So Noel Castree wrote a book called Making Sense of Nature and I think it was supposed to help me make sense of nature. And I’m not saying it didn’t. Castree’s main idea is that nature is real because we make and real. He believes that this is not necessarily problematic but that it needs […]

Systematic environmental theory is way to analyze environmental concepts in a theoretical light. This frameworks looks at an object, process, or idea with four main theoretical backdrops: ontology (what is out there?), epistemology (what is the truth?), ethics (is it moral?), and power (what are the power relations?). When explaining and understanding systematic environmental theory […]

As its name implies, the word apocalypticism stems from a belief that the apocalypse is going to occur. Probably soon. Very soon. For those who have not heard of the apocalypse, it is a religious belief described in the biblical book of Revelation of the complete final destruction of the world. The idea of the […]

Dear Jim, For this week’s installment you asked me to give you some feedback on the environmental studies program at our school. The following are my rambley thoughts infused with ideas from environmental theory and beyond! Freshman year, students are still trying to figure out what exactly they want to do. First semester is filled […]

This week’s discussion focused on systematic theory and specifically addressed the topics of ontology and epistemology. This is some heady stuff. After our class discussion on epistemology, I felt a bit more confused than when I entered, but not at all in a bad way. I really enjoyed lesson (nice job Samson, Sarah, and McKenzie!) […]