Gears

In this section, Squarzoni defines exactly how much gas emission we have yet to reduce. According to him, in order to better stabilize the weather in the future, we must live like people in underdeveloped countries. He calls this a “malnourished” lifestyle. Nobody is willing to do that, and nobody should. I wonder what solution he’ll come up with, because this really taught me the severity of the situation. We are always wondering what we could do to slow climate change, but Squarzoni actually calculated the statistics and translated them into relateable terms instead of just numbers and measurements. He presented us with an extremist solution. This is not healthy and could cause more problems for humanity than good. It is ethically immoral. It makes me think, is that really what we should do? To suffer for our gluttony and be completely selfless in order for the climate to stop changing? Which is more important: wildlife or humans? A left arm or a right arm? We are also parasitic–thriving off of our host environment while it is slowly dying, leading to our own end, unless we find another planet to attack. Is it worth it to potentially uproot all of man’s achievements for the good of the world? Are we not God’s special children?

One image that stood out to me was the bottom leftmost on page 204. It has gears of cars, phones, lightbulbs, and deathly malnourished bodies. It represents how we function. Our luxuries make life more convenient for us while we accumulate wealth and steal from the poor. We let them suffer and live in harsh conditions while we change the climate. We can’t all live a lavish lifestyle. Furthermore, if we lived like people underdeveloped countries, nobody would have to endure climate change.