In Kathleen Dean Moore’s article, “If Your House Is On Fire”, she explains her strategies for social activism, specifically climate change. Moore’s main claim in the article is that our civilization must reinvent new ways of living while balancing moral and spiritual obstacles without losing site of what is most important to us. She writes, “… although environmental emergencies call on us to change, they don’t call on us to give up what we value most. They encourage us to exercise our moral imagination and to invent new ways of living that life the human spirit and help biological and cultural communities thrive” (17). She stresses the importance of tapping into our morals in order to protect the future of younger generations. By lifting human spirit and keeping our values in mind, we will be able to recreate a better, more environmentally safe way of living – a way of living that will create biological and cultural success. In the article, Moore also suggests that parents and elderly people have a duty of protecting new generations by redefining our definition of love and what it means to provide for people.
Moore’s argument shows similarities and differences with Charles Duhigg’s and Bill McKibben’s writing about social change. Moore has a more uplifting and peaceful message where she stresses that caring for the environment is the same as showing love to those who are most important to us. Duhigg’s writing is similar in the way that he stresses that relationships and caring for each other can lead to change. However, he emphasizes the aspect of social pressure more than Moore does. McKibben’s arguments in his documentary is much more intimidation than Moore’s ideas. He uses straightforward facts as a scare tactic for his viewers. McKibben’s and Moore’s arguments, though, do relate through the idea of removing money and power from the fossil fuel industry and the government.
