Prozac for the Planet

Perhaps it comes down to this: In an era of scientific illiteracy, commodity fascism, political shortsightedness, minute attention spans, and hyperactive media, the only overarching narrative about climate change may be, ironically, the weather itself. We may have to wait for truly heinous and bizarre weather to capture public and political attention. The lived, daily experience of global weirding may be what leads to the fraught denouement of geoengineering, which itself will be the beginning of another narrative about who we are, what time is, what the climate means, how nature matters.

Christopher Cokinos, "Prozac for the Planet," The American Scholar

Dr. Cedergren has talked to our AP chemistry class about this viewpoint. That our last resort may lie in that emergency moment of some unexpected and tragic and extraordinary climatic event. Do people really care about the environment? I can almost say, "no." During the summer I volunteered at the Field Museum, a special exhibit called Climate Change opened. It was not popular. Visitors were uninterested and unimpressed. To me it was quite saddening to know this--that perhaps the idea of a greener environment has become trite and palled.