It is worse, much worse, than you think. So begins one of the most important books of our time, one that will likely be seen by future generations as a red flag that was not heeded soon enough. I say this because it was published two years ago, and it does not seem to have taken root in the conscience of America yet, least of all the world. The Uninhabitable Earth goes through great lengths to certify climate change as a fact. It is well-cited enough to make even the staunchest of doubters look foolish; to realize that all along the real threat to our world was not in some conspiratorial leftist new world order, but in the very things we do every day, like buying things, driving cars, and searching the Internet.
Yes, even something as harmless as an Internet search contributes to environmental damage. It seems like everything we do these days is a threat to the environment. The writer David Wallace-Wells has every right to be alarmed by the current trends that contribute to global warming. Climate scientists predict that even the lowest temperature forecast in the next 100 years will not be enough to prevent catastrophic disturbances like rising sea levels, air and water pollution, and the loss of biodiversity. The purpose of this book is to alarm the reader enough to realize that change to our infrastructure is needed as soon as possible if we are to prevent a catastrophe of our own making. He easily accomplishes this by using a series of global threats that are meant to rattle the reader’s conscience.
Let’s start with how we are presently doing on our long road to a 100% clean energy society. According to MIT, the world is not completing the necessary revolution in clean energy fast enough. At current rates of production, it will take over 400 years to completely change the infrastructure required to produce zero-carbon emissions (Wallace-Wells 2019:200). A major reason this is happening so slowly is the Treadmill of Production, an economic process of production and consumption that maximizes profits at the expense of extracting natural resources. The treadmill has a cyclical nature because innovation often breeds new products to sell, even ones that are supposedly safe for the environment. “Market forces have delivered cheaper and more widely available green energy, but the same market forces have absorbed these innovations, which is to say profited from them, while continuing to grow emissions” (Wallace-Wells 2019:48). This demonstrates how the treadmill recycles consumption by updating brands, switching platforms, and renovating infrastructure by utilizing new resources that end up polluting the environment even more, often in unforeseen ways.
As far as green energy is concerned, Ecological Modernization is intimately tied with the Treadmill of Production. This theory is about why so many economists and politicians believe we can protect the environment by investing in infrastructure and developing alternative energy sources without major reforms to the systems that keep the treadmill going. Wallace-Wells (2019:178) finds that capitalism is endangered by climate, but we tend to think of the opposite: that climate is contained in it. For example, he points out (2019:201) that a reliance on carbon capture technology would only strengthen our romance with technology, which in turn keeps the Treadmill of Production going. Ecological Modernization is a step in the right direction, but not enough to slow it down; only lifestyle and systematic changes can do that. Just because you add a few a healthy ingredients to a sandwich does not mean you are eating less calories.
The devastating effects of the treadmill can be seen on many environmental fronts, not just climate change. These include air and water pollution, loss of biodiversity, and resource scarcity. They all contribute to an increasing amount of risk we face as a society. Risk Society is an umbrella term for our status as a society facing increasing catastrophic threats due to the treadmill. It also contains the ways we deal with an environment that increasingly threatens us- ways that include Ecological Modernization. In the Uninhabitable Earth, Wallace-Wells analyzes many other factors caused by global warming that contribute to Risk Society: drought, wildfires, the spread of disease, and warfare over resources, just to name a few. The current model for dealing with these problems is a continued faith in the system despite all the evidence that it is not working. Proponents of Ecological Modernization believe technology will solve every problem posed by a Risk Society, but it likely will not happen, for the more risks there are that unfold, the more people will begin to distrust the system.
Global warming is such a significant problem in our society because it affects things on so many levels, and so many variables go into it. Three dynamics that reinforce global warming because of human activity are melting ice sheets, Arctic methane, and the albedo effect (Wallace-Wells, 2019:74). The amount of sunlight reflecting off the Earth’s surface is getting lower as ice sheets retreat, causing more heat to be absorbed. This exposure is contributing to a rise in methane gas being released from Arctic surfaces. Methane is an even stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, which should be enough to alarm people who are not even living there. Yet the Arctic is not the only place where human activity is causing methane to increase. Global beef production has skyrocketed in the last 100 years, creating endless fields of grazing cows that release it through digestive processes.
