Growing up in a progressive household that values the outdoors, as well as caring for our public lands, I felt like I had developed a sound appreciation and understanding about how people should interact with the natural world. ENVS 160 has challenged many of my previous ideals and has deepened my understanding about the true […]
Post 1 (Due Apr 05)
Student posts below addressed the following: "Name and briefly describe three key lessons related to environmental studies that you have learned in our course."
Environmental Studies: The Story of How I Do Not Know as Much as I Thought I Did
Cora Layman When coming into this course, I knew we would be discussing climate change. It is essentially impossible to go into an environmental studies course and not hear the term climate change and all the problems it has created across the globe in the last half century. This was one of my main reasons […]
Started from the Bottom Now We Here
My perception of what the field of environmental studies entails has changed dramatically over the course of this past semester. I had never taken any environmental science classes in high school, so I was unsure of what to expect. I knew that I liked spending time outdoors and was a proponent of environmental conservation, but […]
Diversity of Opinion
The overarching theme of something I have learned so far this semester would probably be the diversity of opinion regarding how to fix, but also value and perceive our current natural world. Learning about classic and contemporary environmentalism really broadened my view on how our society’s opinion appears to have changed from the past, but […]
Applying Soft Ideas to Hard Science
This semester has been…unexpected. If there is a more accurate description of my time in Environmental Studies 160, I have yet to find it. I walked into lecture on the first day imagining that my high school AP Environmental Science class would coast me through, but I was proven wrong within […]
The Freshman’s Guide to Understanding the Self
I always believed Environmental Studies to be learning facts about things like the effects of global warming and El Niño, and how only through solidified things like policies and knowledge can we try to change the outcome of fracking and dying coral reefs. Through Environmental Studies I have learned a lot of lessons and how Environmental […]
May I Please Have a Moment of Your Time?
By Jack Kamysz What are three ideas or concepts I have learned up to this point in ENVS 160? Institutionalism Throughout my entire high school career and especially in my environmental science course, individual action was the one way that we were going to combat climate change. It was not until this spring semester of […]
ENVS 160: Novel Ideas and More Questions
I enrolled in ENVS 160 because I expected to create interdisciplinary concept maps, reinforce my vegetarianism, and learn some talking points to convince climate deniers that they’re misinformed about global warming. Much of this interest came from my University of Hawaii Science of Sustainability course I took last spring. On my first day in […]
Environmental Thought? Which One?
Having lived in a household for many years in which many of my parental figures and family friends are career conservationists and environmentalists, I surprisingly did not realize the broadness that environmental thought encompasses when speaking about both classic and contemporary environmental thought. This was especially true for myself in relation to the viable options […]
Thought I had Everything Figured Out…
By Juliana Prendergast Since early in my high school career I knew I wanted to major in Environmental Studies. It seemed like the perfect way for me to learn how to make a difference in the world. I didn’t know exactly everything that ENVS would entail but after taking biology, ecology, and environmental sciences courses […]
Can I make a Difference?
By Natalie Casson ENVS 160 this semester has proven to be a time of reflection and learning to question and reconsider my beliefs and thoughts about climate change. Prior to entering this this semester, I feel like I was ignorant towards the depth of each and every environmental issue our planet faces today. I […]
Evolving My Environmental Thought
When I first chose ENVS 160, I didn’t really know what to expect out of the class because I felt that I already knew a fair amount about the environment and how to protect it against climate change. Most of my knowledge about the environment came from my very eco-friendly family and from my experiences […]
Reflections of Understanding
Before I took ENVS 160 I had a very narrow understanding of environmental topics and climate change in general. Broad terms like nature, environment and sustainable all had simple and understandable definitions. I associated all environmentalists with each other and lumped radicals, preservationists, conservationists etc. all in to one movement with each other. My lack of ability […]
“Check it out, I’m turning green!” Birch plz.
My plan to major in Geography was stopped in its tracks by the lack of a Geography major at Lewis & Clark. So naturally I turned to Environmental Studies as the closest alternative. ENVS-160: Introduction to Environmental Studies was seen as just a stepping stone into tapping away at the looming wall of course requirements […]
Bless this Mess: A Reflection on Environmental Scholarship
I had never taken any class in environmental studies or science before this course. The only time I had ever discussed environmental issues and climate change in my academic courses was in my biology course. I think that this gave me a very science-focused perspective on climate change. I found that the most important lesson […]
Environmental studies is much more than I expected
I came into ENVS 160 with the thought that I would be primarily learning about current debates on environmental issues and ways as an individual to minimize my impact on the earth. Although these topics are indeed embedded into this class, I have come to realize that ENVS 160 is much more than just learning these basic […]
I transferred to Lewis and Clark in the fall to further my education in Environmental Studies and Asian Studies. Although, I had to lower my initial ENVS major to a minor, I’m glad I will still be pursuing it throughout my time at LC. ENVS 160 has taught me three key lessons: Interdisciplinarity is key. […]
Recognizing the Lessons Available: The Importance of Keeping an Open Mind
When I initially started this course, I had no previous substantial education on the subject of Environmental Studies. I considered myself mostly aware of current environmental issues but quickly realized that I had few definitive ideas and absolutely no idea of how to address or go about solving the more controversial issues such as […]
An Intersectional Lense
Entering into Environmental Studies 160, I considered myself a potential conservation biologist who was a student of the hard sciences and math, relying on and expecting science to solve the problems I saw. Through books like Why We Disagree About Climate Change and Who Rules the Earth, I found that my mission to find solutions […]
You can’t say Environment in Environmental Studies
Lesson 1: Individual Action is good, but not enough. Coming into ENVS 160, I was honestly very skeptical. For years prior to this course I was dedicated to changing my small habits in order to minimize my own guilt and remove myself from the problem of climate change. I took five minute showers, went Vegan, […]
Lessons Learnt: A Snapshot of Self-Improvement
In ENVS 160, I have come to learn that “Presaging Apocalypse” (Hulme 2009, 345) is not an effective way to rally public support when tackling climate change issues. Before I had entered the ENVS class of 160, I believed that scare tactics, such as those employed by the eco-terrorist group, ‘Earth Liberation Front,’ were […]
Do Not Miss the Forest for the Trees
Some Context I initially got into Environmental Studies by taking a class in my junior year of high school. It was not even an AP class, just regular Environmental Science. The class covered basic ideas of what is plaguing the earth, including units on trash and water, for example. I fell in love with environmental studies because […]
Reflections: It’s far more complex than you think.
Having studied Geography throughout high school and taken Environmental Systems and Societies in the IB programme, my Introduction to Environmental Studies has broadened my perspective, expanded and built upon previous knowledge and of course introduced me to totally new concepts and theories. One of the most significant and provoking insights I have been exposed to […]
The Metamorphosis of an Adolescent Opinion
The first year of college provides challenges that are unavoidable and unexpected. Oftentimes I have days where it seems nothing goes the way I thought it would socially, academically, or emotionally. Unlike high school, where opinions are fed to you through parents and teachers and you are told to trust everything you have learned, college […]
Examining Concepts and Realities
My ideas of the way the world works and the way people interact with the environment has been changed dramatically upon taking ENVS 160. Instead of looking at many of the environmental issues literally, it has been enlightening to learn about theories behind a lot of ideas swirling around in the environmental studies world. There […]