After getting further into the novel, Odds Against Tomorrow I kept thinking about how I wouldn’t know how to survive if an extreme natural disaster destroyed the city I was living in. For instance, in the novel when the category three hurricane came through and flooded New York City, Mitchell handled the situation pretty well and used his overly expensive canoe to get him and Jane to somewhere safe. This part of the novel reminded me of the movie The Day After Tomorrow because it is literally the same concept, except everything ends up freezing over.
This specific part of the novel made me a little nervous just because an extreme natural disaster like that could happen at any given point and nobody would be prepared for it. Many people would not know how to survive in that type of situation, which is really scary. However, if people were informed of climate change and the natural disasters that can arise due to climate change then people would be able to prepare themselves for extreme natural disasters such as the category three hurricane in the novel. Also, if people knew more about climate change and the effects it can cause then people could try to change their daily habits to try to decrease the negative effects happening due to climate change.
Also, lately the weather has been extremely nice in Eugene and many students realize that this is happening because of climate change, but it is concerning because we have having 60 degree weather in Eugene in the middle of February. Flowers are already starting to bloom! THAT IS A PROBLEM! Many people are happy about the weather being nice and I can’t blame them because I have been very happy with it too. However, after I sat down and really thought about it, I got a little concerned because that is not normal winter weather. It makes me wonder if we are having weather like this now then what will happen next year and the year after that and five years later?
The main problem is that we have damaged our climate so much that even if people did change their daily habits, it wouldn’t be enough to stop climate change or help decrease the effects we are having to deal with because of it. This is what is really scary. I honestly never used to think about climate change a lot before because I wasn’t as informed about it as I am now and I still barely know anything, which is even scarier! Now, I notice the little things about climate change such as having mid 60 degree weather in the middle of February. While talking to my dad on the phone today, he asked about the weather and I told him how it was really nice, but that was because of climate change and he replied with, “Oh no, that’s not the reason at all”. So that just shows me that adults aren’t even fully aware of this and don’t find it concerning. Therefore, I decided that I am going to make it my goal to talk to my family about different issues involving climate change over spring break to see what they have to say about it because I want to hear other people’s thoughts on the issue and see if they find climate change to be a huge issue or not. I recommend other people do the same thing because you will be surprised to hear what some people have to say about the issue.
I feel the same way I do not know how I would handle all the disasters that are happening in the book we are reading. Especially in my community all we really have experienced is wild fires and mini earthquakes. I have been enjoying the nice sunny weather. However, by taking this class it scared me because I know it should be colder outside. Last school year we got snow twice and that’s how winters should be. I have started to tell my family that they need to buy more water and food just incase. This class has been super helpful and very informing.
I completely agree with you that more people need to be informed of climate change and it’s tragic repercussions. I also agree that more people than we think are unaware of this serious issue and do not fully understand what can unfold due to climate change. I like that you are going to talk to your family about climate change and I believe that the more people know about it, the better it is in the long run in respect to coming up with more possible solutions or preventative action.
I also feel like our society is completely unprepared in the case of a natural disaster. No amount of infrastructure can withstand the intensity of a natural disaster. People need to be more informed about climate change not only to change the future of our planet, but also so we have a plan for the worst case scenario. Not everyone has a canoe in their house like Mitchell, if we want a chance at surviving the unpredictable, we need to start preparing now.
What a great point! Yes, not everyone has a canoe in the house like Mitchell does, ready to navigate a post-disaster flooded city. Also, not everyone has $40,000 or so in cash stashed away in the freezer just in case.
I think it’s great that you are committed to talking with your family and friends and other people as a way of starting more conversations about climate change. I think one of the most difficult things about climate change in our society is the “meta-silence” surrounding the issue: http://www.resilience.org/stories/2015-01-05/review-don-t-even-think-about-it-by-george-marshall (see about eight paragraphs down in this review). People just don’t talk about climate change, and they don’t talk about not talking about climate change. So having conversations with people and learning about diverse viewpoints while also trying to educate is such an important thing to do.
Also, for me too (like yourself), I often get scared about large scale disasters and what would happen (though it does make me feel better that people often come together and are nice to each other in the wake of disasters).
Do you think that “disaster discourse” or imagining apocalypses is useful for getting people to change their behavior and work towards mitigating climate change? That is, if we’re scared or nervous, are those useful feelings?