Customer Reviews

As the World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Stay in Denial#A Graphic Novel

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The anarcho-primitive activist and post-civilization philosopher Derrick Jensen really knows how to make an impact. Readers who agree with his general philosophy need not agree with every single one of his positions, though you can't deny that he's very effective at advancing them with deft use of persuasion and polemics. This tongue-in-cheek graphic novel came as a bit of a surprise, because I assumed that the "stay in denial" portion of the title would be directed at anti-environmentalists. On the contrary, the book is actually directed at environmentalists who have fallen for popular rhetoric about how their individual actions (recycling, buying new light bulbs, driving a hybrid, etc.) may actually make a major difference in the health of the planet. I don't totally agree with Jensen's disdain for personal virtue, but it's hard to deny that casual environmentalism detracts attention from the true causes of the world's problems. The status quo in business, economics, and politics is the real problem, and to save the planet we might just need a revolutionary structural overhaul of modern civilization. While this fictional story is simplistic and a bit forced, and comes nowhere near the intelligence and emotion of Jensen's other works, as an entertaining graphic novel the message is quite compelling. The low-key but expressive artwork of political cartoonist Stephanie McMillan surely adds to the effect. Perhaps this type of quick-hitting storytelling, rather than lengthy technical and philosophical screeds, will inspire caring folks to take real action. [~doomsdayer520~]

Derrick Jensen and Stephanie McMillan's As the World Burns is a revolutionary graphic novel decrying the failure of the green movement. We have become a self-congratulatory society of "green" consumers, recyclers, yogi mediators, and letter-writers. Utilizing pigtailed girls, a one-eyed eco-revolutionary bunny, and a wise bird, the authors expose the fallacies of patting ourselves on the back as we continue down an unsustainable consumption path headed straight for world destruction. Some quick math performed by Kranti (a character from McMillan's Minimum Security cartoon) reveals that even if everyone (100% of the US population) changed our light bulbs, recycled half our total waste, cut our driving in half, installed low-flow showerheads, and adjusted our thermostats by two degrees, the end results would be a ONE-TIME 21% reduction in carbon emissions, which given our current rate of growth, would be offset in 10 years.

The real culprits in our ecocide? Corporations and the government they have in their pockets. And what are they doing? Running marketing campaigns and releasing movies to convince individual consumers to take the blame. In As the World Burns, a former-politician-turned-activist conspires with corporations to distract individuals from the systemic predicament, knowing full well that green consumers will pay more to feel good about themselves.

As the World Burns is much more than sharp dialogue about the futility of eco-friendly consumerism. Aliens have also arrived on the planet, intent on eating up all Earth's resources, and expecting to have to fight the planet's current residents. To their surprise, the Bible-thumping Dad-worshipping President gladly gives away the planet in exchange for bars of gold, which the aliens know is absolutely useless, not even giving the humans a buzz, but they go gaga for it. The plot thickens even farther as a pill-pushing therapist tries to medicate away our heroine's societal discontent, the one-eyed Bunnista starts his own campaign to free tortured animals, and the government locks bunnies and any suspected bunny sympathizers in terrorist detention centers.

The authors of As the World Burns argue that modern industrial society is inherently unsustainable, requiring a no-compromise stance from activists who truly want to change the direction of the global population. In the novel, a raccoon advises, "Stop insisting on your growth economy, on acquiring more and more until you consume the entire planet." We can no longer ignore the natural world, but as the wise bird educates us, humans lived in harmony with nature for thousands of years and could learn to again if we were willing.

Another excellent work from Derrick Jensen. The so-called green movement is being co-opted by the very mega corporations who are doing the destroying of the planet. They make the big decisions, they rig the elections, they own the mass media and public mind control technologies, they control the economy, the money and they will not stop. Al Gore described part of the problem and told us what we can do, but Derrick does the math. If every man woman and child did them all, and they never would, it only adds up to 21% of the carbon that the US spews. The rest comes from the mega industries and their carbon spew increases about 2% per year so that savings won't last long. Buying green products will not save the planet. We need to find a way for people to understand that they are being bamboozled so they can step into their own power. For those who will say this book is short on solutions I say that is because there really isn't going to be any solution until a lot of people quit believing all the green-wash hype. How we get everyone talking to one another and getting out of our mass denial, so we can do something effective, is the project that we need to focus on. Derrick has described what we are denying, now we have work to do. We see the enemy and it is us, ...but mostly its them.

Follow the adventures of a too-observant young girl and a mysterious one-eyed stuffed bunny as they face down a liberal best friend, a sell-out psychiatrist, Al Gore, vivisectors, prison guards, and space aliens, on the way to the revolution! Sound like an unlikely plot? Yet it somehow works, with a story that finds its own edge between naturalism and the mythic, perfectly illustrated by Stephanie McMillan's naif-style illustrations. You'll be cheering by the end, ready to join the determined army of the wild rising like the tide in a last-page effort to save the planet. And where the story ends is where we have to begin.

Funny, grim, delightful and dead serious all at once.

