Naomi Klein should be considered one of the champions of the Green movement. Her book This Changes Everything is excellent in exposing the harsh truth that we are on a collision course with our planet’s climate.
This book is very depressing. And rightly so: in most chapters we are told how we exploit our planet and are addicted to fossil fuel. We place profit above conserving our environment and wage war on the climate in the process. Unbridled capitalism is the culprit. We always want more and more wealth and luxury and are incapable of restraint, to be satisfied with less. Of course there is a positive message as well about change, the rise of a movement which aims to save the climate.
But even so, I’m still pessimistic. As the secretary of GroenLinks (the Dutch Green Party) in South Holland, a few of my fellow board members always eat meat when we have dinner before our meetings. I’ve noticed snacks with meat being served at events organized by our party. If even these people don’t understand the impact of cattle rearing on our climate, how will the average Joe ever understand? It’s the same with air travel.
I read the book while I was on a winter sports holiday in Austria with my family. I never really liked winter sports because of the mass tourism aspects of it, but as I read the book I realized it was harmful to our climate as well. Huge amounts of trees need to be cleared from mountain slopes to make ski slopes. All those lifts, piste caterpillars and snow guns require a lot of fossil fuels. Of course there are much more examples.
Even though I’m observing our collective excesses, I’m to blame as well. That is why I want to improve on myself, I want to drastically decrease the pressure I exert on the climate. Even though I eat almost no meat anymore, I consider going completely vegan. If possible I will never use aircraft which run on fossil fuel anymore and use the train and other public transport instead. The latter might not be possible because I have to compromise with my girlfriend Stephanie. Nor does she want to sell her car, but at least we can switch to an electric car. I want to make our next house energy neutral.