Sameen Anjum
Professor Jones
English 01 B
Section 15
May 13, 2013
Pursuit of a Green Solution
Since the start of industrialization the world’s climate has gone through radical changes due to the increased release of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, and the resulting depletion of the ozone layer. If the depletion continues at this rate, the world will come to an end soon, possibly just after two or three generations. Governments all over the world understand the importance of the problem; however they have limited themselves to taking small steps to address global warming. Bill McKibben addresses the people of the globe in his book “Eaarth-- Making a Life on a ...view middle of the document...
To apply McKibben’s solution industries and governments would need to be centralized. In McKibben’s opinion this application would to lead to more effective way of living and production of goods, which would be less harmful to the environment, and would help in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in a more effective way than that currently employed by the nations today.
McKibben presents the issue of global warming in a very detailed way illustrating the magnanimity of the problem and the urgent need for reforms needed to reduce the release of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. I agree with Mckibben regarding the magnanimity of the issue of global warming, and the urgent need for reform; however I don’t agree with the solution McKibben presents to the problem which is to prevent economic growth, and decentralize governments and industries. In my opinion both economic growth and environmental reforms can be achieved at the same time if a balance is established between the two, there is no need to put economic growth in a downward spiral to bring environmental reforms as suggested by McKibben. I also disagree with McKibben’s strategy to decentralize industries and governments; I believe that decentralization is not the solution to the problem. In my opinion better results can be achieved with centralization, as processes can be made more effective and an environmentally friendly change in processing can be introduced at a larger scale.
Like McKibben, Peter McManners also presents a solution to the problem of global warming in “Green Outcomes in the Real World,” his solution however is different from that of McKibben, as it incorporates using economic growth to promote environmental reforms. McManners believes that “economic strength is the best starting point for building a sustainable society and economic tools are some of the most effective methods we have to drive implementation”(10). He suggests that governments should adopt a low growth economic model, which was suggested by Peter Victor. According to the model, to establish low growth economy governments would have to introduce laws to reduce working hours. This practice would ensure that the emergency gains that have resulted due to technological advancements would be “compensated by working less rather than growing consumption” (17). As a result, the government would be free from some of the negative effects of globalization, and would have a chance to “achieve the complex balance of managing society sustainably” (17-18). To achieve the balance, McManners suggests governments making decisions keeping three areas in mind—“the environment, the economy, and the social provision” (28). Out of the three, McManners points out that there is inherently a slight contradiction between the factors of environment and social provision, which according to him should be solved by first trying to achieve both, if it’s not possible to achieve both then “securing stability of land use must take...
