What we could really use are an environmentally minded anti-consumerist Madonna and Kim Kardashian.

The readings took me on a roller coaster ride. Starting at the station, eyes closed, head buried between my knees, I allowed myself to be whisked away. I chose to be here, but the facts are so overwhelming. What else is one supposed to do when the close, warm fetal position is so much more comforting than phrases like:

“[China and India] cannot afford a 150 year learning curve, and neither can we – not when so many of them are going to be living like Americans. If they take even 50 years to get around to the best practices it's all over.”
('Too Many Americans?' Thomas Friedman)

Reading through the compilation of essays, I encountered many ideas I had been tossing around, but further fleshed out, organized, and fact based. Braver than my tentative mental forays into the current state of human-world-environment, these authors wade into the thick of it and stare into the abyss. 

In the moments where I dare to open my eyes and squint shyly in the direction of the aforementioned abyss, I have run through a vague systems check, trying to determine where exactly the flaws lie, and what can be done to fix them- 'perhaps we could rework the system', 'make the public more aware of the issues', 'convince people to change their lifestyles' etc. I always come to the point that the environmental issues we are facing are not something that can be easily fixed with one simple solution, they will require a whole network of people and ideas being put into play together, all working towards the same cause, even if that cause is tangential to some.

As I read on into Paths to a Green World: The Political Economy of the Global Environment by Jennifer Clapp and Peter Dauvergne, I discovered many of my solution  considerations within several of the four typologies. The desire to put in place a new system is very much institutionalist. The wary feeling that constantly striving towards further economic growth is akin to building the Tower of Babel, is where I align with the Bioenvironmentalist. And the disturbance I feel at the loss and pollution of various pieces of culture due to globalization, is my connection with The Social Greens. Regarding the lassiez-faire attitude of the Market Liberals, that the system if correctly encouraged will clean everything up on it's own doesn't convince me. Although I will admit to being something of a purist in regards to general economic policy, I don't think that the environmental problems will be solved in this way. In fact I don't think that environmental problems will be solved by any one of these typologies, it is certainly going to be a mixture of many things over time that lead to the vast changes needed so desperately. 

Regardless of my agreement or disagreement, these readings gave me words, clarity and a set of typologies with which to further my own considerations on this subject; a safety bar to hold onto so I can open my eyes a little wider, and face the situation. Even if only for brief moments at a time.