Are We Desensitized to the Environmental Crisis?

By Ghazal Khalife, Guest Writer

As everyone returned from a long vacation looking forward to starting the new year, students were slightly apprehensive about the 18-hour-long intensive course named “Ecological Literacy.” The school had sent an email containing three required readings for this course, each explaining a different angle of the environmental crisis, whether the associated inequalities, the economic challenges posed by it or its devastating repercussions on our survival. A common attitude towards the course was that of nonchalance, not towards the question of climate change itself but rather regarding the need to study such a widely explored and “redundant” topic. As a student who insisted on attending each one of these long — at times triggering — lectures, I have noticed that perhaps this course links to a greater overarching theme, desensitization towards the climate crisis as a whole, maybe we know the facts and we know the repercussions but just cannot bring ourselves to do anything about it?

The course’s main professor, Nathan Marom, was able to harness students’ interest, especially impressive considering the long hours of class in the early morning. Students posed questions, interact ed with the teacher and shared their own opinions on factors that exacerbated this existential problem and hindered a solution. The class followed a thematic structure alternating from a purely scientific approach to a historical account of the environmentalist movement and, finally, an overview of the economic and hence political undertones of the fight against climate change. These approaches highlighted the multidimensionality of this issue. Among the debates in class that caused the most controversy is the idea around the individual’s role in combating climate change as opposed to government and industry agents. What all students shared, however, was a strong opinion on the crisis, either strongly in favor of radical, systemic changes or in favor of free-market reforms and such. Everyone knows about the environment’s problems, to differing extents, but not everyone shares the same passionate engagement.

In my opinion, the course itself did not introduce any powerful revelations, as SciencesPo students we have more than likely been exposed to different kinds of pollution and economic policies to target climate change. Nonetheless, the courses serve as a reminder — especially to those of us prioritizing political goals and economic growth — that beyond all the immediate dangers of diplomatic conflict, power imbalances and economic competition are the imminent dangers of global warming, pollution and the depletion of natural resources.

Domino Morris, a former environmental sciences international baccalaureate student, pointed out that the course was interesting and largely coherent in the way it presented the topic.

All in all, the need behind taking this course and the general attitude towards it coincide as telltale signs of general desensitization towards this pressing topic. Whether on social media or TV, outlets are saturated with content on the crisis. For the average citizen, this could cause a monetary shock or sense of disappointment but not necessarily an impetus for change.