Analysis Of Our Planet By Derrick Jensen

Our Planet

Many people talk about the change they want to be in the world. Derrick Jensen and Bill McKibben are environmentalists their focus is how the environment is being affected. Both environmentalists agree to put blame on the substandard government for their insufficient care towards the environment. The goal is to see a positive change on the environment, for a better world. Jensen and McKibben both want to make changes for a better world, but both have different ideas on how to do so. Now, their differences: McKibben’s solution is to significantly decrease the amount of consumption and Jensen solution is for people to value what is necessary. The issue addressed here is people are consuming so much that the world is already affected.

They put the blame on Americans for over consuming. They both know that our habits are affecting the rest of the world. It was stated in the film that "most of our economy relies heavily on fossil fuels (coal, natural gas)" a necessity for transportation. Narain also holds us accountable for consuming more than we need and for not moving on to new sources of energy. The United States is one of the biggest consumer societies, thus leaving developing countries in the ruins. Another factor that concerns Jensen is the way that Americans use their money. For example, Jensen says : “we may accumulate wealth, the marker of ‘success’ in this culture… in doing so we give up our empathy…”(2). There are two measures of wealth in the United states: one measure is money and the other is non-renewable resources including oil, coal, natural gasses, petroleum, and so forth. These are two things the United States is unwilling to give up because it is part of the “American Dream” to have money, big house, exotic cars, clothes, and accessories. The idea is spending without thinking –– hyper-consumption. Jensen states in his article that “part of the problem is that we’ve become victims of a campaign of the systematic misdirection” (1). In other words, Jensen believes our focus revolves around money and luxury, and for this reason, Jensen says “personal change does not equal social change”(1). Meaning that a simple life will not change the course of nature. Not only because the damage has already been done, but also because it would take more than one person to change how we are