After completing the second chapter of Eaarth I was feeling a little overwhelmed and like there was no hope at all for our world. McKibben brought up so many different topics in this chapter that I feel like I don't really know where to start.
One of the things that he talked about that really caught my eye was raising gas prices. I know that in past years prices for gasoline were at record highs. However, since then they have dropped considerably. He talked about raising the prices of gas again in order to force people to drive less in order to not pay as much money on gas. This started me thinking about how much I drive my car. I am a commuter which means that I probably drive more than most people at WMU. Since I also don'e live in the Kalamazoo area it means that I don't use the buses very often if ever and I feel like there should be a way that I can do more. I already try to drive as little as possible, but when I have to drive for a half an hour to school every day and then the same distance home when classes are done I can't really do much to change it.
One of the other things that McKibben talked a lot about was the increase of disease around the world, especially those that are transported by insects. One of the things McKibben says is that not only do "warmer temperatures extend the geographic range of the mosquito" but they also increase the size of the larva, which then increases the size of the adults (pg. 73). Now I don't know about anyone else, but hearing about increasing size and spread of mosquitoes sounds like a big deal to me. In Michigan we don't have to deal with mosquitoes spreading disease by us. We like to think that it is a problem for people in other parts of the world, and for the moment that is the case, but it may not last forever and I think that is scary to think about.
I am hoping that in the next few chapters McKibben starts to get away from all of the statistics that he is using to create this feeling of impending doom and gets into ways that we can help make a difference. I think that looking at all of the problems we are facing is a great way to get our attention, but it won't do any good in the long run if he doesn't bring up any solutions.
Tayler, the mosquitos scare me, too! I already hate mosquitos in the summer, and we're lucky that we don't have to worry about getting diseases from them. That's scary stuff, along with a lot of other frightening information in this chapter.
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