Sandra Steingraber Des Despair Not Summary

Have you ever heard of the West African Black Rhinoceros? As of 2011 this species is extinct and society could have prevented it (Gerkens). The species is thought to have died off, because of poaching, but taking precautions could have prevented their extinction. This is just one example of Earth’s deterioration with irreversible consequences that could have been averted. Societies use Earth and all of its resources and expects no repercussions. The environmental crisis is real and needs to be addressed further to be resolved. In Sandra Steingraber’s essay “Despair Not,” she focuses on the two reasons of climate change, the effects and solutions, and the impacts on the future. Steingraber introduces her essay by talking about abolitionist, …show more content…
Steingraber starts her introduction into her essay with the story of the abolitionist, Elijah Lovejoy, who was killed by a mob. During this time slavery was still a major problem that was trying to be resolved and many people were dying for expressing their opinion, which is what happened with Elijah. The story even involves his family that he left behind when he passed away. Steingraber says, “Such as the fact that, at the time of his assassination, Elijah had a young family” (744). Elijah had a one-year old son and a pregnant wife that he left behind when he passed away. Elijah would never meet his unborn child and be there to watch his child grow. This touches a lot of people, because they think about how upset and sad they would feel if their loved ones passed away or they themselves passed away. Also, the story involves slavery, that time period many people were treated cruelly and unfairly. The reader could feel sadness for those treated as inferior and feel anger towards those who could treat another human being that way. The story continues with the way the community treated Elijah. Elijah lived in Illinois, a free state, and members of the community signed a resolution asking him to stop publishing his ideas and leave town. But those same members wouldn’t sign a resolution for a law against mob rule (745). This angers many readers knowing these people did not care enough to support Elijah’s awareness of a sick crime and protect him and his family from a mob. The community was ignoring the horrendous cruelty taking place in other states and wanted no one to notice their inaction. That’s a sad fact and Steingraber wants readers to know the same thing is happening with the climate crisis today. By using this story, she had the readers feeling strong emotions before she started developing her