When I entered the intro to environmental science course, I was expecting an even more in depth study of what I learned in AP environmental science and possibly some new facts that I didn’t know about. I was surprised to find out that this was a very different take on the subject at hand that forced me to think about it in a very different way and has changed quite a few of my views. Below are three of the most important lessons that I have taken away from this class.
The first important lesson I learned that’s worth mentioning had to do with the climate change unit. I pretty much always viewed it as obvious that climate change was a thing and that deniers were just uninformed or refused to accept the truth. I now realize however, that climate change is can mean different things to different people based on cultural and religious background among many other things. With that in mind, as well as further knowledge about the historical background of the term “climate” I now realize that climate change is not as simplistic as I thought it to be and should be approached with these facts in mind.
Another important lesson that I learned in environmental science was that nuclear energy as a solution may not be as bad as people make it out to be and that what environmental activists often regard as the alternative solution(solar and wind) isn’t quite as “environmentally friendly” as I was lead to believe. I was always under the impression that nuclear energy was a curse due to a few catastrophes that have been caused as a result of nuclear energy. However, after having that Skype conversation and discussing it further in class I realized I could have had the facts twisted this whole time. I did my own research and discovered that nuclear energy is indeed a viable solution that is very often overlooked by many due to the fact that nuclear energy was introduced to the world in the form of the atomic bomb. It also has become clear to me that the environmental risks surrounding nuclear energy are far less severe than I was lead to believe.
In the recent reading Who Rules The Earth I learned about the importance of being feasible. We often strive for environmental change that can be unrealistic at times. Being feasible means knowing that we can’t have everything that we might hope for, but the world is not the best version of itself so therefore we must create the best possible version of it in our lifetime. I am one who strives for serious change and sometimes find myself going overboard in terms of what I want. This section of Who Rules The Earth made me realize that change can happen, but it has to be within the limits of what the world can provide and not be imaginable.
The overall theme of these lessons is to be open minded and to not get dragged into one side of the spectrum when it comes to environmental issues because there is often a lot of details being left out on both sides and there is historical and cultural background about the topics to be considered. This has indeed been an unexpected take on the environment, but I have gotten a lot out of it so far and intend to take what I learn and apply it to the real world.