My perception of what the field of environmental studies entails has changed dramatically over the course of this past semester. I had never taken any environmental science classes in high school, so I was unsure of what to expect. I knew that I liked spending time outdoors and was a proponent of environmental conservation, but I did not know any of the theory underlying these ideals. Over the past semester my understanding of this theory has transformed. Three important things that I have learned so far in ENVS 160 include life cycle-analysis as discussed in Making the Modern World by Vaclav Smil, how to effectively ask and understand different types of questions, and how the existence of one mineral can have profound cultural as well as environmental impacts on a region.
An environmental studies concept that had been previously unfamiliar to me is that of life-cycle analysis. Life-cycle analysis is the process of investigating the impacts of a product’s complete life-cycle, from the extraction of raw materials to disposal. This information is very valuable as it can demonstrate that importing products from distant countries can actually be more efficient and have less of an impact than more localized goods, which contradicts the common environmentalist thought of buying local. This was very surprising to me, and led me to question some of the ideals I had taken for granted.
Another new idea for me was the notion of different types of questions and making the distinction between these. Previous to this course, I had always understood what different types of questions were communicating, but I had never really thought about the distinction between the different types. In ENVS 160 I learned that questions can be sorted into four categories: descriptive, explanatory, evaluative, and instrumental. These different types of question slowly expand upon each other and require more in-depth thought. Descriptive categories simply ask for the cut and dry facts of a matter, or the “what”. Explanatory questions build upon the “what” and ask the “why”, working towards understanding why certain things are happening. Next, evaluative questions take the information found in descriptive and explanatory questions and move to make a judgment call on whether this information is good or bad. Finally, instrumental questions take all of the above question types one step further by asking “What can we do? How can we change the way things are?” Understanding how to utilize these types of questions effectively is important for effectively studying the environment and can be applied to many different fields and situations for more powerful communication.
Additionally, the Situating Minerals assignment provided me with a lot of new information that I had never considered. Although my personal focus on China’s silver production was fairly specific, the overall trends in the class findings brought some new information to light. Through analyzing my research in conjunction with the data provided by my classmates, it became apparent that the mere existence of a mineral in a place not only affects the natural areas of this region, but also plays a key role in shaping the culture and way of life of the area. Silver has played an instrumental role in China’s economy and its development over the years, and has had even more profound impacts in other places, such as Potosí, Bolivia, where the Cerro Rico mine is located. Despite the ecological impacts of silver extraction, this mine has kept the economy alive in the city of Potosí, but at the cost of so many thousands of lives it has earned itself the title of “The Mountain that Eats Men”. The mine rules the lives of the people of Potosí as it controls their livelihoods and can also take their lives. Thus, the simple existence of silver in this area has had really broad impacts on many facets of the way of life here.
Thus, ENVS 160 has broadened my understanding substantially on many aspects of environmental science, brought up concepts I had never before considered, and even led me to question some of my most strongly-held beliefs.
References
Smil, Vaclav. Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization. Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley, 2014.