After reading our graphic novel this week, and thinking about some of the questions that we brought up in class, I decided to look up some climate change comic strips.  I wanted to answer the question that my group was discussing in class, which was: “Why don’t people care about climate change and why don’t they think it will happen?”  Our group focused on the notion that many people do not believe it is happening because they are not facing any changes in their daily life as of now due to climate change.  I, too, did not think that climate change had severe consequences as the ones we have been learning.  Reading “Diary of an Interesting Year,” though it is a fictional story, made me think about when the world is going to take a turn in that direction.  That story gave it a date: 2040.  The graphic novel, IDP: 2043 also gives it a date.  Though the comic strip I found does not have date included, it relates it in a different way that we have not really seen yet. 

This comic strip is both interesting and funny in that it presents a scenario in which climate change is a person and really is in peoples’ houses–and the expression “people do not care about something until it is in their backyard” comes into play.  Not only is climate change a person, but it is a sloppy, seemingly college aged “dude.”  I figured that this might be relatable to some people in our class who may have had roommates who don’t clean up after their parties or that try to use your things and they break or malfunction.  I know I have had to deal with some of those situations before.  Now think about what you would do in this situation if it got way out of hand: tons of parties and never cleaning up and breaking some of your appliances, maybe even your heater.  Would you try to get rid of them?  Probably, unless you did not have the option or were friends with them.  If you did not try to get rid of them, would you live with them again?  Definitely not!

Though there are some obvious differences between a comic about bad roommates and climate change and its effects on the world, it is sometimes helpful to look at the issue in a way like this. Though climate change is not causing large, sudden disasters as of right now, we can not wait for that to happen.  Climate change is having negative effects on the world right now even if they are subtle.  We can not wait until the point at which we are forced to make a change, like when your roommate burns down your apartment complex because they can not figure out the stove or something. We have to act before things get too bad.  Otherwise, climate change will be affecting your home and your animals and your resources. We should kick out climate change before it ruins our home.