Sending a Left Foot in the Right Direction Already
“Deriving benefit” from the time spent bent over computer screens and book pages presents a complicated answer, especially with the consideration that Environmental Studies 160 served as a harsh reality check for many students. I know that it did for me, although what I have learned is markedly different from my peers as my ecotypes axis results would suggest.
Upon entering this course I was not the type of student who believed their individual actions of conserving resources would compensate a larger consumption. I wouldn’t have said that remembering to turn off the lights is going to save the planet because I never believed that to begin with. Don’t interpret my intentions of saying this incorrectly; I do believe in always turning off the lights and I do believe in conserving energy however possible.Yes, individual action and mindfulness stimulate larger implication. However, I do not believe that those individual actions are large enough to equalize the consumption that is a result of my decision to “experience a new place” for college being that I now travel 2,552 miles from door step to door step, several times a year. This is why I maintained a poor perception of what individual action can do.
Now I resinate with Paul Steinberg’s statements on behalf of individual actions made institutional. This all has to do with social norms and how we are subliminally governed by the construction of them. Actual implementation of this argument suggests more complexity than simply mandating social norms. After all the “environmental problems we face today… are so large, and the social processes driving them are so powerful, that we need to think big— and soon (Steinberg 2015, 13). Steinberg believes that “when the “up” phase of popular interest is institutionalized— it is possible to address large-scale, long-term problems in a sustained fashion” (Steinberg 2015, 30). I will carry this with me as I begin directing my attention towards change that can be institutionalized. Over the past few months I have begun to institute what this course has taught me. I volunteer for a climate lobbying group called Citizens’ for Climate Lobby. Although I am still deciding how I feel about the organizations end goals they practice the mantra “exercise your personal and political power”, which is how I wish to proceed into the future.
Ethos, Pathos, Logos and I Chose the Road not Taken; unknowingly…
It has been Vaclav Smil’s book Making the Modern World that I’ve utilized the most outside of class thus far. I have been allowed the ability to construct my own opinions on topics with physical evidence relayed by Smil at the base of how I feel on subjects, especially considering the work I do for Citizens’ for Climate Lobbying. The organization supports Carbon Dividends. Without Smil I wouldn’t understand the alternatives to this option such as Carbon Taxation. I would also not understand the history and effectiveness of such taxation.
This leads me to what I will carry from this course both personally and as a scholar. Similarly to many ENVS students and the greater population alike, I live to enjoy the beauty of a hike and am devastated to see the negative effects of global warming. However, I have found that I am not one who elects to engage in arguments charged by emotional rhetoric, quite the contrary in fact. I feel most comfortable basing arguments on fact, not pathos alone. Since starting ENVS I have been provided the armor with which to build arguments, as well as a new understanding of how to interpret and synthesize the beliefs of others.
It has been Hulme’s book Why We Disagree About Climate Change that has allowed me to understand why synthesis of others beliefs is so important for institutionalizing action. This is because I have learned how to empathize with the people I talk to while lobbying. Hulme states, “we receive multiple and conflicting messages about climate change and interpret them in different ways”(Hulme, 2009, preface), conveying our complex perception of information. I realized just how differently I interpret information compared to the general public and even to my peers.
What I will carry with me
“Deriving benefit” from this course isn’t hard considering the extent to which my awareness of others opinions has been broadened. I can interpret and understand others beliefs, while still being able to construct my own. The material thinking axis quoted Marx stated;
“It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness.”(Marx, 1904, Preface).
In many respects I believe that this quote is paramount to what I will take away from this course an implement. Of course this is in addition to Smil educating me on how to have a cognizant conversation about Climate policy and consumption reduction.
Works cited
Steinberg, Paul F. 2015. Who Rules the Earth?: How Social Rules Shape Our Planet and Our Lives. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Marx, Karl. 1904. A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy. New York: The International Library PubCo.
Hulme, Mike. 2009. Why We Disagree about Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press