Zizek and ecology

Many of the things Zizek talked about in his works were eye opening to me. Out of the four “horsemen” that he named: ecology, economy, biology, and society, the discussion that interested me the most was that of ecology. As I am currently taking an environmental science course, I found many parallels between what Zizek said and what I have learned in the first few weeks of class. Although his thought process was difficult to follow and at times seemed unbelievable, it is true that the majority of scientists now agree that we have entered a new era of existence, which they have labeled the “Anthropocene” (which Zizek refers to). There is irrefutable evidence that our human activities have shaped the Earth and caused the problems of water and air pollution, loss of biodiversity, and deforestation. As Zizek states, our actions are simply disturbing the conditions we need to maintain our own survival. His main argument is that our human denial of problems until they are too obvious to deny, which makes us accept the situation of the world without hope of changing the course of events, will be our downfall. I think this point is so true and reveals the basic fact of human nature that many people do not realize the harm in denying problems. We must instead look to the problems at hand and take responsibility to work for our survival.