The melting of freshwater ice also affects the salinity of the ocean and the rise of sea levels globally, introducing many social problems. These involve concepts called World Systems Theory and the Global North/Global South network. World Systems Theory suggests that since wealthier nations often have stronger laws that protect the environment, the means of producing “dirty” products gets exported to countries that do not. These are often places where laws are so weak that a combination of resources and the working class is exploited. In this model, the Global North would be considered the wall of privileged countries that outsource dirty production, while the Global South suffers from its side effects, including unbearable temperatures, more severe pollution, and poorer standards of living. Global warming exacerbates all these issues, for most of the Global South is projected to be abnormally influenced by rising sea levels- a far greater proportion than the Global North. Not only that, but it will have more of an effect on crop production in the south. “Climate driven water shortages or crop failures push climate refugees into nearby regions already struggling with resource scarcity” (Wallace-Wells, 2019:25). These are good reasons to predict major refugee crises will occur in the near future, most of them emanating from the south.
What makes this especially disturbing is that the Global South is largely an innocent player when it comes to environmental issues. Wallace-Wells (2019:27) believes that “…much of the Global South has not, to this point, defiled the atmosphere of the planet all that much”. Even if he is wrong, it was not the Global South that introduced these problems and pressured the rest of the world to adopt the systems that reinforce them. I believe this is why the Global North should take responsibility for the looming crisis on our hands, which can be done by implementing new systems that reduce the risks of World Systems Theory, making it more fair for the Global South. If it does not, Wallace-Wells (2019:136) predicts the refugee crisis may trigger resource wars and territorial conflicts due to disappearing habitats. Unfortunately for the plutocrats, this kind of chaos not only contributes to human suffering and environmental degradation, but also to the higher cost of living in the Global North. “It will be much, much more expensive to not act on climate than to take the most aggressive action today” (Wallace-Wells, 2019:134). Even economies taking the most aggressive measures against climate change will be at a higher risk of collapse if action is not taken soon.
Other ways that global warming affects people are from increases in wildfires and storm intensity; more severe drought and flooding, that in turn influences crop yields; the fallout from wildfires affecting drinking water; the degradation of plastic, which releases even more methane into the atmosphere (Wallace-Wells 2019:116); the tremendous increase in air pollution, estimated to already cause one out of every six deaths globally; the loss of biodiversity, prompted by tropical species needing to migrate north and compete for niches; the spread of tropical disease, assisted by northern latitudes getting warmer; and warmer temperatures dampening cognition and functioning. The writer touches on all these issues in his analysis of the harmful effects of global warming, most of which are presented in the context of human suffering. Now imagine all the species on Earth being affected by climate change and the issue increases exponentially, in what a worst-case scenario would likely call the 6th mass extinction in Earth’s history.
This book is essential reading for environmental sociology students and pretty much everyone else on the planet. I cannot think of any group of people that would not benefit from reading it. Even the climate deniers and plutocrats who worship the Treadmill of Production need to understand that if these trends continue, the lives of their children and grandchildren are at stake. This generation has a moral obligation to future ones to act now before it is too late. We may or may not survive what we have wrought, but if we do, I do not think history will look kindly on this age of decadence.
Students should also read The Uninhabitable Earth because it describes the climate crisis in a profound way that overwhelmingly cements it as the biggest issue of our time. If we do not cut emissions significantly in the next 30 years, there may be no turning back. “The world has, at most, about three decades to completely decarbonize before truly devastating climate horrors begin” (Wallace-Wells 2013:237). The book serves as the strongest motivator for Environmental Movement since Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. It should be more influential than it already is- that is its only disappointment.
Near the end, Wallace-Wells implies that if there are other civilizations in the galaxy, they did not pass the critical stage we are at. They may have faced a similar situation we are in, due to some universal limit on the amount of production and waste one planet can sustain. Only a handful of solar systems in the galaxy could host a planet like Earth; not many of their neighbors would be able to provide the resources for “planet hopping”, especially between solar systems. This may be why we have not seen any signs of intelligent life despite 100 years of studying deep astronomy. It is also why anyone who believes technology will help us terraform other planets is gravely mistaken and has probably read too many science fiction novels. It should be an ominous sign to humans that there are so few planets like ours that we have yet to find alien life. We must cherish and honor the planet; not desecrate the only home we know.
Reference:
Wallace-Wells, David. 2019. The Uninhabitable Earth. New York: Random House
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