In my very first course at Lewis & Clark I read the Bhagavad Gita. The focal point of this ancient Hindu text is a conversation between prince Arjuna and the god Krishna. While this may seem completely unrelated to my experience in Environmental Studies I urge you to stay with me. For the dilemma that begins and frames this ancient narrative is the question of action.
When to act? How to act? Why? As well as, who and what will be affected by these decisions. Central to the discourse is the discussion of action and inaction and the inherent violence done when one chooses not to act. This, the moral obligation of action, is central to my personal beliefs, academic interests, and furthermore, my conception of the relationship between our environment and us.
It seemed early on in the course that the exploration of environmental studies was limited to a semantic disagreement over what climate change is and if it is happening. By the end of the reading however, it became clear the mission of environmental studies was not only to study the environment, but to examine ourselves. By the final readings on who, how, and what it is that rules our world, it is clear that if ever we hope to make changes we see as beneficial to our planet we must also take action against the people, systems, and corporations that seem dead set on slowing progress to a grinding halt.
The responsibility is ours. Our responsibility is action collective. In relation to my personal and scholarly life I already see subtle changes to the way I think about transportation, energy, weather, and environment, not as singular systems or events, but as integrated webs of relationships. In practice I have begun seeing changes not only in relation to the environment but many other aspects of life. If there is one thing Environmental Studies has taught me is to challenge myself, and more importantly to challenge myself to try and see problems as solutions.
When presented as polar, the statement, ‘try to see problems as solutions’ seems at the least optimistic, if not completely reductive. What is see in this statement is less of a literal plan for action and more of a mindset through which one can approach the world. So often we become overwhelmed by the seemingly insurmountable problems that face the modern world. I would like to challenge this conception. Instead, approaching problems as opportunities for change, innovation, and integration. Not only environmentally, but perhaps socially, politically, and economically.
Arguing that problems once seen as opportunities provide a new space for innovation, exploration, and growth may seem to some utopic. To me it seems like the only choice. As it was for Arjuna in the Gita. The decision not to act when one has the power, perspective, and opportunity to challenge the existing paradigms, is truly a tragedy. Instead of being paralyzed by systems we are taught can only be changed from the inside if at all. I will take what I have learned in this course and let it inspire me to act. I want to be sure to acknowledge that ignorant action is perhaps just as destructive as none at all.
If these is one thing I learned this semester in Environmental Studies, it is that nothing is simple. Not humans, not our understanding of ourselves, not our understanding of each other, and most certainly not our understanding of our environment. So it seems to me we really only have one option. To stop accepting the world and its questions as a broken behemoth beyond repair, and instead challenge each other and ourselves to be inspired, be excited by these problems, and our potential however unlikely, to make true, positive, lasting change. It is not change yourself, change the world. Rather, try to change the world, and you may find yourself transforming too.