How you decide to approach a challenge says a lot about you. Whether you go in with confidence or are more easily intimidated. That’s not to say that one person approaches every challenge the same way, regardless there are usually patterns that reveal a certain tendency.
I am often eager to approach a challenge head on but I often lack the self confidence to completely follow through with everything I aspire to do. I tend to over think things and I constantly compare my abilities to others. But what I am beginning to realize is that challenges do not necessarily require one course of action to succeed. Instead creativity is key because what might work for one person may not work for another. Things are never as linear as they may appear and to that effect challenges are likely to have more than one solution.
I think Environmental Studies tries to spark this creativity within students. Environmental Studies is an inclusive major and as a result environmental action has the potential to be achieved through a multitude of mediums. This inclusivity allows for challenges to be met in myriad of ways, allowing so many different types of people to be involved in the movement. Intersections between Environmental Studies and other topics also have the power to achieve the same effect.
Although Environmental Studies encourages innovation and creativity, hierarchy still exists. What I mean by this is that although different groups of individuals may have equally effective ways of dealing with a problem one way will always be regarded at a higher esteem in comparison to another way. For example technological innovation may be given more praise than a solution that strives to solve environmental issues at the local level. Despite this tendency that does not mean that local or even individual efforts are not worthy of praise, rather this is a flaw and something that must be recognized. I think this is why people are so quick to criticize and say that your contribution does not matter. Instead we all need to realize that challenges do not point to linear solutions and we should continue to encourage creativity.