In Response to Oreskes' "The Collapse of Western Civilization"

There were many parts of this book where Oreskes brought up some points with which I agreed. She talked a lot about the economy and market fundamentalism, which she argued valued the wrong things and drove the society in the wrong direction. The economy and market fundamentalism failed to take into account the costs of what they were doing on the environment, and instead focused solely on monetary profits. 

Another interesting point she brought up was how we often say that "knowledge is power", yet our words don't translate into actions. It certainly is ironic that we have a wealth of knowledge about how our actions are destroying the planet, yet the scientists don't have the power to change this fact. Money, rather than knowledge, is power. 

I also agree with her point about how artists weren't valued in our society, even though they were usually one of the first groups who realized the negative effects of our actions. It makes me reevaluate where our morals lie and whether our actions today will lead to the disasters she described in detail through the course of the book.