I’m taking this course as a declared biology major and as someone with an undeniable preference for the natural and hard rather than social sciences. This course has been challenging and frustrating. It hasn’t been easy to adapt my true / false mentality of scientific facts to the complicated interwovenness of an environmental studies course. But, this course has provided valuable insight into the way in which we interact with the environment, something that I think is absolutely necessary for pursuing a career in conservation biology. ENVS 160 was divided into four sections, each analyzing a different piece of the puzzle regarding how we interact with the environment, and each requiring our synthesis of the material in the form of a post to our class website. A summary of each section of the course and my corresponding posts follows below:
1) The Interdisciplinarity of Environmental Studies
Our first section focused on the interdisciplinarity of climate change, and can be applied to the scope of environmental studies as a whole. We read the book Why We Disagree about Climate Change (Hulme 2009) to structure our discussions of the multiple factors influencing the perception of climate change and the complex rhetoric behind relating climate change news. We learned that climate change means different things for different people and that certain groups have an interest in seeing climate change continue.
This section took the idea of climate change, which most students took as a pure science, and convoluted that notion into the mix of disciplines that defines environmental studies. Our first post tackled the many difficulties surrounding climate change debate in our own backyard of Portland. For science majors such as myself, this was a difficult section in that it demonstrated the futility of scientific research if it isn’t combined with strong economics, journalism, political and environmental action. Starting the course with this book and this topic set the tone for the challenging semester.
2) The Importance of Stuff
Just when I found myself longing for the numbers and calculations I’ve grown used to throughout the sciences, we started reading Making the Modern World (Smil 2014). Smil is a man who loves his numbers and calculations. His text prompted discussions of material development throughout the globe and the dizzying rates at which it occurs in certain countries like the United States and China. Smil took us on an historical journey of the evolution of stuff throughout the different stages of human development. My group’s post for this section analyzed the practice of tin mining throughout the world, with special emphasis placed on its impacts on local communities. One of the largest take away lessons from this section was numerical proof of the well known fact that there exists a massive gap in wealth, economic and material, between the proverbial first and third worlds of the globe. For all but a privileged few, closing that gap takes priority over environmental concerns.
3) Evolving Attitudes towards Environmental Problems
After getting barraged with interdisciplinarity and then numbers for the first two sections of the course, we transitioned to a comparative analysis of classic verse contemporary thought for this third section. We first read the work of classic environmentalists like The Tragedy of the Commons (Hardin 1968) to better understand the assumptions and values that most of us have been raised with in regards to the environment. Authors like Hardin lamented the use of technology as a means for environmental action and generally held a pessimistic opinion of our ability to overcome the many problems facing our society today.
We took the readings of the classical authors with a grain of salt and used the work of contemporary authors to critique and challenge many assumptions upon which our environmental framework has been built. My group’s post for this third section analyzed the ecoterrorism movement and the impact of language on its validity. Austerity Ecology & the Collapse-Porn Addicts (Philips 2015) took us on a wild trip of integrating technology and more optimistic mindsets to combat and respond to widespread environmental degradation. We took a long survey to identify our ideas of the environment and compared them to both classic and contemporaries. We skyped Philips and a former ENVS student to talk about the introduction of nuclear energy as a viable alternative to still inefficient renewable energy sources. The work of these contemporary authors also showed that in order to achieve progress, it is necessary to scale up the scope of one’s actions.
4) Scaling Up to Promote Action
Our final section focused entirely on the reading of Who Rules the Earth. In this text, Steinberg continues the discourse of contemporary environmentalists by challenging us to broaden our scope of environmental action by focusing on the institutions that govern the way we live. Steinberg doesn’t dismiss the importance of localized recycling and cleanup efforts, but pushes for more large scale change by influencing policy makers and transnational corporations (Steinberg 2015). I made four individual posts (1,2,3 and 4!) chronicling our progress through the text.
In one of the chapters we follow the path of the Cerulean Warbler, a small migratory songbird that travels between the United States and South America annually. Along the way Steinberg discusses the complexities of land management and use governed by a complex set of social and political rules going back to the colonial era. To successfully pursue environmental change, one must be well acquainted with a multitude of interrelated disciplines. This section is a great summary of all the material we’ve processed throughout the course. Pursuing studies in ENVS requires challenging preconceived notions regarding the environment, analyzing problems with roots in social, political and economic realms, and doing so in new ways. Sound easy enough?
Works Cited
Hulme, Mike. 2009. Why We Disagree about Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity. Cambridge University Press.
Smil, Vaclav. 2014. Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization. Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley.
Steinberg, Paul F. 2015. Who Rules the Earth?: How Social Rules Shape Our Planet and Our Lives. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Hardin, Garrett. 1968. “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Science 162 (3859): 1243–48. doi:10.1126/science.162.3859.1243.
Phillips, Leigh. 2015. Austerity Ecology & the Collapse-Porn Addicts: A Defence of Growth, Progress, Industry and Stuff. Winchester, UK ; Washington, USA: Zero Books.