Introduction to Environmental Studies was not the class I thought it would be. My idea of the semester included an overview of contemporary environmental problems; the evaluation of attempted solutions; and the provision of new solutions to implement global and local change. Instead I was surprised to find my views of the environmental studies discipline slowly debunked through careful and consistent questioning: Why do we disagree about climate change? What makes up our consumption patterns? How has environmental theory changed over time? What rules govern the earth? By tackling these questions I have learned new skills to evaluate the world and my role in it. I examine two of these skills below.
Perhaps the most important lesson I will be taking out of ENVS160 is that people will always disagree about the significance of a problem and how to solve it. In Why We Disagree About Climate Change, Mike Hulme reveals the many reasons people disagree about how to address climate change (Hulme 2009). Reasons include having the wrong expectations for climate science, assigning varied values to climate change, and holding assorted religious beliefs and mixed views of nature (Hulme 2009). Before reading his book I had assumed people who didn’t believe in climate change were people who simply didn’t understand science and who were ignorant to the ‘truth.’ What I have learned is that everyone is living in their own world of truth. When we disagree about climate change, we aren’t necessarily disagreeing about climate change, but rather are being forced to confront the many different ways of viewing the world that make every person’s perspective unique. By situating oneself in our own experiences and opinions we can more easily create dialogue with those who are situated differently. The best we can do when confronted with controversial issues it to have conversations about our beliefs. Ultimately, people will act in ways they think will best address a problem and although disagreement will ensue, some action is better than none.
Another important skill I leave ENVS160 with is the ability to better communicate with others. Although I entered the class confident of my ability to hold conversation and mediate arguments, over the course of the semester I have been challenged to analyze, synthesize and then communicate lectures, readings, and research. The daily reading quizzes greatly improved my skills of close reading, summary, and recollection. Checking in and out from class with a neighbor forced me to concisely state my ideas, listen to someone else’s, and have a conversation about our agreements and disagreements. Team projects are innately more difficult because of the increased need for communication, including what the focus of the project is, who will do what work, when to meet up, and how to best display the information, all of which require patience, understanding, and a whole lot of communication. These individual posts have been most helpful for my synthesis and written communication skills. Not only do I have to decide what I am going to write about, but I have to adequately answer a question and ensure my thoughts are as clear to those who read my post as they are to me. Further, a blog post is a chance to share any and all of my thoughts with the world, and though this is slightly daunting, it is important to be able to decide when something is good enough to be publish.
In previous posts I have talked about the influential lessons of individual and institutional action, the hybridity of nature, and the struggle to reduce my use of big words. While these discoveries are no doubt important, the ability to recognize the complexity of disagreement and the skills to adequately communicate with others will be utilized in life outside the ENVS classroom and outside of college as well.
Citations
Hulme, Mike. 2009. Why We Disagree about Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity. Cambridge University Press.