.
“We could have saved ourselves but we didn’t.”
This is a quote I found noteworthy in the very beginning of the movie. We hate
to regret about the past because the past will never change no matter what. Unfortunately,
we are repeating the same process as we walk through a serious climate change. The
“Age of Stupid” chiefly appeals to our emotions that we will have to pay the
price for not preserving a sound environment. Logic dictates
that global warming is a major problem which requires aggregate effort of every
nation. However, they are playing hot potatoes with the responsibility to save
the environment because profit takes precedence in their minds. I believe
people are being stupid as it states in the title, on how they ignore
the severity of climate change despite the knowledge that something
has to be done with it. 
Firstly,
I was astonished by the duplicity of the developed nations. We have this ridiculous stereotype that the developed
nations are cleaning up the mess of developing nations.
However, each American consumes 8 times more energy than an average Chinese person. A quarter of Chinese energy
consumption is used fulfill the demands of western countries. It was quite surprising
that the US and Australia refused to sign on the original Kyoto Protocol. Also,
regarding the Iraq War, Alan Greenspan, the formal Federal Reserve Chairman
said “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what
everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.” It is rather contradictory how
the people generally perceive US and Europe as the father of democracy, liberty,
and responsible nations that pursue justice. Secondly, the repercussions of
greed intrigued me. Oil companies are encroaching into poor nations and engage
in complicity with the government. The profit from the oil is strictly limited
to the elite class and thusly the citizens are pushed further into the abyss of
poverty. At the same time social welfare regarding education
and health is
erased from these people’s lives. This is a vicious cycle for the Africans who
have to be the victims of both climate change and cruel oil corporations. Thirdly,
it is very disappointing that people are reluctant to take action. For
instance, a small town in England came down to an overwhelming opposition of
the construction of wind turbines. The main reason was that it spoils the view
and depreciates their property. Then a woman who inhabits the town comes up and
says that she is obviously cognizant of the necessity to implement renewable
energy sources in order to deal with global warming. After all, such NIMBY phenomena
make the resolutions to merely remain as no more than words.
 |
| The consumption of energy |
I
definitely believe the international society has to get the priorities
straight. Or else, we would be “not the only life forms to wipe ourselves out”
as the filmmaker said. The more we delay the heavier the consequences will be
in the future. Climate change is not a hoax, but it is a consensus of
mainstream science. Gilber Compo(picture on the right), a scientist at NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) said
"This shows that global warming over land is real, it is not an artifact
of the observing system. It is happening" at the European Geophysical
Union in Vienna. That is why the fact
that only 54% of Americans believe that global warming
is caused mostly by human activity, and only 58% believe that they are “somewhat”
or “very worried” about global warming according to IPCC Synthesis Report, is a major
problem. The world is
emitting 31 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every day, and so
far we succeeded to increase 0.6 degrees of average global temperature. Once we
reach 2 degrees, the planet will be nearly intolerable for us. 
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