Upon entering ENVS 160 in January, I expected a repeat of my AP Environmental Science class from high school. I entered on my high horse, believing that I would already be familiar with the topics that the class would address. However, I am astonished at the many ways in which my world views have changed, and I will undoubtedly carry my new thoughts with me as I go forth in the world of ENVS.
As a brief anecdote, I thought that I would include the moment that I realized how much my environmental views have shifted throughout this class. Coincidentally, this moment occurred on April 22nd, also known as Earth Day. As I browsed through my social media accounts, I saw countless posts from my peers, claiming things such as “Go Vegan! It is the best thing that you can personally do for the planet” or “Happy Earth Day! Every time you avoid using a plastic water bottle, you are contributing just that much to keeping our world clean.” While I personally believe that veganism is helpful for raising awareness about the treatment of animals and plastic water bottles are unnecessary in developed nations, I found myself getting angry. I was angry that these people were willing to preach about individual action and no one was truly doing their part and channeling their love for the earth into institutions that have power. After condensing my public rant into a series of 6-7 tweets, I realized just how much I wanted to be a part of the institutions that make a difference as well as how much my originally classical thoughts have changed. I have wanted to be involved in the federal world since I was a child, and I am now more aware of the environmental direction that I desire to move in.
Perhaps the most important thing that I learned in ENVS 160 was to always challenge the ideas that are fed to me. By this, I simply mean that it is important to be skeptical of everything that we are simply told in school, allowing us to investigate and develop our own unique ideas. The most prominent example of this from my experience this semester was reevaluating my understanding of Tragedy of the Commons (1968) by Garrett Hardin. This theory had always been taught to me as a universal truth, leading me to treat it as such and use it to govern my relationship with the planet and my individual action. While learning just how intricate and deep environmental theories are, I began to think of the widely believed theory as just that: a theory. This new way of thinking has allowed me reevaluate many of my other beliefs and formulate new ones based on my research and new understanding.
I am happy to have been introduced to contemporary environmental texts such as Austerity Ecology (2015) by Leigh Phillips and Who Rules the Earth? (2015) by Paul F. Steinberg. Both texts discuss the idea of institutional scale of environmental action in contrast to individual action. As stated above, my ideas on the matter of individual action have completely morphed due to these particular texts, and I believe that they have played an important role in the breakdown and reconstruction of my professional pursuits and thoughts. They resonated with me a great deal and I feel as though I am emerging from ENVS 160 with a stronger ability to make attempts at developing solutions rather than just complaining about the environmentally related world issues that worry me. I have had intellectual conversations with my peers on the subject, been able to reference scholarly readings and recommend them to others, and developed stronger debate skills throughout this course. As I mentioned in the closing paragraph of a previous post, I am eager to allow my new knowledge to help propel my career forward as an environmental advocate in the professional world.
Citations
Steinberg, Paul F. 2015. Who Rules the Earth?: How Social Rules Shape Our Planet and Our Lives. New York: Oxford University Press.
Phillips, Leigh. 2015. Austerity Ecology & the Collapse-Porn Addicts: A Defence of Growth, Progress, Industry and Stuff. Winchester: Zero Books. Kindle Edition.
Hardin, Garrett. 1968. “Tragedy of the Commons.” Science 162. Accessed April 2, 2017.
doi: 10.1126/science.162.3859.1243