Don't Even Think About It (thoughts on the book)

Don't Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change by George Marshall attempts to tackle a variety of questions that relate to the controversy regarding the reality of climate change. Particularly, it focuses on why many people choose ignore or even deny climate change's existence and what sets it apart from other current threats facing the world. Unlike Eaarth's dramatic use of scientific statistics and gloomy predictions, Don't Even Think About It contains a collection of Marshall's personal investigations regarding the topic, featuring many anecdotes and interviews with experts on various topics.

Marshall attempts to approach this controversial topic as objectively scientific as possible, attempting to understand the psychology behind why individuals choose to either accept, deny, ignore, or question climate change's reality. This approach works well as throughout the book Marshall is able to stay focused on the questions he set out to answer without wasting time bashing fossil fuel companies or his opposition (which he could have easily fallen into at several points).

Each chapter is relatively short and focused on answering a particular question or exploring a particular topic regarding believing and disbelieving in climate change. For example, some of the topics Marshall covers include the psychology of disaster victims, confirmation biases, storytelling, threat perception, and evolutionary psychological leftovers, to name a few. Don't Even Think About It actually covers a pretty large variety of topics, but manages to tie them all into the book's central focus.


Don't Even Think About It draws on years of research and life experience. Marshall recounts visiting and interviewing people from both sides of the climate change debate, both environmentalists and deniers, attempting to lend equal weight to both parties' arguments and exploring the underlying psychology of the controversy. With each topic he digs a little deeper and comes closer to answering the question of why it's an innate human characteristic to ignore climate change (as the title suggests).

The first half of this book is quite interesting. In fact, that short excerpt "We'll Deal With that Lofty Stuff Some Other Day" came from this book, to give you an idea of what sort of writing and content to expect from this book. I haven't finished reading yet, but I'm interested to see where Marshall goes with this book and if he is able to offer any sort of solution to the public's uncaring attitude toward climate change.

Update to 2016 (presentation)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1T2LcKoR7Av2uT3iXR0zZQsMCjM4ceT_rR-l3HNlp0fc

My research topic was the cost and availability of wind and solar power. Here I'll just summarize some of the information I talked about during my presentation Monday.

With fossil fuels polluting our planet and causing alarming climate changes, many people are looking for alternative, more Earth-friendly sources of energy. This is where wind turbines and solar panels come in: they're sources of clean, renewable, abundant energy that doesn't rely on carbon-emitting fossil fuels.

These technologies are constantly improving and becoming increasingly affordable. The set-up cost can still be off-putting to some people, but solar and wind energy has never been more affordable. Residential wind turbines powerful enough to power a large home can cost upwards of $50k to $80k, but residential solar panels are a bit cheaper at $15k to $40k to provide power to a home.

However, these forms of energy are not without their downsides. For example, many people cannot afford to setup solar panels or a wind turbine for their home. Also, the sun is not always shining bright and wind is not always blowing, so there are times when these technologies are not as effective as others. Also there are some safety concerns concerning turbines, as there are several stories of turbines falling over and hurting somebody, or of somebody falling off while maintaining the turbine.

Chapter 2 (response)

Chapter 2, while not quite as gloomy as chapter 1, presents another unfortunate reality regarding the ongoing battle between our lifestyles and the planet. Here, McKibben focuses on growth and progression; particularly, economic and industrial growth. In the past, it seems that the answer to most of our problems was simple: we need to grow. However, now McKibben argues that now we must actually regress if we're to have any hope in battling climate change.

Unfortunately, I just don't believe that will ever happen. No country will willingly put themselves at a disadvantage in today's game-like political culture. In one part of this chapter, McKibben explains how Exxon (the fossil fuel giant) has been secretly fighting to convince people that climate change isn't real, or at least isn't as big of a threat as it seems. Suppressing such an important issue just so that they might remain one of the biggest corporations on earth. As terrifyingly real as climate change is, it doesn't feel as real as billions of dollars.

Chapter 1 (response)

Chapter 1 of Bill McKibben's Eaarth is a collection of statistics and anecdotes arguing that humanity's huge impact on our planet has gotten so bad that the negative effects are no longer a looming threat - they're already here.

At first I was suspicious of a lot of McKibben's claims. I've heard both sides of the story he's telling - some say that climate change will doom us if we don't take immediate action, while others argue that such thinking is overly dramatic and climate change statistics are skewed to look more daunting than they actually are. I fell in the latter camp, either because I actually think they're overreacting or because I don't want the terrifying facts about climate change to be true. Or a combination of both.

By the end of the chapter, McKibben had me pretty much convinced that this is a big problem that many people, like myself, are uncomfortable facing. He presents so much research and has much more experience than I do, so I trust him when he says the Earth is changing fast and is already hurting from mankind's carbon footprint. Eaarth is well-written and easy to read, but the content is scary and difficult to digest.

I do think that McKibben is a bit overdramatic at times. In particular, renaming Earth to Eaarth because it's a "different planet" now. I understand what point he's making with the gesture, but it just comes across as a bit heavy-handed to me.

Introduction (About me)

Hello, my name is Jacob Colegio (pronounced co-lay-he-oh). This is my English 3110 - Our Place in Nature blog, where I will keep all my responses to in-class discussions, books, and other blog assignments for this course.

Some fun information about myself. I have a pretty diverse schooling history: I was home-schooled through elementary school, attended Baptist Christian school for 3 years, Public High School for 2 and a half years, and Art School for just one semester before coming to Western Michigan University.

My family consists of myself, my mother (City Councilwoman), my father (Police Officer), my brother (adopted, currently in high school), and my two sisters (One a teacher, the other a college student) and my dog (Stays at home). My extended family comes from Tennessee, Texas, and previously Mexico.

When my Grandfather moved to Michigan and started a family, he changed the pronunciation of our last name to co-lee-jee-oh in order to "Americanize" it, but I decided to change it back to its original pronunciation for myself and my future family. If my Grandfather was allowed to change it, why shouldn't I be able to change it back?

Some other fun information. I grew up wrestling and playing football for 10 years each. I've been playing music for my entire life, starting with my great-grandmother's antique piano I found in our garage as a toddler and progressing to picking up the guitar (my instrument of choice) in 8th grade. Art and technology are two of the most fascinating things to me.

Etc

That's it for my short introduction for myself, thanks to everyone or anyone who read it.