For this reading reflection, I chose McKibbon’s “It’s Not Coming, It’s Here”, Táíwò’s “Reconsidering Reparations”, and Whyte’s “Way Beyond the Lifeboat”.
These readings expanded what I knew about climate change in that they made me realize that I did not actually know much at all about climate change; at least, not the scientific process of it.
As a Psychology student, it goes without saying that sciency-science is not my greatest strength; that lies more with climate change’s human and social aspects. That is, the consequences people face, and how those consequences present themselves in their livelihood and health.
While Táíwò and Whyte’s works focus on that human aspect I am familiar with, I am grateful for McKibbon’s article explaining the scientific process of climate change in peasant speak, allowing me to grasp the more nuanced details that I otherwise might have missed even in Táíwò’s reading. However, to McKibbon’s credit, he does still give plenty of examples of climate change’s human aspect through his brief descriptions of hurricanes, droughts, floods, flash fires, and melting ice caps, across the world from Brazil to Cape Town, to Greece.
Where Táíwò describes the current world structure, his Global Racial Empire, detailing how slavery and colonization were the precursors of industrialization and capitalism, and the forefathers of racism as a belief; Whyte gives a chilling allegory of the damage as it takes place, weaving a story like a wampum belt of different types of vessels on the water, and McKibbon gives a broad summary of the damage already done.
The three readings are almost chronological in that sense.
What surprised me was the mention in Whyte’s reading of how attempts at geoengineering and the move to renewable energy still do untold damage to Indigenous land and tribes, and I believe that it is a topic I would like to read further upon in the future.
Readings:
It’s Not Coming, It’s Here: Bill McKibben on Our New Climate Reality. (2019, April 22). Literary Hub. https://lithub.com/its-not-coming-its-here-bill-mckibben-on-our-new-climate-reality/
Táíwò, O. (2022). Reconsidering reparations. In Oxford University Press eBooks. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197508893.001.0001
Whyte, K. P. (2019). Way Beyond the Lifeboat: An Indigenous allegory of climate justice. In Zed Books Ltd. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350219236.ch-002
ma guarda quante stelle nel cielo 