This graphic novel presents a satiric view of the most destructive elements of our society: human beings, especially the ones who are devoted to money, progress, and technology. The story line follows a disparate group of characters: space alien robots, corporate CEO's, government functionaries, children, a "terrorist" bunny named Bunnista, and an assorted cast of various animals, plants, and even fish. The first panels depict two girls discussing why changing your light bulbs and recycling bottles aren't enough to save the planet. The plot thickens as space alien robots pay corporate and government agencies for the right to consume all the earth's resources (except for a token 70 trees, 70 rocks, 70 fish, etc.) Bunnista releases animals from a research lab, the authorities round up ALL rabbits in retaliation, and the scene is set for a big confrontation between rabbits, animals, children, and indigenous people against the evil forces of the aliens/government who wish to annihilate all life forms that do not directly lead to corporate profit.

The comic-style drawings are amusing, appealing, and at times heartbreaking, as when a little bear says goodbye to his mother as she runs off to do battle with the aliens. There is most definitely a message in this fine stew of eco-tragicomedy: Jensen and McMillan have teamed up to provide a rationale for activism that goes beyond putting a few things in the recycle bin each day.

This graphic novel would work well for high school students, 14 and up. Art classes, history or government classes, leadership classes, journalism classes, or literature classes could hold some fine discussions after reading this book, or selections from it. Teachers could assign students to create their own social commentary by way of a comic strip or graphic novel. Highly recommended for adults as well. Danger: this book will make you feel as well as think!

It's hard to be angry, truly angry, and funny. Jensen and McMillan try to be both in this book, but they come across as more angry than funny. There is some funny satire, especially of psychologists, but many attempts at humor rest on stereotypes such as policemen with mustaches, greedy CEOs, or politicians who have long since sold out to the system.

This book is built around a good basic idea: alien robots come to devour the earth, discover that corporations already have a license to do this, and then need to get the licenses themselves. They achieve this by giving politicians gold bars, which happen to be the robots' excrement, both abundant and useless. The environmental movement launches an all-but-worthless campaign to stop the oppose, but an alliance of animals and sympathetic humans eventually rises up to stop the aliens, corporations, and politicians.

As is obvious from the Amazon description, this is a graphic novel - - that is, what we old folks would have called a comic book. The comic is crudely drawn. It does not compare favorably to the manga books that my kids have around the house, and the drawing style is more in the style of (dare I say it?) "Captain Underpants." I know that the crude style is intentional, but as a reader of a certain age, I found it distracting.

The text presents many of Derrick Jensen's ideas effectively: the destructiveness of civilization; the evil of corporations; the complicity of psychologists, police, and big media, among many many others; and the ineffectiveness of the traditional Left. Some points are simplistic, ideological screeds, while others are interesting, even challenging.

Readers of Jensen's other work will not be surprised to learn that Jensen and McMillan mock nonviolent strategies, and not without reason. But their vision of violence in this book is simplistic - - merely by killing the evil robots and their corporate stooges, civilization ends and nature is saved. A little reflection on the French or Russian Revolutions, among others, would suggest that killing the bad guys may not accomplish what you want it to accomplish.

Rating: 4 for text, 3 for graphics (not my taste) and humor (not enough); because it's intended as a synthetic work, round down. But it's still worth reading.

The story seems simple but has a complex theme. Aliens show up who want to eat the world and, in return, will pay in gold. Of course the government gives in. The plot, in other words, is just a delivery system to tell us the facts. We're losing the planet. Much of what we do, from changing light bulbs to recycling, while good is not good enough. We need a total redesign of our culture, our ways of thinking, and we need to value life more than we value air conditioning and fast food. I'm not sure about using bombs and death rays BUT we do need to change things now. No, I mean right now. Not after YOU'RE dead. Funny enough this book very likely killed a tree but what can you do?

This is a funny graphic novel about the destruction of Earth because of greed. The solution in this book is violence and some reviewers have been appalled by this theory. What is the answer then? Carbon trading? Buying green products? Planting trees? These solutions do not solve the problem with the world, instead they solve the problem of shame in some people. If this book is a bit cynical for you try reading the Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken. I did one star because no one will read the review if I give it a good rating. This is a good, quick read and I definitely recommend this book to a friend.

Very depressing. Makes a clear case that corporate fixes for our doomed civilization are so muuch hogwash. You know, the fixes that urge us to buy new light bulbs and others seen on various corporate green ads. Oh, the one where a woman urges us to respect her company because it "keeps us moving" as if that were a great human need in a polluted world under constant onslaught from global warming storms, fires, and droughts.

Should be given to everyone who likes comics instead of non-fiction books.

some people find global warming and environmental destruction to be difficult to consider and ameliorate. these people are often told that doing simple easy things will allow them to help the planet whilst remaining comfortable in their unchanging lifestyle. this book shows and explains in a very nice manner that these people are fools and must do much more than buying nicer products to combat the deadly(to all life) problem of destruction of the biosphere. this book should be given to everyone you think will learn from reading this book. recycling does help, but the problem is much larger than what recycling can solve. no one should forget this.