Problem
Kevin Baker, "Where Our New World Begins."
Stephen Johnson, "The Myth of the Ant Queen.
Answer the essay prompt in bold below
In both Johnson and Baker's essay's, we learn about the origins of climate change, but also the steps that were taken (or not taken) to combat it. In Kevin Baker's "Where Our New World Begins," he examines the impacts of economic and environmental policies during the Great Depression. He explains how climate activists, utopians, populists, and scientists worked together, and "they controlled a seemingly uncontrollable crisis" (Baker 26). But these reforms were not always popular in their time and, today, many politicians see New Deal style reforms as a threat to free markets and globalization (Baker 33). Stephen Johnson, in "Myth of the Ant Queen," dispels the idea that "top-down" leadership is needed to solve complex problems. When describing the unplanned emergence of Manchester-the world's first industrial city-he argues that "regulations and city planners" were not responsible for the city's class divides, but instead these emerged through organized complexity. Taken together, these two essays demonstrate the risks and the benefits of both top-down and bottom-up forms of organization, and how these have played out, often in stark contrast, throughout history.
What can the past teach us about efforts to conserve the nature and combat climate change? However, you will need to consider the counterpoint: why might the past not always help us see the path forward?