Human-caused climate change through CO2 emissions is a highly controversial issue these days.  Despite much scientific evidence, some still refuse to believe that industrialized society is hurting ecosystems, and thus progress toward a more sustainable life is slow.  Faced with the prospect of humanity soon destroying the planet, environmentalists have tried several methods to open people’s eyes and encourage behavioral change that will be healthier for our world.

One of the most famous cases of environmental campaigning is the “350” program, created by Bill McKibben, author of one of the first books on climate change, “The End of Nature.”  In 350’s “Do the Math” movie, Van Jones, CEO and co-founder of the program “Rebuild the Dream,” summarizes 350’s mission when he states “…we’re going to take [the] money away from the problem-makers and give it to the problem-solvers” (31:09).  McKibben goes on a tour around the country, informing people of climate change statistics, and directly inviteing those who come to take action by lobbying with peaceful protests to move money from polluting and controlling fossil fuel companies to cleaner renewable energy.  His focus is on taking down the corporations, and he’s taken on the responsibility of leading the charge in a very direct way.

On the other hand, activist Barbara Kingsolver has taken a subtler approach.  As a writer of many novels involving major issues, including climate change, she influences people more with her written than spoken word.  In journalist Jeanne Supin’s interview with her, entitled “The Moral Universe,” Kingsolver explains that she is an introvert, but she doesn’t keep her work to herself because she recognizes the importance of her subjects. Because of her shyness, Kingsolver gets her point across not with open talks but by incorporating issues into the contexts of the lives of relatable, fictional characters in her stories, and that’s what draws people towards her side.  Rather than really pushing her ideas like McKibben does, however, she more ambiguously believes “…people can conclude whatever they please” (Kingsolver), and later analogizes her work to sending messages in a bottle that her readers may or may not pay attention to: “I think of throwing my books out on the water, and they float away, like messages in bottles, and I don’t know where they’re going to end up.  I love when people find those bottles and do something meaningful” (Kingsolver).  She’s simply setting out an option, stepping back, and letting her readers decide what they will do with the information; if they remain unaffected or disagree, that’s sad but still their choice.  Yet this strategy of encouragement without force has changed many of her readers’ perspectives and lifestyles. From this, we can see that while Kingsolver is more reserved in how she encourages social change, both she and McKibben have been quite successful in using their different strategies to get people to care more about remedying global warming.

Works Cited

Kingsolver, Barbara. “The Moral Universe.” The Sun, March 2014. Web. https://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/459/the-moral-universe Accessed 25 Oct 2017.

McKibben, Bill. “Do the Math.” 350. 2013. Web. http://act.350.org/signup/math-movie/ Accessed 25 Oct 2017.