THE IDEA OF PROGRESS

Transcription

1 THE IDEA OF PROGRESS Progress: development towards a better, more complete, or more modern condition. The idea of progress basically consists in believing that the world can become better in terms of science, technology, quality of life and has shaped most of Western civilization s vision of history. Progress implies changes, evolution from an old order. As the rhythm of progress seems to have accelerated over the last few decades with an even faster increase in major technological and scientific breakthroughs, the impact on the planet is now being questioned. Indeed, a growing number of people voice their concern about the ethical, social and environmental impact of our modern societies. Climate smart How do English-speaking countries deal with climate change issues? A video: Leonardo Di Caprio s speech as a UN Ambassador for Peace 2014 A video: Before the Flood trailer A text: Making things change Naomi Klein (This Changes Everything, 2015) A video: California Droughts NBC news ( An article: Australia Heatwaves (Oliver Milman, The Guardian, 2015) An article: The Maldives climatic Refugees ( Randeep Ramesh, The Guardian, 2008) An article: Global warming in Canada (phys.org, 2015) A text: Frankenstorm (Kathryn Miles, Superstorm: Nine Days Inside Hurricane Sandy, 2014) An article: Redesigning Cities (Irina Vinnitskaya, archdaily.com 2012)

2 A call for awareness Leonardi Di Caprio UN Ambassador for Peace Thank you, Mr Secretary General, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentleman, and distinguished guests. I m honored to be here today, I stand before you not as an expert but as a concerned citizen, one of the 400,000 people who marched in the streets of New York on Sunday, and the billions of others around the world who want to solve our climate crisis. As an actor, I pretend for a living. I play fictitious characters often solving fictitious problems. I believe that mankind has looked at climate change in that same way: as if it were a fiction, as if pretending that climate change wasn t real would somehow make it go away. But I think we all know better than that now. Every week, we re seeing new and undeniable climate events, evidence that accelerating climate change is here right now. Droughts are intensifying; our oceans are acidifying, with methane plumes rising up from the ocean floor. We are seeing extreme weather events, and the West Antarctic and Greenland icesheets melting at unprecedented rates, decades ahead of scientific projections. None of this is rhetoric, and none of it is hysteria. It is fact. The scientific community knows it, industry knows it, governments know it, even the United States military knows it. The chief of the US navy s Pacific command, admiral Samuel Locklear recently said that climate change is our single greatest security threat. United Nations TV

3 We ve known about this for decades, for over half a century. Try to have a conversation with anyone about climate change, people just tune out and the problem seems to be getting worse and worse and worse. The truth is, the more I ve learned about this issue and everything that contributes to the problem, the more I realize how much I don t know. Paradise that has been degraded and destroyed. We re knowingly doing this. I just want to know how far we ve gone and if there s anything we can do to stop it. The US has been the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in history. Half the people in office still don t believe in climate change. This is the most important issue of our time. The question is, can we change our course in time.

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5 Droughts in California Journalist: California s drought has led to a historic water crisis. It s gotten so bad that this week the State s governor signs sweeping new legislation on ground water pumping, making it the last state in the West to regulate the practice. And with some local wells running dry, those who can afford it are drilling deeper and that s leaving some poor communities in the dust. Here s NBC s Al Rocker. Reporter: Monson is a speck of a town in California s San Joaquin valley. Woman: So this is our daily life no water. Reporter: And it s here that Gladys Collongus well went dry. So for three months you re living without what most people consider an everyday occurrence Woman: a precious liquid, yes. We can t shower; we have to carry in buckets to shower. Reporter: Gladys and her husband own their home and while the county is delivering drinking water, they are responsible for their own well. So where are you getting the water from? Woman: Well, when my husband gets off of work, he has to go hunting for water for us. Reporter: The Collongus are not alone. In nearby East Porterville, roughly 1,200 people are without water. And for the first time in a century, there was no service water, that is to say, water from mountains, rivers or lakes, to deliver to farmers. Expert: We are totally reliant right now on whatever flows underneath our feet. Reporter: And in order to get that water, almost everyone is having to drill deeper. Expert: So if agriculture loses that scarce, precious resource to grow agricultural crops, it s not just an impact to the farmer, it s an impact to this entire part of California. NBC News

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