December 5, 2016 - 00:12
“For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us to temporarily beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.” –Audre Lorde
The Collapse of Western Civilization, by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, and As The World Burns, by Derrick Jensen and Stephanie McMillan, are both provocative novels meant to inspire the readers to take action to combat climate change and reframe the way we think about environmental issues. The two novels cover similar subject matter, including the relationship between government actions, or inaction, and global warming. As The World Burns also delves deeply into the ways corporations exploit the environment’s resources, with the goal of earning more money always overshadowing any consequences. Where the novels differ is in their portrayals of systems like government and corporations and how they want their readers to understand their relationships to these systems. After reading both of the novels, I was left with the question of if change can come from within the system, or if the system must be overthrown to effectively stop climate change and repair the earth.
As The World Burns is a graphic novel, and this format necessitates a certain level of simplicity. Although the novel encourages the reader to take a more complex view on climate change, by implicating a lager system of denial and greed instead of individual’s actions, it still portrays the system in an almost cartoonish way, making the president pure evil and the heads of corporations completely obsessed with money. An animal advises one of the characters to, “recognize your real enemies: production, the system that requires constant expansion, the people in power who keep it running” (149). As The World Burns uses a lot of this very black and white language, calling the system the true enemy and all the people who aren’t in leadership positions in the system are effectively powerless. The character who attempts to fight climate change through her individual actions, like recycling cans and taking shorter showers, is portrayed as naïve for not recognizing her powerlessness in the system and thinking she can make a difference. Another character responds to her idea about switching showerheads and washing clothes in cold water with, “Or you could knock out the water supply to a factory. That would save a lot of energy, and water too!” (9) As The World Burns provokes a lot of emotions, and it isn’t as hopeless as it may seem at a first glance, but it is not empowering. The ultimate message seems to be that there is no hope for change through individual actions, even those like petitions or letters to try to influence the system. The president in this novel uses those letters for heating and toilet paper, demonstrating that the system disregards the conventional means by which we are theoretically able to make our voices heard. The only way to really make a difference is by dismantling the whole system and starting a new one that is more closely tied to nature and less susceptible to the whims of human greed.
The Collapse of Western Civilization, which is set in a time after climate change has reached a point, aided by human denial and inaction, that society has been completely reordered by the disastrous events, seems at a first glance like the darker of the two novels. At least in As The World Burns, the world is not yet irreparably broken and there is still hope of a return to nature. However, The Collapse of Western Civilization, possibly because it is written in a format that allows for more nuance, gives the reader some hope that there is still time left to reverse the path of destruction that we’re on, and that this can be done through channels that are already in place. The fact that it is specifically Western civilization that collapses, and that the more socialist government of China is able to keep its constituents safe, suggests that the answer may be to give the government more control over our actions. The novel states that “The ultimate paradox was that neoliberalism, meant to ensure individual freedom above all, led eventually to a situation that necessitated large-scale government intervention. (48) The Collapse of Western Civilization argues that our society’s obsession with freedom and individualism is what led to our demise, and the it was the actions and purposeful denial by individuals that is to blame for the climate crisis. The fault lies with us, in our unshakeable believe that the free market would prevail, and in our comfortable lives from which the easiest option is to ignore any ideas that may necessitate us to change our lifestyles. We were the ones who should have listened to the scientists, and encouraged our governments to take action. The book notes that “lacking widespread support, government leaders were unable to shift the world economy to a net carbon-neutral energy base.” (45) It naturally follows to assume that if we had provided that support, and made our voices heard through our voting choices, the government would have had the necessary tools to save our planet.
These novels both have a lot to offer the reader, in terms of opportunities to shift our mindsets on climate change and ideas for how we can effectively bring about change. But The Collapse of Western Civilization is the only one of the two that offers hope that we can still save our planet without having to completely hit the reset button. Oreskes and Conway tell us that “It is clear that in the early twenty-first century, immediate steps should have been taken to begin a transition to a zero-net carbon world.” (9), and while the novel may be set in a time where it is far too late to save us, it’s message is that we can still make a difference now. The steps we need to take will not be easy, and will need to be taken quickly, but The Collapse of Western Civilization says that it isn’t too late to stop that collapse. As The World Burns would welcome that collapse as a return to simplicity and a second chance to do right by our world. The president in that novel would “rather die than quit this lifestyle.” (219), but if enough of us living right now are willing to quit our lifestyles, then we still have hope of a brighter future.