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Summary Of Apocalypse Soonish By Kevin Williamson

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Kevin Williamson writes in his essay “Apocalypse Soonish: The End Times Roll On” regarding the controversial discussion of climate change and humanity's’ love for apocalyptic drama. Williamson is an excellent writer who knows how to engage the reader with humor and wry comparisons as well as point out some obvious trends that show how dramatic some people can be regarding apocalyptic scenarios. However, his frequent disregard for the consequences of the warming's effects, inability to keep a concise argument and tone, and the recurrent misinterpretation of scientific findings, makes his paper difficult to take seriously.
In “Apocalypse Soonish” Williamson compares previous hypotheses and estimations of the earth’s future to current studies …show more content…

He pulls quotes from Benjamin Strauss, the vice president for Climate Central who has “a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from Princeton”(Williamson 2) and Rob Painting, a “true believer who writes for Skeptical Science”(2) who is simply “a former police officer who is really, really interested in global warming” (3). While Strauss is more qualified to speak on behalf of the science behind climate change, the leading climatologists of the world are nowhere to be seen. Instead, Williamson uses these two, less credible, sources to drive his point of opposition further and more …show more content…

Throughout this essay, Williamson mentions that it is estimated that “about 8.3 percent of New York City’s population” will have to evacuate over the next century in order to account for the rising sea level, and how that is not a devastating number due to previous instances of migration from other factors such as poor government and inhospitable environments (Williamson 1). However, Williamson fails to recognize that these people moved because they were financially able to pick their whole lives up and move them elsewhere. Some people are bound to the land they live on, either by culture, finance or some other relative issue and by simply stating that “people move around” (1) erases the lives of those who cannot move. Even within the previously mentioned, and misinterpreted, IPCC report it is stated that “climate change will amplify existing risks and create new risks for natural and human systems. Risks are unevenly distributed and are generally greater for disadvantaged people and communities in countries at all levels of development” (IPCC 13). Yet Williamson seems to find humor in the potential troubles by writing it off as being “not an outcome that we would desire… but not the Four Horsemen, either” (1) despite the fact that it would literally be the end for

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