While sitting down to reflected on this past semester in Environmental Studies, a few ideas stuck out to me more than many others. Many of these were fairly bubble shattering for me, and greatly affected what core concepts about environmentalism I believe in and gave me even further background to expand on those beliefs. Of these believes that truly stick out to me, below are three that I feel really affected the way I think about environmentalism and environmental studies.
Austerity Politics
The thing that stuck me the most occurred during the reading of Austerity Ecology (Phillips 2015), when I realized the same kind of austerity policies I have been opposed to in social policies (think defunding welfare safety nets and all around reduced governmental spending) were what I was often supporting in terms of environmental policies. These environmental policies punish developing countries and reduce their ability to grow their economies in the name of ecological benefit. However, these policies often do little to deal with issues created by developed countries, such as the United States. While certain policies that place harsh restrictions on developing countries can be useful and might be required in order to tackle the global issue of Climate Change, it’s certainly not the only strategy that needs to be taken and must be weighed with the potential damage those policies could cause to countries who have a right to strengthen their environment and increase their standard of living.
Hierarchical, Egalitarian, Fatalist, Individualist Axis
Another thing that made me stop and think was when we were discussing the hierarchical, egalitarian, fatalist and individualist axis. Much like with austerity politics, I was aware of such terms used in a wider political meaning, but had never thought of them in environmental and ecological terms. Thinking of those terms in this way made it a little clearer as to the broad categories that different people think in with regards to environmental problems, and offered a little explanation as to why they might think like that. As someone who frequently gets frustrated and cannot comprehend why people think the ways they do about climate problems, this offered a little bit of eye opening in that aspect. Personally, it was also interesting to see which broad categories I fit under (egalitarian) and how that influences my thinking about nature. Many of these ideas I already had a vague understanding before discussing them in class, but it was eye opening putting a more definite explanation behind my thoughts.
Contemporary vs Classic Environmentalism
All throughout my childhood, I grew up with a family that was deeply invested in the natural sciences, including numerous environmental issues. This shaped my thoughts hugely, as it was all I knew and therefore became a huge factor about how I think about the world. It is largely for this reason that I chose to come to a college like Lewis and Clark and partake in the Environmental Studies program. However, as I soon realized once discussion began about contemporary and classic environmentalism, the ideas that I had grown up with were not the only legitimate ideas out there. Because of their own scientific and social background, my parent’s beliefs largely follow those of classic environmentalism (though even within this there are exceptions). Going into this class with fairly similar views, it was interesting to observe some other ideas that are being argued to solve certain environmental problems. Many ideas about things like the markets role in solving these issues and the ability of technology, such as nuclear, to greatly reduce our dependence on fossil fuels are ideas that I would have had a hard time being introduced to. That doesn’t mean I immediately adopted those new ideas, and in many cases the jury is still out on my own thoughts, but it does mean that I am getting a larger view point off which to make my own decision.
Citations
Phillips, Leigh. 2015. Austerity Ecology and the Collapse Porn Addicts: A Defense of Growth, Progress, Industry and Stuff. Winchester, UK; Washington, USA: Zero Books.