Climate Change And Self-Destruction In Naomi Klein's This Changes Everything

Climate change is an issue that nearly everyone is aware of. While some people choose to ignore the statistics and the near unanimous agreement between scientists that climate change is real and will destroy our planet if we do not make changes, they are still certainly aware of the concept. You would think that the concept of soon not being able to live on the only planet that we know is habitable for humans may invoke some strong reactions to make changes to our lifestyle. However, it has not. The majority of people have instead turned their back to the problem and said “That is too much work and I doubt it will even affect me,” and continued on with their daily routines. In Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate,

We have to analyze the underlying pieces of these systems. What is at the basis of both of these systems? Us. Humans. The people are what drive the demand of the economy. Our economy works like this: an entrepreneur comes up with an idea that he believes the market will want and creates the product to sell. Now, two things can happen. The product sells or it doesn’t. There are no other options. If we begin to limit or reduce the demand for the products that are releasing greenhouse emissions and creating pollution, then we begin to fix the problem at hand. But again, we have to analyze humans and why they create the demand that they do. We demand certain products because of what is important to us. And the most important thing to us is finding the most convenient lifestyle. We want to live in an easy manner. People typically do not care about the repercussions of their actions unless they are causing pain to someone they care about. There are so many people in the world, that is hard to truly empathize with someone across the world. If there was a kid in China who was forced to make someone’s shoes, by nature we know we should feel bad that they had to do that. However, it rarely actually stops someone from purchasing those shoes. Instead, we value that those shoes were at a reasonable price point and they were not too much of a hassle to attain. People also don’t care if they already have

In an ideal world, everyone recycles all materials they use, they only use sustainable energy, and we create no pollution. Unfortunately, however, that is way easier to say than do. This is reliant on going against human nature. The human nature that we have is to take care of ourselves and live the easiest and most convenient life. One comparison to another unsustainable but convenient life choice is what we eat. For example, someone could go to McDonald’s and spend ten dollars and get five burgers, some chicken nuggets, fries, and a drink that would give you enough food for a couple days. Or, you could go to an organic shop and order a salad and no drink and hope it is under ten dollars. It’s common knowledge that someone isn’t able to survive on just fast food. In time, it will destroy your body and you will die. Similarly, we can spend more time mining fossil fuels, producing gas and coal. This isn’t going to get us anywhere but death. Soon enough, the planet will erode and no longer be habitable for humans. The only other choice we have is to move towards a sustainable way of living. This new system has to be our way of survival. One of Mills’ most important points in his philosophical ideas was how people function in a system. Mills’ says that while ideally, ones’ self-conscious would be enough to make sure they make a good decision, it often isn’t. That is because there is no one else