Intro to Environmental Studies – Spring 2015 – Portfolio
The first ENVS class at Lewis and Clark. A class that challenges the status quo and has changed the way I view the world around me. We explored what environment is, the roles of science, values, and politics, classic and contemporary environmental thought, and different perspectives to view an environmental issue. Then we brought together several different perspectives to show various facets of certain ‘objects of concern’.
Synthesis Posts:
In my first post, I thought further about the role of values in environmental issues. Then, I looked at ecospirituality as a movement and how it fit several of my preconceived notions about the environment. The very next week, I saw my previously expressed views change completely as a result of some striking, thought-provoking readings. Reaching midterms, I wrote a reflection on everything learning so far in this course.
The next week we began with our text for the year. It started by looking at rewilding in the context of the anthropocene followed by chapters on the perspectives of population and markets, which I wrote about. The next week looked at the perspectives of institutions, ethics, and risks. I was particularly intrigued by grid-group theory ethics. We then finished up perspectives with political economy and the social construction of nature. I wrote a post situating three of these perspectives in Saint Edwards State Park, a park close to my home.
We ended the semester looking at objects to situate using these perspectives. We first looked at CO2, Trees, and Wolves and I wrote about rhetoric, rights, and constructions. The next three discussed were Uranium, Tuna, and Lawns in which I wrote about the prevalence and importance of a political economy perspective. The following week contained my presentation on French Fries, along with Bottled Water and E-Waste. I considered the problem of awareness lacking action. The course concluded with a reflection on the constant revelations had throughout the semester.