When I started ENVS 160 I was unsure about whether I would want to continue in the major after the class was over. I admit there were a few moments when I considered dropping it and giving up. Now, so near to the end of the class I can confidently say that I want to continue […]
Post 4 (Due Apr 24)
Student posts below addressed the following: "How will you practice, in your scholarly and personal life, what you have learned in ENVS 160?"
Environmental Studies is a Wild, Three-Headed Dog.
Environmental studies are kind of like Cerberus, the three-headed dog, from Greek Mythology. It is incredibly intimidating and wildly out of control. You are never quite sure which head to look at, similarly to how a person would feel when trying to decide which ecological, social, or economic issue to focus on. But, I think […]
Earth Day Altercations
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, […]
It Ain’t Easy Bein’ Green
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 […]
Teachings to Practice?
In this final post we sit here and ask ourselves, what the heck can we do with all of this information on environmental change and sustainability that we have learned throughout ENVS 160? How can we as individuals have a local, regional, and global impact? How can we teach others to think about the environment as […]
What’s Next?
Part of the reason why I took ENVS 160 is because I am very passionate about making real environmental and ecological change because in my opinion that is the one issue that we cannot ignore. We can talk all day about other issues like race or class, but at the […]
Yeah, We Have Some Issues
As I’ve come to understand it, being successful in environmentally-oriented discussions means that, despite the never-ending onslaught of contradictions, one must just try to hang onto the notion that there is a chance at making progress somewhere. Unfortunately, even progress is subjective. Finding a catch-all to make everyone happy when addressing large-scale, multifaceted issues such […]
Moving On… Kind of
As a transfer student to Lewis and Clark and as an ENVS major, I was highly motivated but largely uninformed about the complexities interlaced within many environmental problems and the environmental movement as a whole. I had transferred to Portland with a strong desire to make a difference for the planet and in the fight against climate […]
Why Not Both?
While working my way through ENVS 160, I uncovered a huge discrepancy within myself. I was torn between the typical environmental perspectives battle: Classic or Contemporary? This struggle is especially weighing when it comes time to act. When applied to the scale of action, these two opposing conceptual platforms can be translated into different forms, […]
Flexecution Institution
I have soaked up plentiful amounts of information and lessons from Environmental Studies 160, but I doubt that many will stick with me in the same way as the lesson of institutional power. Institutional power is woven into every thread of discussion or reading in ENVS 160 and I have finally developed a view of […]
The Winding and Uncertain Path Ahead
On the first day of ENVS 160, I didn’t know if I was going to major in Environmental Studies or Biology. I was hoping that this course, along with Bio 151, would give me a clear view of my future at Lewis & Clark and beyond. About half way through the semester I decided on […]
For the Love of Kombucha
Looking back over my previous three posts, it is hard to find a definite pattern. Each post is intricately weaved with the complicated ideas in the books we read and the philosophies from class. I jump from institutional to individual action, systems that harm and solve our environments, challenging classic environmental thought, and much more. […]
Where to Go From Here
A common theme that I have found myself writing about in the reflection and synthesis posts is that ENVS 160 was a much needed wake-up call. My practices in both my scholarly life and my personal life were not at the level at which I could begin to start addressing issues within the field of […]
Always Moving Forward
I have always cared about how the world works, our place in it, and how we can save it for future generations. Because of this, I took a chance and enrolled in A.P. Environmental Science my junior year of high school. I learned about how the world interacts with humans, plants, and other animals. This class […]
A Complex, but Beautiful Web
At the brink of the fast approaching summer, we are asked to reflect upon our courses, deciding what new knowledge we will leave with and decide to implement in our own lives. In this post I will talk about the main takeaways that I have from ENVS 160 and how I plan on using them […]
Important ENVS 160 Lessons: A Reflection
As the poster children of Patagucci, many of us came into the ENVS 160 class with the pretension of Bill Mahr and the assumed intellectual credibility of Neil deGrasse Tyson. But without having earned the authority through experience and accreditation, we were only flouting our naiveté and cockiness. Part of me bought into this sentiment; […]
Looking in the Mirror with New Eyes
ENVS 160 has opened my eyes in such a way that I never would have expected in the beginning of the semester. I feel as if I am better equipped with the skills I need to utilize not only as I continue my college career, but also as I continue to grow as a conscious […]
Navigating the Post-ENVS 160 World
Overview As I navigate the post-ENVS world, I want to take what I’ve learned and integrate it into both my scholarly and personal life. I plan to focus on the scholarly throughout my school-career at Lewis and Clark but also extend this learning beyond college and Portland. I believe that as I graduate and move […]
Oh The Things That You’ll Do: Moving Forward with New Knowledge
Learn I have learned a lot in ENVS 160 this semester from basic concepts to contexts to theories. However, I feel nowhere near “full”. We have been given a wonderful foundation to the basic framework surrounding the vast and complex multi-disciplined field of Environmental Studies; however, now that we have been grounded in the material, we need […]
Final Thoughts
In my scholarly life I will carry the new writing skills I learned in ENVS 160. The way we have learned to write has already helped me a lot in my Exploration and Discovery class and my art history class. Being able to write in an interesting as well as scholarly way has improved […]
The Future Is… Hopeful?
I have a much richer understanding of environmental thought now that I have taken ENVS 160, however putting what I have learned into practice, even hypothetically, seems like a daunting and difficult task. I think this is due to the immense scope with which we have discussed environmental issues and thought. It has become clear […]
Hold my Compost, I’ve Got This…
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 […]
Moving Foward
Before attending Lewis and Clark, I had never taken an environmental studies class before. Because of my interests about our planet and issues such as pollution, I was pretty confident that environmental studies would easily make sense to me and possibly be my major. After taking this class, however, I have seen our planet and […]
Where To Go From Here
By Natalie Casson I’ll admit it, my ego has taken a beating this semester. Not my personal mentality on life and myself, but my egotistically sense and attitudes towards the environment. Prior to coming into ENVS 160, the environment was something I could control to a certain degree if I recycled, reused, ate vegan, […]
Looking to the Future
In ENVS 160 the texts we read and projects we’ve done not only served to teach us the base of environmental thought but also gave us ways to approach our personal and scholarly life. Many of the works we have read have both implicitly and explicitly have given ways to live one’s life and change […]