As skepticism becomes rarer, global climate change (and the drivers behind it) find a new friend: Apathy

To address both questions at once—I believe that addressing the attitudes espoused by Stanley Fish and some of his followers is the most pressing challenge facing anyone looking to affect positive environmental change. Fish’s apathy is a scary thing to face; how could one engage him in meaningful discourse when all he wants to do is complain? Proving that his way of life is unsustainable and contributing to climate injustice isn’t hard—he’s already admitted it. What one has to do is convince him that it matters. Too many can ignore that fact because they can so easily displace the negative environmental effects of their lifestyle onto other people.

Fish refuses to accept the trivial aspects of environmental responsibility because he feels that they might subtract from his quality of life. He is comfortable, and chooses not to give it up, though its continuation is being bought at a dear price. Perhaps if being environmentally friendly were easier, or profitable, he would reconsider his actions.

One of the supportive responses to this blog concludes with the erroneous declaration: “There are many ways to helping the environment without degrading quality of life.” Out of context, I wholeheartedly agree with this statement, but the author of the post (“addicted”) meant to say something much different. “Addicted” would purport that people can help the environment without sacrificing their material quality of life. They could find ways to continue living how they’ve always been and still meaningfully address environmental issues.

I would argue that helping the environment would entail redefining our concept of “quality of life.” If we shifted our focus and energy from material accumulation to environmental stewardship and found more meaning in real relationships and less in artificial interactions, we could much more easily find happiness in living sustainably. What would be so much more effective to change in Mr. Fish’s life is not his actions—what would have much further reaching consequences would be to change his values. If only it was as easy as giving up was...