English 101
LINK TO HEGLAR’S ESSAY https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/28/18629833/climate-change-2019-green-new-deal
Write a response to classmate’s discussion. Thoughtful response to a classmate’s post that elaborates on what s/he has said (at least 75 words)
Classmate’s discussion:
Roxana Basallo
Heglar’s Essay
Collapse
Heglar advocates for people to change their thinking as environmentalism have gotten turned into a personal choice where humans get convicted for not upholding ethics. Precisely, Heglar vividly highlights that environmental issues have gotten turned into victim-blaming. Human culture has overtime equated personal consumerism with environmentalism. According to Heglar, such actions have given governments and large corporations a chance to get off the hook as people shame themselves. Therefore, humans should cease the blame as most pollution comes from a small fraction of corporations abetted by governments. Since individual emissions are minute compared to what corporations emit, Heglar blames the organizations and the governments for climate change that is currently happening (Heglar, 2019). Consequently, Heglar calls for people to shift their focus from individual blame and concentrate more on advocating for systemic change to curb climate change.
I agree with Heglar’s point that people should change their mentality and focus on companies and governments as they are the largest polluters. For example, the U.S energy system relies on more than 75% of fossil fuels, thus contributing to climate change. The government allows large companies to continue polluting since it benefits enormously, thus making the U.S become the second-largest polluter globally (Heglar, 2019). Consequently, for a massive change to get witnessed, people need to work together and stop the self-blame imposed on them by society. Even though consumer actions contribute significantly to reducing emissions, real change can only occur when humans hold governments and large corporations accountable. To have a livable future, people need to act by electing leaders with a vision on how to combat climate change at a global scale instead of relying on the usual self-blame analogy.
Reference
Heglar, M. (2019). “I work in the environmental movement. I don’t care if you recycle.” Vox. Retrieved 24 November 2020, from https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/28/18629833/climate-change-2019-green-new-deal.
ANSWER
Hello Roxana,
You have provided a very clear and well-developed summary of Heglar’s essay. Heglar calls people to act on their thinking on environmentalism and conservation. In the essay, Heglar explains how environmental issues have been turned into a game of victim-blaming, highlighting how human culture has, over the years, equated personal consumerism with environmentalism. She urges humans to cease the blame game when it comes to environmental pollution. She explains that a huge portion of pollution comes from a small fraction of corporations that are abetted by the government. Individual emissions and contributions to pollution are meager in comparison to emissions by corporations. For this reason, Heglar blames governments and corporations for the current climate change (Heglar, 2019).
People must shift their focus from the individual blame game and concentrate more on calling for systemic change to curb environmental pollution and climate change. People need to call out the government for abetting corporations that cause massive environmental pollution. Like you, I also agree with Heglar that corporations play the most significant role in environmental pollution. The focus should move from blaming individuals for pollution to putting pressure on governments to ensure that corporations take responsibility for environmental conservation. For instance, the US is the world’s second-largest polluter because of the use of fossil fuels in companies (Heglar, 2019). People need to put pressure on the government to ensure that such companies are not licensed for operation.
References
Heglar, M. (2019). “I work in the environmental movement. I don’t care if you recycle.” Vox. https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/28/18629833/climate-change-2019-green-new-deal.
