By: Max Lorenze
Spring semester of ENVS 160 opens up as an examination and explanation of various ideas, policies, and philosophies. Overall it has been rather fascinating to delve deeper into topics and issues I had preexisting knowledge in. Specifically thru Vaclav Smil’s work Making the Modern World. His work went more in-depth to the complex subject of how material is used and transferred in our world. Along with the importance of the group project, situating minerals, with how it related to Smil’s work. In other cases our texts have open my eyes to better understanding how others think and work. That insight came from Mike Hulme’s Why We Disagree About Climate Change.
Making the Modern World by Vaclav Smil was undeniably one of the most challenging books that I have ever read. When Bill Gates called Vaclav Smil one of the smartest people alive it seemed fitting. It was more than his work being complex and absurdly dense. It was very high minded but every word held a gem of knowledge. Smil’s work forced me to delve deeper into how materials are used. Off this work the team assignment we did that was associated with situating minerals was very valuable to make Smil’s topic more manageable. Specifically my group examined copper. It was interesting learning about one of the most influential minerals in our society. Learning about how this mineral played such a key role in our society helped me connect with how much a resource we use compared to the total amount available. Smile finished his work by summing up his complex ideas, “In contrast, the last 50 years have sen the res of concerns about the ultimate availability of the Earth’s resources and about the biosphere’s ability to cope with the consequences of their mass extraction and use”(Smil 2014). This simplified explanation was the most simple depiction I could find of his views.
Overall the book that change my interpretations the most was the first book we read, Why We Disagree About Climate Change by Mike Hulme. Specifically the part that shocked me had to do with the religious perspective on climate change. My preconceived notion was that religious interests are part of the problem. But through the depiction in chapter 5 Hulme examines how even back into the early 2000’s their was consistence among most religious leaders of the importance for humans to car for their environment. This was depicted through the Conferences of the Parties or COP meetings between policy, political, scientific, and religious leaders. This was completely perplexing to me, I was convinced that religion did not take this stance. What was also fascinating was though they took an environmentalist stance, like the Christian Mennonite, “If we are ever able to stop destroying our environment, it will be a because person by person we decide… to turn aside from greed and materialism”(Hulme 2009). This quote really examines one of the root causes of climate change. The other side of religious environmentalist thought was it is human’s moral responsibility to take care of earth.