Here I am in the library on the second to last day of ENVS 160. As I evaluated the course, I began to frame my mind towards the question: What have I taken from this class. What do I value now, that I didn’t value at the beginning of the year? Moreover, how will this […]
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?"
Practicing What You Preach
How will you practice, in your scholarly and personal life, what you have learned in ENVS 160? ENVS 16o has definitely been a turning point for me in my college education. Taking the class in conjunction with Psychology 100 has allowed me to discover why pursuing an Environmental Studies would not be right for me. […]
Final Thoughts
Before ENVS 160 I was terribly misinformed about how to go about solving major issues such as climate change. Like many other individuals, I held a single belief that my individual efforts would somehow lead to a more sustainable environment. However, ENVS 160 helped me to realize how far from the truth I actually was. […]
And Now for Something Completely Different
In Summation Beginning with Why We Disagree we were exposed to cultural theory as a method of simplifying the entire human race into one graph among the other tantalizing bits of opinion that Mike Hulme had to offer (Hulme 2009). In all honesty his analysis was colorful and even funny at times but it was […]
New Thoughts, New Feelings: What I Took Away From Environmental Studies
The morning that I first started my ENVS 160 course, I woke up and took a 45 second shower. I ate my breakfast of yogurt, then washed and recycled the container. I got ready quickly, and turned off all my lights before leaving my room. On my way out the door, I passed the bike […]
Implementing New Approaches
Reforming Environmental Studies ENVS 160 has lead me to rethink aspects of our physical planet and human society including Climate change, material consumption, environmentalism, influence, and power. While each of the readings in the course belonged to specified sections they all relate to one another to create more dynamic lessons of Environmental thought, connections […]
Swimming up my own stream
This weekend I participated in the March for Science in downtown Portland, to celebrate science in the US and stand up to policies that aim to discredit and defund it. As we followed giant cardboard and foam salmon down the stream of people filling the road I thought of the power of people to create institutional […]
Why We Disagree About Who Rules the Earth
It’s difficult to summarize the ways this class will impact my future, as there have been many different aspects the course that have altered the basis of thought on which I built new concepts and opinions. My first three posts (1, 2, and 3) summarized some of the things I have learned throughout the course, […]
Before and After
Coming into ENVS 160, I expected to learn about the problems facing the environment and then explore various solutions to either change or reverse the problems. Having learned about climate change and the precarious state of the earth, I mistakenly thought that there would be clear steps to solve the various environmental problems facing our […]
Looking Forward
After taking a class that makes you second-guess the future and everything you have thought about it, it is especially crucial at this time to readjust the way that you approach problems, the future, and the things that you learn. I think that the lesson I learned from ENVS 160 that was the most influential […]
Trouble in Wine Country
I don’t think anyone enjoys tuning their views into harsher realities, however I will attest that I am leaving this class more thoroughly educated on what the real issues standing between humanity and sustainability are. Environmental studies allowed me to take an enormous step back, and look at the big picture of climate change, instead […]
The end and a beginning.
Like many of my fellow students, ENVS 160 helped me dive deeper into the various issues surrounding related to our idea of ‘the environment’, what is ideal and what is undesirable. To say my perspective has not changed so far would be dishonest and I am left with more questions than solutions but I am […]
Never A Simple Answer
After taking this class, I feel I have gained a much broader understanding of how to view environmental thought with a critical lense. Coming into this class I felt confidant thinking about problems with the natural world and ways in which we as a society could go about solving them, feeling that the […]
Saving the Earth One Water Bottle at a Time?
At the beginning of the semester, I thought ENVS 160 would give me the tools needed to save the planet and from there, I would be able to educate others on the simple, individual level change needed to reverse climate change. However, that was not the case. Mid way through our first book, Why We […]
Onward, my Friends…
As this school year quickly draws to an end, I can’t help but think about the future; and not only my future, but the future of this world. Even though ENVS 160 challenged me beyond belief, from getting to class by 8am (which I often failed to do) to truly understanding the selected readings (especially […]
To ENVS 220 and beyond…
It seems somewhat foolish to admit but my concern for the environment and the impending doom of climate change was not the driving force behind my interest in Environmental Studies. Prior to this course I was under the misconception that its content would be somewhat revisionary for me, a focus more on the workings of […]
Finding which Frame Works
It is appropriate that I am writing this final post on Earth Day where I am supposed to derive inspiration for action from what I have learned in Environmental Studies 160. On a day dedicated to environmental action, I must reckon the opposing and conflicting ideas that I have encountered in this course to discover […]
A Reflecting Reflection!
The most significant thing I was able to learn about Environmental Studies through ENVS 160 was how the major truly has a foot in most doors. It necessitates integration of both the social and physical sciences seamlessly, whereas I had previously categorized Environmental Studies as predominantly related to the physical sciences. It was a welcome […]
Who Could Have Guessed?
At the end of every class I always struggle to remember what I have learned. All the lessons run together and it is usually impossible to distinguish everything again for the end of the year exams. In a way, I am grateful for the opportunity to synthesize and compile everything into one final post. This […]
Moving On, Getting Over ENVS 160
Yesterday I found myself holding a plastic cup, empty, looking for a recycling bin in a house I was not familiar with. I didn’t want to burden the owners and ask for a recycling bin when the trash can was right in front of me. I threw my red plastic cup in the garbage bin, […]
A Reflecting Reflection of Reflection
This course, ENVS 160, was a definite eye-opener. One of the most influential things I have been exposed to, among others, has been not the topic of climate change but of the ways people and scholars can think about climate change. For instance, in the media, what we hear is “the climate is changing for […]
Expanding the Toolbox
Upon learning about environmental science in high school and participating in a variety of field projects, I felt like I had some solid ideas for action. Although ENVS 160 challenged a fair amount of my previous ideals, I now have a wider and more unique toolbox to choose from. Going forward, ideas like awareness of […]
Aiming for Conscious Awareness Beyond 160
Introduction to Environmental Studies (ENVS-160) is not just an introductory course to what there is to learn about the environmental sphere but also bringing in the different lens that it can be viewed through. Moving forward from this course, I will be looking into the world with a more skeptical eye and aim to become […]
The Oceans are Rising and We Are Too
Going into college, I truly did not think I was that interested in studying the concept of the environment. I knew I was concerned for the our world and its people, and I wanted to do something to help make the world a better place, but I was afraid I wouldn’t like a class about […]
Change Ahead
The lessons presented in ENVS 160 are not ones to be taken lightly or quickly forgotten as the course comes to an end. Embedded in these lessons is responsibility. Not only does this responsibility play a role in our personal lives, but it’s important as students and educators to take on the responsibility of expanding […]