I had never taken any class in environmental studies or science before this course. The only time I had ever discussed environmental issues and climate change in my academic courses was in my biology course. I think that this gave me a very science-focused perspective on climate change.
I found that the most important lesson I have learned in ENVS 160 is the basic interdisciplinary nature upon which the environmental studies curriculum is based. Throughout high school, I often thought of big topics such as environmentalism being ruled mostly by a scientific point of view and mindset. The interdisciplinary perspective we use to look at environmental issues in this course has been an extremely important lesson that I hope to continue to use as I move through other ENVS courses and through life in general. I noticed this the most in our first text, Why We Disagree About Climate Change (Hulme 2009). The different sections and reasons “we disagree about climate change” really emphasized the different points of view of these issues. It also enforced the various factors that played into every environmental issue and the debates we see every day in the news or in pop culture. It gave me a deeper and better understanding into the mindsets of various groups of people and indicated some of the reasons they may have different values when discussing climate change. I have found that these ‘big ideas,’ such as environmentalism are not as simple as they seem and that they are much more complex.
The second lesson I learned in this course involves the information we learned from the ecotype survey axes and the various ways in which people from our class and other students viewed the issues and concepts that influence our ideas of climate change. This also played into Hulme (2009)’s book and the ways that different upbringings and values contribute to our views on climate change. One specific axis that I found extremely interesting was the difference between nature versus hybrid perspectives, and the ways in which this interacted with other axes, such as conservatism versus liberalism and apocalyptic versus hopeful. These all tied together closely, and I enjoyed learning about the ways that both sides of the argument were deeply influenced by these perspectives. I had never viewed myself as someone who thought of nature as pure, but by taking this survey, I found that I had a much more mixed perspective than I had previously assumed. I found that I viewed climate change from an apocalyptic perspective, and the more I think about it, I find this to be true. I often view nature as pure, and with that view climate change from an apocalyptic point of view. In this course, however, even since taking this ecotypes survey, I have found that my point of view has shifted slightly, altering my vision to see nature as slightly more hybrid, and with a more hopeful perspective. I found it deeply interesting to see the ways in which a pure view of nature may be dangerous, as it can make changes difficult while attempting to incorporate technology. I found a way to be more reflective in my own ideas or values, especially in relation to climate change.
The third lesson I learned in this course is the importance of the economy when considering climate change. This was mentioned the most in Vaclav Smil’s Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization (2013). He describes in detail the economic importance and value we play on resources that influence the world around us. As I mentioned previously, before this course I did not know much about environmental studies, other than a science-focused point of view. I found this text extremely interesting, as I am interested in the economy and the numbers behind our everyday lives. This text gave me a chance to follow specific resources, such as paper and aluminum, and a description of the various ways in which this is extracted, use, and recycled, in various nations and cultures around the world. The life cycle analyses helped me to understand this, and taught be about the importance of different types of materials, and their average lifespans. Not only did this give me a deeper understanding of the various tools and resources we use on a daily basis, but also gave me an insight into the reasons behind different reform and laws, and why certain companies and businesses would use certain products over others, even if some are often considered as having negative impacts on climate change.
All in all, this course gave me the basic foundation of understanding for how messy and complicated the big idea of environmentalism is, and how equally difficult the solutions are for issues such as climate change.
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