Going into college, I truly did not think I was that interested in studying the concept of the environment. I knew I was concerned for the our world and its people, and I wanted to do something to help make the world a better place, but I was afraid I wouldn’t like a class about the environment. I thought it would be too science-based for my taste, and too depressing, with lots of apocalyptic nature documentaries. I thought of myself as “a humanities person” and “an artsy person.” In my sociology class last semester, I learned all about waste and waste management and the waste crisis in our world, and that got me thinking. I visited a class called “regenerative agroecology” at my sister’s college over winter break, and my interest in science and the environment was rekindled. I originally signed up for a sociology elective last semester but after a lot of thought, switched into ENVS 160 at the last minute. And I am so glad I did. I have learned from this class the true value of interdisciplinarity. I learned that I should not put myself in boxes, and instead should be open to all classes and areas of study. All my other classes also always seem to be connected to what we are reading about in ENVS. This class has impacted the way I think about climate change and the world as a whole. I went in very glass-half-empty about the state of the environment, but I learned that I need to change my mindset. I have definitely moved towards thinking more contemporarily, although I think many of my values are still grounded in classic environmental thought.
One thing I started to do at the beginning of this semester is to go almost completely zero waste. I haven’t been buying anything that comes in plastic bags or wrappers, and I always get my coffee or tea in a reusable thermos or mug. I have switched out my shampoo and conditioner for shampoo bars, among many other things, and have encouraged others around me to do the same. I have helped Lewis and Clark’s campus become a member of a program called Post Landfill Action Network, which is a network of colleges and universities across the United States that works to reduce their waste on campuses and in the surrounded communities. So, in my daily life, despite the fact that we learned that many individual actions do not truly make a direct impact, I will continue to practice these individual actions in order to embody the spirit of progress and glass-half-fullness. Sometimes when people hear that their individual actions make no difference, they become hopeless and pessimistic. This is not the key. Yet we must not simply hope, either. We must understand that yes, our world is facing many environmental terrors, and perhaps we are only small people in a big world, but we can inspire change. It has been done before. Our oceans are rising, and we must too.