So far, Intro to Environmental studies has taught me many things about the idea of climate change and the environment. By this, I mean that I don’t necessarily feel as though I’ve learned many new things about the classic environmental studies that I think of when I think of a typical envs class, as I’ve taken two college level environmental studies courses before this one. The difference between those classes and this class is that ENVS 160 has taught me to look at the environment from more than one perspective. The book, Why We Disagree About Climate Change by Mike Hulme, was a big factor in the change in opinion that has occurred within me during this class. WWD taught me to look at the issue of global climate change from more than just my own perspective. Before reading this, my main argument for so-called “climate deniers” was, “It’s a proven fact, look at the science!”, when I myself have never actually looked at the science and didn’t realize that there is no actual way to prove that climate change exists because of human impact. There are many studies about the effects of the changing climate, but it’s actually very hard to prove why the climate is changing. Science is a tricky and confusing way to look at climate. Another really valuable lesson I’ve learned from this class, through Steinberg’s Who Rules the Earth, is the idea of rules. Rules govern everything about our everyday life and since reading this book, I have begin to notice which type of rules affect me in which ways in my everyday life. I think it’s valuable to understand why one lives the way they do. One of my favorite examples that he used was the one where he described that even if you didn’t want to be living under these rules, in order to escape, you would have to use your car to drive on a road to get into a forest and find an area probably government protected. All of these factors are governed by rules, and there is really no way to escape them. I think that my favorite lesson I’ve learned is also is WWD, and that lesson is this: People from all over the world have many varying ideas and different levels of access to information so I cannot expect everyone to agree with me about climate change. This inspires me to educate people in what I know. I cannot expect to change people’s opinions, but I would love to travel and inspire other people to care about this issue. I know, though, that people are selfish because they must be. If a farmer is struggling to survive and make enough money to feed his family, the last thing he is going to care about is that his fertilizer is bad for the environment. I think this class has made me more compassionate when it comes to looking at other people’s opinions.
Citations
Hulme, Mike. Why We Disagree About Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
Steinberg, Paul F. Who Rules the Earth?: How social rules shape our planet and our lives. New York, NY: Oxford Univ. Press, 2015.