I have learned a lot from the Environmental Science 160 class and it has opened me up to ways of thinking about the environment that I had once never considered. Although all our readings focuses on different aspects of the environment there were many ways in which they had connecting themes and lessons to think about. Below are some key connections that I made from the various readings of this course.
The first key connection I found from these readings was figuring out what the best form of action is to enact real environmental change. This issue is addressed multiple times in Paul F. Steinberg’s Who Rules the Earth? He states that “To bring about lasting change requires modifying the very rules that societies live by” (Steinberg 2015). Steinberg also bashes the idea of “thinking globally and acting locally” and instead suggests that we “think vertically” (Steinberg 2015). Thinking vertically has to do with thinking and acting on multiple levels in order to make effective progress. While I am still new to this concept I very much agree that bigger collective institutional actions are necessary to making effective change and that small things aren’t enough. Leigh Phillip’s Austerity Ecology and The Collapse Porn Addicts also addresses this topic by stating that actions like recycling and buy local produce give the individuals the benefit of feeling they are making a change even though in reality it is far from the truth (Philips 2015). It is true that these small things that we do make us feel good about ourselves, and we’d like to think that we are doing something. I know because I have done exactly what the reading describes. The lesson that can be learned from these two readings is that the small things individuals do is not enough if we are trying to make significant change that pertains to environmental issues. Although there isn’t anything wrong with smaller individual actions, I feel that we also need to be thinking on a much larger spectrum and in my opinion I think we have what it takes to make significant change considering just how advanced we are becoming technologically.
Another connection I found in these readings was how religious and spiritual practices impact people’s view of environmental issues. One example would be climate change as discussed in Why We Disagree About Climate Change by Mike Hulmes. Hulmes talks about how religion has a profound effect on how people view climate change. He states that “Our beliefs have a profound influence on our attitudes, on our behavior and on our politics” (Hulme, 2009). He proves this by talking about how people of various religions feel the responsibility to taking care of the planet and it’s creatures put here by their interpretation of the creator. I have seen this many times over with the indigenous tribes of America, but I never realized just how impactful it was. An article entitled The Shallow and the Deep, Long-Range Ecology Movement also goes into this. It went really in depth into natural law and spirituality and how certain cultures use these practices to form their own solutions to environmental problems (Naess, 1973). Before reading these books I had never really thought about how religious practices relate to people’s view of the environment which made this a very interesting discovery for me.
The last important connection I made had to do with being reasonable about our goals in making the world a better place ecologically and environmentally. In Austerity Ecology and The Collapse Porn Addicts Phillips talks about how local farming and humane slaughtering has become a norm of the left, but it is pointed out that we won’t be able to convince the world to stop mass consumption. (Phillips, 2015) What he’s trying to say is that while it might seem like a good idea to the left, it is an unreasonable solution in the long run. Who rules the earth? also goes into this by introducing us to the term feasibility. Steinberg describes a feasible world as “not everything we might hope for, but we figure it’s the best we can expect to see in our lifetimes” (Steinberg 2015). Basically what he means is that our world is not perfect and we need to change it, but it must be done within the limits of our boundaries. He refers to outrageous solutions as the imaginable world and I would say that I agree in that we need to make change, but it has to be reasonable. Both of these readings show how even though change is necessary it must be done in the proper manner if we are to get anywhere with it.
Hulme, M. Why we disagree about climate change: understanding controversy, inaction and opportunity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
Steinberg, Paul F. Who rules the earth?: how social rules shape our planet and our lives. New York, NY: Oxford Univ. Press, 2015.
Philips, L. Austerity Ecology & the Collapse-Porn Addicts. Zero Books, 2015.
Naess, Arne. The Shallow and the Deep, Long-Range Ecology Movement. Inquiry, 1973.