This excerpt from Mckibben’s Falter is a startling piece on climate change, human involvement, and the Anthropocene (as a larger theme). Directly, McKibben is referencing human interaction and the effects we’ve had on our natural world, arguing towards a nihilistic and unoptimistic conclusion for both parties. Opening with roofs, something that “almost no one thinks about… from one year’s end to another”, he is able to highlight the passive nature of our modern thoughts on just how much we’ve shaped and bent the world around us. From the oil-refining process that brings us shingles to the technology and culture that brings us music streaming platforms, everything is simultaneously right in front of us and very rarely considered. McKibben applies this to a further theme, and overall argument, that human history has repeatedly exemplified a pattern of behaviors that are inherently self-destructive. Reiterating doomsday speeches from the Pope, the World Bank, Nasa, and an announcement from “fifteen thousand scientists from 184 countries” who issued a “stark ‘warning to humanity” regarding anaerobic dead zones in the sea, he conjures an image of apocalypse end times that many of us are familiar with in the current era. Comparatively, he speaks about the fall of the Mauryan and Roman Empires, their collapses and effects, and argues that we are on the verge of a similar fate, but exceptionally more global and permanent. And though we’ve had plenty of times to learn from our mistakes, and to adapt to this global catastrophe (as well as having the most advancements in technology and ability to manipulate our environment for reliable change to date), McKibben sees us heading towards the same fates as once-great pillars of humanity.

The first few chapters from Falter by Bill McKibben are incredibly captivating while extremely humbling to their audience. Throughout the first two chapters, the reader will constantly find themselves referring to the subtitle, Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? as McKibben frequently calls attention back to the “game” we are all unconsciously a part of by treating the world the way we do. In the first chapter, McKibben takes something as trivial as roofs and creates an entire sub-story. Starting with roof material, the shingle, and how many steps it takes just to produce one to be put with a set of others on a roof somewhere (3). McKibben explains that he introduces the process of shingle creation to draw a connection to how everything is made and where it comes from, but his message suggests that if we continue as humans on this selfish path, there may not be anything left to refer to after a catastrophic natural event takes us all out. McKibben’s tone is hardly cynical and more like being brutally honest with a hint of dark humor. He mentions that humans are mostly winning the game on every front aside from our relationship to nature and the planet we take space up on. McKibben continues to say the game only gives you so many chances, so many lives to take risks on, and eventually, the world will not be able to recover from the damage humans have caused it and will only hold the destruction that has been left (4). During the duration of the reading, McKibben leaves astonishing facts like a trail of crumbs to be followed by a hungry animal. Speaking of animals, in chapter 1, he states that there are half as many wild animals on earth as they used to have in 1970, and hardly anyone notices (6). McKibben is an expert at making his readers see the bigger picture, the zoomed-out version of a problem that people focus on in the wrong areas. Another particularly crucial point that McKibben makes is at the beginning of chapter 2 regarding Delhi’s being one of the most polluted cities in the world (13). So much so, that airlines had to cancel flights into Delhi because of the lack of visibility on their runways. To top it off, McKibben furthers his point and states that pollution kills 9 million people a year, far more than other health issues that garner more attention (13). The game is going to take longer to achieve, now that McKibben says the rules have changed and will continue to change for every new bit of damage done to the earth. It is terrible to accept the fact that the world is hurting a lot right now, but it is still going to get worse. 

       Upon reading Falter by McKibben, it is evident that the world is indeed quite naive to the immense repercussions that may be dwelling in our near future. The facts are embarrassingly obvious, and history has repeatedly shown us how our irresponsible ways are affecting the climate, our solar system, and even the temperatures in our oceans. So, I ask myself why it is so hard for the urgency to register enough in some of our brains to make noticeable changes. Why do we dismiss and disregard the many hurricanes rising at alarming rates, the hotter-than-ever summers, or the fires which burn down so many homes and crops?  The data on these events and the countless ways that we as humans are changing our climate, along with various methods to help avert these occurrences, are easily accessible to learn online, in books, etc… but the narrative has been relocated to other more socially charged activities or wealth-chasing outlets, creating less emphasis on the current and potential damage we are causing to our climate on a day-to-day basis.

As McKibben writes “We’re quite accustomed to this idea of progress, so accustomed that some can’t imagine anything else:” (pg. 5) This sentence answers all my questions and helped me realize that we are indeed accustomed to getting over struggle and loss and moving on without thinking about the long-term effects that can arise afterward. After so much progress and the upgraded world, we now live in, it is safe to assume that we simply just DOUBT that we can cause enough harm to the earth to not be able to bounce back from it. I am admittingly guilty of disregarding grand worldly devastations that have occurred in my lifetime and seem to have looked beyond them as sad, isolated events, that would never affect… “my world.” McKibben writes “Climate believers, climate deniers, deep in our hearts we think it will happen somewhere else. In some other place…” (pg.27) He is very much in tune with the thinking of our generation and addresses it clearly as he states “It will happen right where you live and it could happen today. No one will be spared.” (pg.27) Quite Terrifying to say the least!

McKibben has put the spotlight on human’s ignorant and irresponsible way of living with concrete evidence that makes it difficult to ignore. B.M quotes “Global industrial civilization could collapse in coming decades due to unsustainable resource exploitation and increasingly unequal wealth distribution.” (pg.5) This warning is fairly simple to understand for readers (such as myself) that are not as familiar with climate change companies, but this quote is (assumingly) intentionally exerted from a NASA-funded group called “HANDY” and frankly, we have all heard of NASA. My response to this piece is genuine concern and a need for greater awareness within our communities. Most importantly, I gained responsibility towards making changes in my life as best I can, to help protect our earth. McKibben’s writing is clever and informative as he has a distinct way to engage his targeted audience, and essentially tells us to “STAY WOKE.” In my personal opinion, he has delivered his purpose in writing this piece.

