EAARTH BY BILL MCKIBBEN

Eaarth by Bill McKibben

Eaarth by Bill McKibben

Introduction

Pollution and depletion of natural resources in recent years have led to reignite a long-standing power, the proponents of decay. The idea is to end the excesses of capitalism and return to a sustainable balance between people and the ecosystem, we should impose a period of voluntary decrease, which would install a more or less stationary in which each would have about as needed, in a regime of controlled management of natural resources (Deudney 1999).

We have been observing significantly warmer day- and nighttime temperatures, especially at higher Northern Hemisphere latitudes, a troubling rise in sea levels been measured. Sea level rise is attributable to both the thermal expansion of water as it warms and to the melting of polar ice caps and glaciers. Over the past generation, scientists have measured increased rates of glacier melt in the Arctic, on Greenland, and on Antarctica. The concern for natural conservation has been long in debate, both at national and international levels. Numerous environmentalists have jumped into the debate and call for drastic measures to ensure the survival of humanity. Bill McKibben is one such environmentalist, who, in his book 'Eaarth,' believes our present planet is on the verge of disaster.

Discussion

Bill McKibben's has wisely chosen the title of his new book. The term 'Eaarth' probably reminds us of the 'help appeal' of someone who is badly in a state of emergency. Mckibben's earlier book The End of Nature has been drawing on the themes of climatic changes and natural depletion of non-renewable resources. McKibben's ideology has been atypical of a positive environmentalist in a sense that he denies the pessimistic claims about the dangerous direction of pollution and environmental depletion. In contrast, he proposes, with optimism, the recognized dangers of the present humankind could very well be avoided with collective efforts. 'Eaarth,' however, gives the optimist through a mere glimpse of final chance. According to Mckibben, if this last chance is not properly availed, chances are that the unpredictable climate will soon reach its brutal demise. Gone are the days when people's climatic concerns were a source of worry for coming generations (sons, grandchildren etc.). The unruly effects of unwarranted and unnatural human consumption and natural destruction have their impacts right in front of us. “Eaarth,” he concludes starkly “represents the deepest of human failures.”

Discussion of our current patterns of living in the affluent West leads to the third argument—what I call, borrowing from the famous shaker hymn, the 'tis a gift to be simple” argument Otherwise known as the joyful simplicity argument, those who champion this approach reason, appropriately, quite simply. In the words of bill McKibben, “The secret weapon of environmental change and of social justice must be this—living with simple elegance is more pleasurable than living caught in the middle of our consumer culture”. Cultural norms to the contrary, more is not necessarily better, for us or (or the earth. As sociologist David Myers concludes after an exhaustive review ...