not know about the facts of the matter. Facts the matter that we can do things. It is a matter of mindset followed by action.
The complacent are of a similar sort as the panic-stricken because they, in terms of their actions, do not do anything. By not doing anything, they don’t change a thing. When they don’t change anything, it seems marginal in terms of the source of the lack of action. I feel like that is this source of the concern from my side is in light of the fact about the darkness of action of the complacent and the panic-stricken, i.e. without any action.
I do not mean political or environmental or economic activists necessarily. I mean those that would build new technologies for instance. Those that would enact laws in place that are devoted to the well-being and safekeeping of our life-support system, which is important with respect to our own well-being and survival of her children and those that come after us. So,
I’m of the latter form. The kind of person, I feel at any rate, that aims for solutions for increasing the level of discussion. To me it feels like it is a travesty that was thrust onto me and others growing up at this time.
And the issue doesn’t limit itself to groups, I feel, the discussions about groups, discussions about identities and identity politics and so on, are not necessarily the core thing at the moment, even though they dominate young people’s academic lives much of the time.
In fact, these discussions will not be able to be had without the solutions needed for climate change or global warming implemented immediately and in the long-term. So this is something that has been in personal and social life for a long time.
If I don’t get my act together in terms of my own personal behavior with respect to this major issue, then I’ll be letting down in an enormous number of people who are similarly concerned and working towards these issues. I know that if I fail at attempting to adapt to the major issues of the climate in our time, then I will tacitly be letting down others.
Even so, I do feel a little bit concerned in terms of upcoming generations. And I have nieces, nephews, others that I love very much, and this is not only then a concern for me but also a concern coming from me to them. I feel concern for them. I feel concern for others.
I’m trying to do some things within some skills that I have, such as writing and researching, interviewing, and presenting the facts of the matter, but this does not necessarily mean that this is the most productive manner in which to tackle this topic.
For instance, when in attempting to make contact emotionally, one can tackle it constructively and proactively through advice. So, I feel like there are some more things to take other than just the general from this. There can be emotional appeals when reason and argument fail.
And so once we’ve gotten through all of the other issues to do with the anxiety, the complacency, the identity politics, and so on, I feel like the fact of the matter is the way to think about these things. The facts of the matter are not necessarily the most convincing to people.
In fact, I would argue that most people most the time are not necessarily convinced by reason, but, rather, by emotion, emotional appeal, and a general feeling about something of whether it is a threat or not. In fact, I feel as though that might be the reason behind the complacency in terms of its emotional aspects.
It is just so far away. It is so in the distance that it is beyond the horizon of feeling like an urgent thing. However, it’s right here. It’s happening now. So count me, I feel the need to double down on facts, arguments, and some appeals to emotion for individuals.
I disagree with some of the pleas that are made emotionally, but I think that expressing one’s personal perspective, experience, and vulnerabilities and potential helplessness on this issue have their place. And if each of these has a place, then there are different formats from which to tackle climate change.
And good, it’s a very good thing that these avenues exist. I don’t have much else to say, and I don’t have any references, numbers, or block quotes for this particular piece, but I those are some just my own general thoughts, feelings, and reasoning at a very superficial level. I could go onto the tales of brave Ulysses…but I digress.
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In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.
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