After having read both Falter by Bill McKibben and The Great Derangement by Amitav Ghosh, I’ve concluded that much both books are tied together.  In the McKibben piece, he goes on to talk about all the ways that the world has changed. The cost of manufacturing and production in the year 1500 cost .42% of what it costs now ($250 billion to $60 trillion). How can more be bad? Well let’s consider all of the resources that go into making all the things we think we need on a daily basis.The trees that go into making notebooks, the petrochemicals that make everyday items, and the waste that gets produced in the mean time. McKibben goes on to talk about the ways the world has changed because of how the humans so carelessly produce waste with so little care of what happens to the world until the consequences are physically and visually effecting real life people instead of just being a scientific possibility. “Climate change, perhaps the greatest of all these challenges, and certainly the one about which we’ve done the least…climate change has become such a familiar term that we tend to read past it” (15). The most recent examples he gave in his writing are the 2017 wildfires that swept through California. Those fires claimed thousands of lives, both human and wildlife. Due to those landscapes being left barren, in 2018 when rain finally began to fall again, a mudslide happened due to the water not having any greenery to withhold it. As a result, more lives had been lost.

In the Ghosh piece, he talks about recognition of the past in order to understand the now. Ghosh mentions the history of his ancestors and how the unpredictability of nature caused the need for migration and change. In turn, he segues into the issues of climate change. One point Ghosh made is how little people seriously acknowledge it in written art. On page 6 Ghosh writes, “climate change casts a much smaller shadow within the landscape of literary fiction than it does even in the public arena…it can even be said that fiction that deals with climate change is almost by definition the kind that is not taken seriously by serious literary journals”. Simply put, writers are more likely to write about climate change under the genre of non-fiction rather than fiction. Which then dilutes the shock factor of the facts delivered from the writing. The same can be said about any creative media that centers itself around the issue of climate change. Movies, tv shows, songs, etc., they all for whatever reason, dilute the impact of the what is in actuality a very serious issue in the present and foreseen future.

How exactly does this all tie in together though? That part is easy actually. If we are humans are tossing ourselves head first into a catastrophic future, we need to do all that we can to reach as many audiences as possible. But, we can’t do that if the people that need to be reached aren’t taking the impending obstacles that climate change will cause seriously. The sad truth is, oceans are warming, ice caps are melting, sea levels are rising, droughts are spreading, and fires are killing, but very few of the populous are comprehending. Nature, without the help of humans, is already unpredictable, but because of the evolution of human technology, we’ve altered the speed at which that unpredictability unfolds itself.

The Great Derangement by Amitav Ghosh zooms in on the disconnect between modern society and climate change. Fundamentally, natural disasters not close to home have a lesser impact. The author utilizes his close encounter to address the unforeseeable nature of climate change. Their first-hand experience with a tornado triggered the question of the lack of expectations surrounding such weather. Geographically speaking, northern Delhi’s weather-changing precedents showed little signs of such large-scale catastrophes. Even so, the tornado hit Maurice Nagar and destroyed everything in its path. The tornado in Delhi was only one of the natural phenomena that occurred without a previous warning. Such weather becomes the subject of debate as it gets covered by the news for the next few weeks or months. However, as people return to their daily lives, the topic is quickly forgotten as the damages incurred by the disaster take priority. For the above reasons, specific regions around the world have been repeatedly affected by the same disasters over the years. The author points out that certain coastal cities are subjected to repeated violent weather phenomena (Ghosh 44). Strange weather is no stranger to coastal cities. Even then all measures that are taken against are post-disaster relief plans. For instance, Marine Drive in Bombay is famous as a tourist spot as it overlooks the Back Bay. Despite the repeated and compiling number of disasters that take place in the area, the destination contributes to the growing economy of Bombay. As such all investments made in it take priority over the disaster risk area and protection of its occupants. The economy comes before the people as is made clear by the lack of protection and regulations surrounding these areas. The detachment that extends over time results in the shock of natural phenomena disrupting regional constituents. The remoteness of climate change is equally visible in old and new literature. Nature often plays a romantic, picturesque role in literature. A subject that solely exists in serving as the setting, nothing more. As soon as climate change comes to the forefront all sense of indifference is cast away and a serious tone is acquired. Climate change cannot be the soul of a book as pointed out by the author. The expansive and time-consuming study and research reacquired in the field make it a less tasteful subject for authors writing fiction. However, literature in itself is capable of impacting much more in today’s society. If the opportunity is used proactively, the platform will be set to increase the awareness surrounding weather and climate making it no longer a subject foreign to the mass of people. Planning before even a disaster strikes although requiring effort will decrease the number of casualties and losses it can cause. Keeping future disasters out of mind because it has a low possibility of occurring is as dangerous as not tending to the fire because the flames are too small to cause any real damage. However, combining literature with such a morbid subject will require time and effort on an individual level. Marketability of a book comes first making it important that the space and the subject are not alienated from each other. Climate change intimidates people through the predictions made of future disasters and their large-scale impact. If climate change was no longer paired with impending doom the approach and reception would alter as well. The author takes charge of all the questions they raise that separate climate change from society. The active action of researching regional phenomena and the reasons behind them while intertwining them with literature is more than a creative approach. It is proof of the determination of changing the ominous sense coupled with climate change.

High Tide at Marine Drive, Bombay