The Reading

For me, chapter 5 is definitely the most boring segment of the book, thus far. I do like how she continues to thread the idea that this is all for our planet, which is in dire need of our help. One scientist proposed that within a hundred years, he wouldn't be surprised if most things were destroyed. I think that she uses her examples, for the most part, to display the severity of what could happen should we continue to choose (and she tells us that we do have a choice, from a geopolitical standpoint) not to change our destructive ways.

The most intriguing fact that Kolbert poses in chapter six, is that the planet is already nearly as warm as it ever has been in the past 420, 000 years. She explains in this piece that global warming causes the waters of earth to expand and in many cases, it has caused a certain amount of flooding that, in turn, has forced those human inhabitants to adapt to that specific area. I like this chapter a bit more than the last, for the concept that she implies when she writes of floating houses. She shows us all that even humans have had to begin to adapt to the recent climatic changes.

I'm wondering when she's going to pose some ideas to make all this go away. She's shown us in so many ways that it's real and we as a people, globally, can make a difference. The question is what can we do to change the political agenda of the world's industrial and greed-based ideals?