Throughout reading Who Rules the Earth by Paul Steinberg I felt that I was constantly questioning all of the values that I have always held strongly regarding what to do about the changing climate. Growing up in an upper middle class politically conscious and fairly liberal minded community people were definitely concerned about the state of our natural environment and the changing climate. As a child I remember learning in school about ways in which we as individuals could go about helping to stop the progression of global warming. My teacher had us talk to our parents about changing our light bulbs to compact fluorescents and biking or walking to school. I also remember my dad wearing a tee shirt that said “think globally, act locally” and taking pride in the fact that we went to the farmers market every weekend.
After reading this book, especially chapters seven and nine, all of these lessons that I had grown up with were brought into question. Like when Steinberg discusses how the old adage of thinking globally and acting locally is just plain wrong. It is far too simplistic in its portrayal of the courses of environmental problems and the solutions at our disposal. We need to think and act at multiple levels if we are to make progress on vexing social and environmental problems. We need to think vertically”(Steinberg 2015, 163). When Steinberg directly critiques the mantra of “think globally, act locally” expressing his opinion that it is just plain wrong, I was not quite sure what to think. Reading through the section again, I began to understand why Steinberg took such a strong stance on the ways to address social and environmental problems. The idea of “thinking vertically” is used with more modern thought on how to address environmental issues and how the focus should be centered towards creating legislation that can have the maximum amount of leverage over the problem and affect over different levels of government.
An interesting term that I felt explained my initial reaction and why this book contradicted so many of my own beliefs was the idea that “generational turnover produces a very gradual drift in social priorities”(Steinberg 2015, 226) and how each generation adopts certain world views. I applied this idea to why my teachers and parents, all being of the same age and generation appeared to hold the same view on individual actions as the way to combat our changing climate.
Reading this work has helped me to come to the understanding that changing the way we view the climate will take time, and institutional action should be more prevalent. Steinberg does in fact state at the end of the book that, “if you embrace a new outlook on environmental issues, one that reveals the deeper social institutions shaping the outcomes you care about, this in no way suggests that you should stop doing the little things like recycling, growing your own food.” (Steinberg 2015, 278). The conclusion of this text made me feel better about being taught individual actions for my entire life, and that even though they are not the lense I should be looking through they are not to be disregarded.
Citation:
Steinberg, Paul F. Who Rules the Earth?: How Social Rules Shape Our Planet and Our Lives. New York, NY: Oxford Univ. Press, 2015.