Web Paper or Special Event

Intro:

    With each generation comes a new set of important issues to change.  In the twenty first century, one of the main issues is environmental change or climate change.  Noami Orekes and Erik M. Conway’s “The Collapse of Western Civilization” and Derrick Jenson and Stephanie McMillan’s “As the World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do To Stay In Denial” speak to the environmental issues but in slightly different ways.  Both novels while they get across their point of the impact of humans of the environment but do so in different ways that impacts its accessibility to readers. “As the World Burns” cartoonish mockery of a America’s corrupt government and the unreasonable assumptions of the impact of small changes activists advocate.

After reading As The World Burns written by Jensen and Mcmillan to page 150, I get the similar feeling of reading The Collapse of Western Civilization, but in a more comic and hilarious way. Because The Collapse of Western Civilization(“The Collapse" for short) is constructed as a historical review from the future aspects, gathered a great amount of datas and details, however, As The World Burns is more like a narrative story that hides its meanings behind its exaggerated characters in a humorous way. But both reflect the reality that human is consuming the earth resources and destroying the place where we live in. The ideology is pretty similar in the two books, which can be compared in the following way.

“Every man for himself and God for us all.” This is my definition for the era we are living in. I welcome you to the 20^th century where everyone wants to be competitive. Where nobody wants to be considered ‘less’ by the ever-judging society. Where everyone strives for the survival and benefit for his or her own good and doesn’t care about the external costs they impose on others. “Japanese genetic engineer Akari Ishikawa developed a form of lichenized fungus in which the photosynthetic partner consumed atmospheric CO2 much more efficiently than existing forms, and was able to grow in a wide diversity of environmental conditions… In public pronouncements, the Japanese government has maintained that Ishikawa acted alone, and cast her as a criminal renegade.

Oreskes and Conway’s “The Collapse of Western Civilization” and Jensen and McMillan’s “As the World Burns” both explore environmental disaster due to factors such as ignorance and an unwillingness to change people’s  damaging ways of life. Despite the fact that these works both focus on environmental destruction these works left me with different feelings. After reading “The Collapse of Western Civilization” I was left with a feeling of dejectedness and an acceptance that these events would inevitably unfold. On the other hand after reading the beginning of “As the Worlds Burns” I felt frustrated that the majority of the world’s attitudes about their way of living and values are ignorant of the environment.

• Both novels use future apocalyptic framing as a starting point to
  • Promote discussion?
  • Foster change?
  • Start a ‘wake-up’ call for the inactive masses?
• Collapse of Western Civilization
  • Frames the world in the future
    • Takes a much more realistic way to examine the future consequences of our actions
      • Occasional exaggerated points
      • Darker themes because of the similarities to the current scenario
      • Not too far into the future, but still far away – plausible scenario
  • The government needs to take action?
    • Countries like the United States are creating problems
    • Central governments like China fared much better
    • Does the solution come with heavier government restrictions?

Claim: The Collapse of Western Civilization promotes a more active government that regulates and controls the economy and therefore the climate but As the World Burns shows that the government is the problem and that corrupt relationship that corporations have with it are the problem.

Both As the World Burns, a graphic novel by Derrick Jensen and Stephanie McMillan, and The Collapse of Western Civilization by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M Conway focus on the state of the environment and how global warming and climate change have affected the world. Both books also have some fantastical elements, the graphic novel has humans speaking with animals and stars a bunny as a rebellious activist. While The Collapse of Western Civilization is set in the future in the year 2300. Both these book have some extreme situations or ideas that while initially may make them hard to believe, the far-fetched ideas also emphasize the gravity of the situation. The portrayal of the U.S.

-Explore difference between how ATWB and CWC answer the questions:

-Can change come from inside the system or if the system must be overthrown

-Where does the blame lie (people? Corporations? Government?) and what should be done to slow/stop climate change

-what can an individual do to make a difference?

-“For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us to temporarily beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.” –Audre Lorde

As The World Burns notes:

-Bunny burns down animal testing facility, seems to advocate for eco-terrorism/illegal actions to effect change

-“All we need to do is dismantle the industrial economy?”(7)