In Margaret Atwood’s article “Its Not Climate Change- Its Everything Change,” I thought the range of pictures highlighted the different scenarios that the world could be approaching if we do not address climate change. I was struck by the conversation that we had in class about who controlled the story in the media. The words “realistic” and “normal” really stood out to me because they stem from the definition that I have of climate change from the different news outlets. When I looked at the pictures from the first two scenarios, I thought those were unreasonable. In the first scenario, the idea illustrated with the images and the words accompanying them seem like a far-fetched reality where houses are using better materials and the fibers used to make clothing comes from hemp instead of cotton. Scenario two was no more believable with carnage and chaos abound, and the world seemed like it would ultimately be ruined. However, I think that Atwood did this because she wanted the reader to believe scenario three. Scenario three shows a world in which some countries have abandoned oil and find alternative energy sources while others show little to no change.
I think Atwood did an incredible job leading us into scenario three because she talked about events that are happening in the world right now. Germany’s Energiewende has promoted renewable energy that covers 32% of the electrical consumption. However, the United States refuses to change their base load and continues to use coal and natural gas to supply energy.
The other class conversation that resonated with me was when we were talking about what the definition of what climate change is. When the question was posed, I just sat in my seat dumbfounded because I did not have an exact answer. Once we began to break down all that encompasses climate change, I realized why it is such a difficult concept to explain because it is incredibly multifaceted. However, once we started researching the different factors of climate change, it was apparent that there were even more elements that I had never thought of that would be impacted. Species are going extinct at 10,000 times the background rate. More and more species are going extinct, and species are becoming more homogenized. The loss of biodiversity is incredibly concerning because the species that are coming in and filling the niches of extinct organisms are typically invasive. Alien invasive species have contributed to the Cape Town drought, and Cape Town may be the first major city in the world to lose water. This realization made me hesitate a little more when I scoffed at the idea of the worldwide chaos. Atwood may have been a little far-fetched but perhaps this is the beginning of that world and now is the time to end that reality.
