- My plan to major in Geography was stopped in its tracks by the lack of a Geography major at Lewis & Clark. So naturally I turned to Environmental Studies as the closest alternative. ENVS-160: Introduction to Environmental Studies was seen as just a stepping stone into tapping away at the looming wall of course requirements that Environmental Studies here at good ol’ LC seems to be.
When normally asked what I’ve taken away from a class I would normally refer to my notes and the endless scribbling of theories, equations, facts, figures and probably the occasional THIS WILL BE IN THE MIDTERM-LEARN IT!!!! But when asked to reflect back on this hectic semester and the so-called “Introduction to” Environmental Studies content I feel that I can’t rely on a body of information in writing this. Rather I feel this class has taken what I thought I knew and thrown it back in my face with a resounding slap and a laugh at my naivety for thinking that I thought I had a basic grasp on the basis of environmental studies. This class has thrown the idea that “saving” the environment isn’t easy. Not that I thought that previously. I had just never considered the meaning of the environment differing for literally everybody: the expanse of what the word environment even means. Honestly I’m not even sure what the environment is anymore. No wonder my fellow Brit, Mike Hulme, wrote a book entitled Why We Disagree About Climate Change. I had never even considered the thought of religion, spirituality and ideology in regards to looking at climate change. I thought I understood the extent of the interdisciplinary nature of Environmental Studies but the readings we have been using have simply shown me that my understanding of how far-reaching and wide-spread a possible solution to climate change would be. The ideologies and beliefs of how we might mitigate and eradicate climate change that I was aware of before this course feels like a needle lost in the haystack. Will it ever make sense? I think the real idea that I took away from all of this is that: no-one really has any idea what the best solution is and will studying Environmental Studies even be of any help? Who knows? Watch this space.
WE ARE KILLING THE ENVIRONMENT. IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT. WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE UNLESS YOU DO SOMETHING NOW NOW NOW!!!!!!!
I had never recognized the concept apocalyptism before this class. I think many people who know me well would consider me a pessimist. I personally think I’m just British. Regardless, this class was the first time I recognized that perhaps my views surrounding climate change and anthropogen impact on the environment is in fact hugely impacted by the literature and media that we are often exposed to. (I will admit here and now that I do love the film The Day After Tomorrow-we used to watch it at the end of every semester in our Geography class in high-school.) Indeed, this class was the first time that I actually began to understand that this isn’t the most effective way of inducing change or encouraging people to educate themselves about the environment. Nor is it helpful as an Environmental Studies student, who as I’m beginning to see is forced to be open-minded about pretty much anything that’s thrown their way whether it be through the medium of blog posts, a fellow student or the numerical literature of our dear friend Vaclav Smill.
Is an -Ism some kind of insect?
Honestly I’m still not sure what an -ism is or what makes something an -ism. It seems like it could be anything, literally anything, just as long as those three letters are tacked on the end.If anything I’ve learned that throwing a Brobdingnagian word in simply isn’t necessary, nor beneficial. If anything these -ism words are simply labels that don’t necessarily convey the same idea to you as it might do to me. I think that the “investigating -isms” assignment really highlighted the fact that we have to be careful when simply throwing rhetoric round and ensure our true meaning is conveyed. I mean the last thing we need in Environmental Studies is more confusion. For real though.
Bibliography
Hulme, M. Why We Disagree about Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.