I was taken aback by this seemingly innocent question. For a word that is thrown around like a rag doll, its meaning is eerily ambiguous.
As a perspective Environmental Studies major and after taking a college level Environmental Science class in high school, I felt like I should have a brilliant, one-sentence definition that perfectly encompassed the word. But upon further thought, I realized that the more I reflected on the “environment,” the harder it was to define it.
Darwin’s Nightmare, a documentary by Hubert Sauper, helped me flesh out my understanding of how to study the environment. The film begins by addressing two very common problems: eutrophication (an accumulation of nutrients that causes explosive algal blooms and consequently depletes oxygen levels) and non-native species in Lake Victoria, one of the African Great Lakes. The film goes on to explore the effects these two main problems have on the surrounding community by interviewing local fishermen, pilots, and residents. The investigation into these biological problems reveals a web of related issues: unemployment, lack of education, prostitution, homeless children, HIV/AIDS, and weapon trafficking. Social and economic issues quickly complicate the initial biological problem, making viable solutions a lot more difficult to find. The environment is not just the physical makeup of our surroundings; it’s also the day-to-day interactions and responsibilities we have as a result of living somewhere.
For the remainder of the week, we discussed ways in which scientists quantify and predict environmental health. Of three main factors that influence environmental impact, (population, affluence, and technology), most of the scientists agreed that one of the most pressing problems we face is overpopulation. A growing population means there are more shared resources, which can lead to the “Tragedy of the Commons,” first introduced by Garrett Hardin: When there is a shared public resource, people can take advantage of it and eventually deplete it to the point where no one can use it anymore.
My takeaway from this week is that what the “environment” contains is very situational. It’s not a defined problem and solution; it requires investigation and creative thinking because it’s different every time.