In my time in ENVS160, these are the three lessons I learned: I am but a cog in this grand machine, strength and success comes in numbers, and people often are not on the same page.
The first thing that I’m going to do coming out of ENVS 160 is stop thinking that I am so important. As I’ve stated in previous posts, I was utterly baffled by my high school Environmental Science class in that I was learning exactly what my actions do to the environment, and how I could change them for the better. While that is fine and dandy, that simply will not cut it, at least not on the scale that I envision it could. I took a note or two out of Paul F. Steinberg’s Who Rules the Earth and learned the importance of social change. As great as reducing, reusing, and recycling are, I need the help of big players to achieve my goal. My goal, same as every person who sees something wrong, is vaguely “save the earth.” I make that vague on purpose. Still young and naïve, there is only so much that I can attach myself to. There is so much to do, and I barely know about any of it.
For some odd reason, I want to major in Environmental Studies here at Lewis & Clark. Right now, my interests hone in on trash. I think the current system of landfills is ridiculous and unsustainable. Creating mountains out of trash is literally just the “out of sight, out of mind” mentality. I believe that there can be better ways to deal with this issue. Perhaps we could shoot trash into space? Perhaps I will get back to you when I’m writing my thesis senior year. But let us say that is an attainable goal. How would I go about doing so? First, I’d make sure that I know a thing or two about the topic, doing extensive research. Next, I’d get backing from some sort of community, because no matter how good they are, my ideas alone are worthless. Once a community, we could work our way up government officials, getting them on board with the new way, until we get someone big enough to actually do something about it and pass legislation. This stems from Steinberg’s method of changing the rules, as well as the super rules in order to achieve a goal.
Another important lesson I learned is from Mike Hulme’s Why We Disagree About Climate Change. WWD takes us through chapters and chapters focusing on a range of issues and reasons and objects of disagreement. I think the main takeaway is in the title of the book itself: We disagree about climate change. Some people listen to blind facts, so long as they seem correct. Others, however, may be harder to persuade. The first step is finding out whether someone is even willing to listen to what I have to say. If not, then I would not even bother continuing to waste my time. I will devote energy, however, to a more reasonable counterpart who would listen to facts.
With these lessons and more, real change can occur. I guess the most important thing that I still need to learn is to stop using big words so much. Good thing I have time to keep learning!
works cited
- Hulme, M. Why we disagree about climate change: understanding controversy, inaction and opportunity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
- Steinberg, Paul F. Who rules the earth?: how social rules shape our planet and our lives. New York, NY: Oxford Univ. Press, 2015.