With each passing day it seems as if the status of environmental health and well being becomes lower and less likely to improve. Modern society, in particular Western modern society has been swept away with technology that involves a high frequency of energy consumption. The use of such technologies is so ingrained into the everyday lives of people around the world, especially in North America, that it is almost unimaginable for most people to be without it. On many levels, technology facilitates life for millions of people in North America, as well as in many regions of Europe and more developed regions of the world. This society relies so heavily on the use of these forms of technology that it is taken for granted and hardly even considered. This unnatural phenomenon has swept over many parts of the world often going unnoticed.
Global warming, climate change, oil depletion, pollution, water contamination and other countless planet harming events have become a bigger deal today than they have ever been considered as before. It seems to have crept up on today’s society out of the blue. These life-threatening realities seem to have not existed only a few short years ago or at least to the extent that they are being considered at now. It is almost as if the people of the world have practically used the world’s resources to such a maximum capacity that they are close to complete exhaustion.
Energy use, emission of green house gases, environmental contamination and other events that occur on such large scales as these have been happening for decades but the effects and potential effects are only being felt and foreseen at this point in time. The question now lays in the issue of what people can do to turn this planet threatening situation around. In the beginning pages of “Igniting a Revolution”, Bron Taylor discusses the notion that the planet is in such a state of peril that many are tired of sitting back and watching this happen. Beyond that even, many activists have made attempts to send their message out and have looked to assistance from officials and governments that have the ability to raise awareness and set rules that when combined, could truly set precedence and make a difference. The use of technology functions both for and against this movement. The use of technology often requires such high levels of energy that people could never fathom that their everyday actions require energy on such a grand scale. Technology is the leading issue when it comes to environmental peril and global damage. There are so many factors to take into consideration when it comes to the depletion of non renewable global resources that they are literally countless.
On the other side of this problem, technology is used to send a message against its use. Radical activists and environmentalists alike have gone to extremes to have their voices heard. This course has taught that sometimes when civil behavior and communication proves itself not to be enough, people who care enough will go to violent extremes in attempts to make a difference. Bron explains that the term “revolutionary” is not a concept that should be feared, but rather to be understood as a process of positive change making and as something that is long lasting rather than disposable. The author goes on to say that many of the ‘revolutionaries’ that together created “Igniting a Revolution” part-take in efforts to change the current social system for they do not believe that the appropriate foundation has been set to facilitate a difference.
This book is comprised of many authors who want to make a difference through activism and speaking out against the state. In many ways this is a form of citizen media. Average people working along side one another in efforts to make a difference. Having your voice heard and facilitating an arena in which to have this happen is what activism and citizen media is all about.
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