"It's the Little Things"

Global warming is a serious issue that our world is currently faced with. All it takes is an eight degree increase in our current atmospheric temperature to cause severe changes in our climate and environment. This seemingly small increase in temperature will lead to more frequent and severe weather, higher wildlife extinction rates, and other terrible events that will harm the planet and all of its inhabitants, including humans. In Station Eleven, the Georgia Flu begins in the Republic of Georgia and Russia, and quickly spreads all over the world, causing an pandemic. Considering the similarities between global warming and the Georgia Flu, it is evident that seemingly small events can have extreme consequences. A simple way to explain this is a theory called the Butterfly Effect. The underlying metaphor of the theory is that through an intricate series of events, the details of a tornado can be influenced by something as simple as a butterfly flapping its wings a few weeks prior.

Although we do not know what exactly caused the Georgia Flu, it was most likely brought to Canada and the rest of the world by just someone infected on a plane. Thus, for people on that plane, by simply boarding that specific flight, they were lead to their deathbeds.

Also, the Georgia Flu is a disease which means it is made of bacteria or viruses that are so small that we can’t even see it with the naked eye. How can something that minuscule lead to the collapse of civilization? In the case of global warming, it is the small things that we do everyday that create the overall temperature increase and buildup of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere that could lead to environmental catastrophes.

For example, think about driving a car. Most of us do not consider the effects driving may have we feel no immediate effects and there seems to be no other method for us to get from one place to another. You think that since everyone is already driving everywhere, you driving your car to the local grocery store has such an insignificant consequence on the greater issue of global warming. In the United States, vehicles powered by an internal combustion engine emit 24 pounds of carbon dioxide gas and other pollutants for every gallon of gasoline burned. An average car can hold up to 10 gallons of gasoline which means that every time you fill up your engine with gas, you have already emitted about 240 pounds of pollutants into the atmosphere. And that’s only you; those numbers do not account for the billions of other people on the planet who use gasoline powered vehicles as well.

Through our careless actions, we are enroute to the end of the natural world.

The events that occur in Emily St. John Mandel’s novel, Station Eleven are examples of what could potentially become of humanity if we continue to be careless with our actions. With the collapse of civilization and lack of electricity, the humans that haven’t been killed by the Georgia Flu are struggling to survive. In the present day, we have ironically become entirely dependent on what is slowly killing us, like electricity and gasoline. Without these luxuries, we do not know how to live, and civilization crumbles. Whether it be by an outbreak of a disease or a climate catastrophe, we are on the route to destroying our own existence because of our ignorance to small details that can lead to catastrophes.

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Works Cited: Denchak, Melissa. “Are the Effects of Global Warming Really That Bad?” NRDC, 10 Sept. 2018, www.nrdc.org/stories/are-effects-global-warming-really-bad.