December 9, 2016 - 13:48
Humor can be used in writing to teach about a certain topic, make fun of a theory, and most importantly, engage the reader to create a more interesting story. While humor can be a very useful tool in many different ways, it may not always express the ideas in the most effective manner. As The World Burns by Jensen and McMillan is a graphic novel that uses a lot of humor to show the awful effects that we humans are having on the environment. On the other side of the spectrum, The Collapse of Western Civilization by Oreskes and Conway has absolutely no humor in it, in an effort to describe the severity of the environmental problems that will occur in the near future. These two books express an extreme lack of humor and an excessive amount of humor, but both bring the reader away from the main purpose of the reading.
Too much humor in As The World Burns, makes the potential solutions to improve the environmental state of the Earth sound too unrealistic and leaves the reader feeling hopeless for a better future. Also, many people may not be able to recognize the humor and be left with no ideas on how to promote change because all of the ideas presented are too extreme to actually implement. The comics on pages 14-17 highlight two opposite perspectives on the environmental problems in the world. The yellow girl is very enthusiastic and has many ideas of small actions that could be done by everyone in the world to create a little bit of change. On the other hand, the purple girl represents more of a reality by saying that not everyone will do these small actions. Even if they do, their positive effects will be very minimal. There is humor being used to show these polar opposites in attitude, but it leaves the reader with no new ideas on how to help. The authors present the ideas as 100% helpful or 0% helpful. This is not a good way to present potential possibilities to promote change because it makes people feel like the little things that they do to help the environment like recycling, are pointless. The message being portrayed is that everyone in the world needs to do these actions just to have a little change, but this leads to a bad misconception. It is then hard for the reader to understand that even just doing little actions is better than doing nothing. The extremity of the way the two girls present their perspectives on the situation is supposed to be seen as funny, but rather it leaves the reader hopeless and confused about how they can help.
Using a different technique, The Collapse of Western Civilization, uses no humor, only straight forward descriptions to explain the effects of global warming. Oreskes and Conway do this to show the severity and seriousness of the potential problems that are going to occur, but this does not inspire the reader to do anything to help, rather it depresses them. These environmental effects are presented in a scary way, “The net result? Fossil fuel production escalated, greenhouse gas emissions increased, and climate disruption accelerated. In 2001, the IPCC had predicted that atmospheric CO2 would double by 2050. In fact, that benchmark was met by 2042” (Oreskes, Conway 24). Most of this book sounds similar to this passage in the way the effects are expressed, and the details of the world’s collapse continue and continue. This list of devastation and horror is a wake-up call for many people that the actions that we take today are very strongly going to affect our future world. At the same time, there are not many suggestions on what we can do as a people to improve this problem. The lack of advice makes the reader think that there is no way to prevent these things from happening, therefore, nothing will be done in an attempt to try. However, the purpose of this book is to scare the reader into making change.
On the other hand, Latour’s article, “Agency at the Time of the Anthropocene,” gives the reader a better understanding of what he/she can do as a first step to help improve the state of the Earth. He says that in order for improvement to begin, we must first change our mindset. Latour says that our society needs to recognize that we cannot separate ourselves from nature, because everything is connected. The Earth is reacting the way it is, because of the way we treat it. We are part of nature and it is important to realize our impact. Latour writes, “Through this set of constraints, the Earth comprehends, in a way, the point of view of the other bodies since it must reverberate with the events of the whole system” (Latour 6). All of the actions taken on this Earth affect its environmental state. The Earth “comprehends” because it is forced to take in all of the messes we create. As a society, we like to separate ourselves from nature in an effort to eliminate the responsibility associated with the effects of global warming. We believe that if it is not our fault, it is not our responsibility to deal with the consequences. Latour challenges the reader to create a new mindset where it is recognized that we are part of nature and everything is related and connected. This realization will motivate us to act proactively and make change where change is needed. This internal shift is first necessary, in order for environmental changes to then occur. Unlike the other two texts being analyzed, Latour gives the reader a realistic aspect of the problem to change (his/her own mindset). Unlike trying to get everyone in the world to change all of their lightbulbs like what was described in As The World Burns, Latour describes a change that anyone can do. Changing one’s mindset comes from within, not doing physical actions to try to create change because those will naturally follow.
The way to teach others how to create change in the world is not to dwell on the problems of the past, or talk about the problems in the future, but to describe new actions that can be done to promote positive change. It is clear in As The World Burns, that humor is not the best course of action when talking about a very serious topic like global warming. However, on the other hand, the lack of humor in The Collapse of Western Civilization, makes it harder for the reader to feel engaged in the topic. Latour does a good job in providing realistic ways to change society, in an effort to then change the world and our perceptions of nature. We must recognize the connection we have to the environment in order to create a happier Earth.
References:
Oreskes, Naomi, and Erik M. Conway. The Collapse of Western Civilization: A View from the Future. New York: Columbia UP, 2014. Print.
Jensen, Derrick, and Stephanie McMillan. As the World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Stay in Denial. New York: Seven Stories, 2007. Print.
Latour, Bruno. "Agency at the Time of the Anthropocene." New Literary History45.1 (2014): 1-18. Web.