Images of polar ice caps melting, forests burning, and riverbeds drying envelop the 21st century subject in a constant reminder of death and existential demise. We all know the Earth is facing its immediate death, so the question is: Why aren’t we doing anything about it? Why don’t we the people, when faced with our collective imminent annihilation, rebel against the powers-that-be and overturn the structures and people that are causing our march towards death?
At once, one should consider the numerous times the climate death of the Earth is depicted online. How the world will end has been theorized by numerous scientists and pro-environment advocates, and these findings have been blasted online with visceral detail and the intent of distribution.
We, because of the constant reminder of the death of the Earth, have already imagined death a thousand times over. Whether it be swept away by the increased hurricanes, dehydrated from the drought, starving from the agricultural deterioration, or drowning from the flood, these images of our own death have become universal to life in the 21st century. The raw multiplicity of these images has caused us to become numb to our eventual destruction.
The physical threat of climate change has become almost indistinguishable from the simulated death of the Earth seen in our documentaries, movies, and Instagram feeds. In fact, the simulated death has become so prevalent, it has increased in importance over our actual, physical death. Physical death has simply become an afterthought, a type of death deja vu, demonstrated by the fact that it feels reminiscent of an event that already happened. Ironically, the real event of the annihilation of the human race due to catastrophic climate change has become nothing but a ghostly whisper, something that is no more real than the vivid rhetoric in the articles we read or the detailed imagery in the documentaries we watch.
For this reason, the people will never be mustered to fight for complete environmental reform, they have given up. They no longer care about real death or simulated death, because they have become indistinguishable. They will look upon the Earth’s death as they look upon the documentaries on their screen, non-believing, gazing serenely, reclining in their chairs, munching on their popcorn.
At once, one should consider the numerous times the climate death of the Earth is depicted online. How the world will end has been theorized by numerous scientists and pro-environment advocates, and these findings have been blasted online with visceral detail and the intent of distribution.
We, because of the constant reminder of the death of the Earth, have already imagined death a thousand times over. Whether it be swept away by the increased hurricanes, dehydrated from the drought, starving from the agricultural deterioration, or drowning from the flood, these images of our own death have become universal to life in the 21st century. The raw multiplicity of these images has caused us to become numb to our eventual destruction.
The physical threat of climate change has become almost indistinguishable from the simulated death of the Earth seen in our documentaries, movies, and Instagram feeds. In fact, the simulated death has become so prevalent, it has increased in importance over our actual, physical death. Physical death has simply become an afterthought, a type of death deja vu, demonstrated by the fact that it feels reminiscent of an event that already happened. Ironically, the real event of the annihilation of the human race due to catastrophic climate change has become nothing but a ghostly whisper, something that is no more real than the vivid rhetoric in the articles we read or the detailed imagery in the documentaries we watch.
For this reason, the people will never be mustered to fight for complete environmental reform, they have given up. They no longer care about real death or simulated death, because they have become indistinguishable. They will look upon the Earth’s death as they look upon the documentaries on their screen, non-believing, gazing serenely, reclining in their chairs, munching on their popcorn.