Intro to Environmental Studies was not the class what I expected it to be. I was under the impression that the curriculum was centered on the factual characteristics of the environment, so I was surprised to find that it was an interdisciplinary class focused on various approaches to thinking about the environment. Nevertheless, I have learned many lessons that I may not have learned if this class were solely an environmental science class. Three lessons I have learned thus far include: institutional action is needed in addition to individual action, place is not simply a location, and lastly, arguably most importantly, this class has taught be to keep an open mind when thinking about the environment or sustainability which I now know are big words that cannot be used carelessly.
The ecotypes survey provided a vast amount of information that I found to be very interesting. However, what stuck with me the most was the scale axis which examined whether our individual actions make an ecological difference or if collective, institutional action is needed. The survey responses leaned heavily to the individual side of the axis, a common belief stemming from classic environmentalism, but what was surprising is that although most of us in this class make personal choices to recycle and compost, we need to put pressure on the larger institutions to also make positive changes (EcoTypes scale axis page, accessed 4/5/17). I have been interested in learning about global warming since I was a little kid; I was in recycling club, I used a reusable lunch box and water bottle, and made sure my parents remembered the reusable bags when going grocery shopping. I remember when I was younger someone gave me a book titled something along the lines of 101 Ways to Save the World, and one of the first things it said was to write a letter to the senator expressing concern for a specific issue, but I also remember thinking to myself that the senator is never going to read a seven year old’s letter about her concern for climate change, so I continued these small, individual practices in hopes that they would make a difference. Today I practice these same habits and many more, in order to ensure I am doing my part in mitigating the negative effects of climate change. After this class however, I am realizing that this may not be enough. Although the individual choices I make may give me the impression I am making a positive change, perhaps they are only making me feel better about myself. I now know that they are simply not enough. Despite the fact that many scholars stand by this institutional perspective, I do believe that if everyone makes more decisions with the thought of pollution or species going extinct in their minds then there could be a positive ecological change.
The following lesson I learned is that place is a deceivingly simple word. However Intro to Environmental Studies 160 has taught me its underlying complexities. Before we began our discussion of place, we read Vaclav Smil’s Making the Modern World Materials and Dematerialization, which in itself offered an abundance of facts regarding the materials we use and how we have used them throughout history. This book led us to our situating materials group project, where we discovered the intertwining aspects of place. Place is composed of three parts: nature, meaning, and social relations. Place in relation to nature entails the physical characteristics of a location, for example the species that inhabit the area. The meaning aspect of place focuses on why that particular area is significant to those who interact with it. The social relations part of place encompasses the various purposes of that place in people’s lives. Understanding what place means has allowed me to become more conscious consumer. The food I eat and the clothes I wear all come from a place and because of this it is necessary to keep in mind the nature, meaning, and social relations of that place and how the product I am consuming affects it.
The final lesson I have learned in Intro to Environmental Studies is I must keep an open mind. As I mentioned earlier, I have been thinking about my role in regard to climate change long before I came to Lewis and Clark. Therefore, it is not surprising that I erroneously assumed I had a decent understanding of the material we were going to be studying. I was naive to think such a thing and I now find myself questioning my beliefs and actions. For example, prior to this class I did not have any knowledge of nuclear energy besides the fact that most people believe it is a dangerous thing, and although I still do not have a complete understanding of what it is, our skype with Emma Redfoot made rethink the common notion that wind and solar energy are the only efficient alternatives to fossil fuels. In addition to nuclear energy, I realized I needed to keep an open mind when reading Leigh Phillips Austerity Ecology & The Collapse-Porn Addicts. Leigh Phillips argues that progressives, like myself, who embrace degrowth and anti consumerism as a way to save the planet, may in fact be missing something. I am a firm believer in buying local and organic, but that might not always be the most efficient thing to do, in the case of the New Zealand apples. In this sense, in order to ensure I am in fact doing the right thing I must admit that I am wrong.
References
Phillips, Leigh. 2015. Austerity Ecology & The Collapse-Porn Addicts: A Defense of Growth, Progress, Industry and Stuff. Winchester, United Kingdom: Zero Books.
Smil, Vaclav. 2014. Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization. Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley.