I love Earth. I love the mountains, the oceans, the savannas, and the perfect combination of gases, atmosphere, and distance from the sun that creates the conditions for life. I feel like that isn't said enough. I love this planet. It is 4.5 billion years old and the humans time on the planet has only been a fraction of a fraction of that time. Yet, in this small amount of time, we have been able to severely destroy the conditions that have allowed for life; conditions that have taken billions of years to become just right for the first prokaryotic cells to form.
The failure of the international community, especially the United States, to act decisively to protect the environment and address climate change, will be written as one of the greatest failures of humankind to act in the face of a common crisis. Over this semester, this course has made it clear that the picture is bleak, the future may not be better for our grandchildren (a cliche I know, but a salient anecdote), little serious action has been taken, and an environmental fiasco is inevitable in the nearer future.
Over the course of the semester, the distinction between short-term and long-term priorities became clearer. I have often believed that the economy and unemployment are the most pressing issues facing the United States, if not the global community. However, there will always be short-term issues facing nations, the problem facing those who seek to find solutions to environmental issues is that many of these issues are fundamentally long-term. The ability to change societal norms to look at long-term problems in the face of "pressing" short-term issues will be one of the greatest challenges.
I also believe there is a lack of a transformational figure to unite the environmental movement and drive it to the fore of the public consciousness. Yet my biggest take away from the class is the need to talk about these issues. The discussions we had in class allowed for a variety of opinions, but all seriously acknowledged the pressing environmental issues and the need to work towards solutions to prevent a true catastrophe. The need for mature conversations with the goal of direct solutions is incalculable.
My greatest fear that I articulated in the letter to my future child was that my generation failed to protect and preserve a planet that allowed for my life. Earth is fantastic and unique, and rarely is there a true appreciation for a world that has allowed for the creation of the greatest civilization in the history of the planet. Humankind is special, but merely a fraction of a long cosmic history. The thought of destroying something that is awe inspiring (http://vimeo.com/44801709) is an unconscionable prospect.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Reflection
Throughout this course I have been reminded of the meaning of the term "wicked problems". Wicked problems are dilemmas in which the requirements continuously change or are in contradiction to one another, as such, there is no answer, no true or false, no right or wrong. Indeed everything is only a question of better or worse. During this class we have read about and discussed many of the small infinity of moving parts that make the environmental crisis what it is today, government, economy, and civil society in particular. We have also been asked to think in terms of action. Instead of considering environmental problems for their own sake, this class has taught us to engage with problems and evaluate solutions based on their effectiveness.
From a personal perspective, I am very glad that I waited to take this class until my senior year. Having studied environmental science and policy throughout my college career, I have noticed that students are rarely given the opportunity to step back and take a look at the big picture, where we are forced to grapple critically, philosophically, and emotionally with the challenges we now face. I have also been reminded of how important it is to truly understand the social, political, and economic context behind the environmental crisis, and the way in which each of the individual problems relate to each other. Contextual knowledge and big-picture thinking are both necessary if we are to identify what we can aspire to, and hopefully how to get there.
This class has also shaken some of my most fundamental beliefs about the environmental crisis. First, studying environmental political history has given me a better understanding of how long to takes to effect significant, positive change; and, conversely, how quickly we can cause irreversible damage. Being only 21 years old it seems like global environmental problems - climate change, world hunger, etc. - have always been around, when in fact we have only recently as a species had to deal with problems of such grad scale and rapid rates of change. I'm often shocked to think that we are still having many of the same conversations about the environment that we were having thirty years ago, but this is also a very new kind of problem requiring dramatically new ways of thinking about ourselves and the world we live in. While I have come to understand the reasons for our inability to change quickly, this class has also been a constant reminder that the environment does not operate on the same schedule. McKibben's 15 year prognosis is particularly haunting.
Secondly, I have been asked to question the basic assumptions I make when trying to develop solutions for environmental problems. The democracy assumption is probably the best example of this. Perhaps it's a cultural thing, but a concern for democracy and fairness tend to permeate the American environmental movement. However, this is not necessarily conducive to effective problem solving. Maniates echoed this frequently, democratic, individualized change is unlikely to create a movement with sufficient alacrity and weight to confront the mess we've made for ourselves. What we need instead is well organized, leveraged change, presumably led by experts and political elites. While I have yet to fully explore what I really think about this, the idea has nonetheless made me think in new ways about political and social change.
"Intro to Doom", "Despair 101", and other such epithets are all somewhat appropriate descriptions of our class on a day-to-day basis, but I leave invigorated. As insoluble, heart-wrenching, and huge these challenges are, they are equally important. It's going to be a long fight, a hard fight, and we're unlikely to see any cathartic conclusion in our lifetime. Dig in. Happy Holidays, I leave you with these:
From a personal perspective, I am very glad that I waited to take this class until my senior year. Having studied environmental science and policy throughout my college career, I have noticed that students are rarely given the opportunity to step back and take a look at the big picture, where we are forced to grapple critically, philosophically, and emotionally with the challenges we now face. I have also been reminded of how important it is to truly understand the social, political, and economic context behind the environmental crisis, and the way in which each of the individual problems relate to each other. Contextual knowledge and big-picture thinking are both necessary if we are to identify what we can aspire to, and hopefully how to get there.
This class has also shaken some of my most fundamental beliefs about the environmental crisis. First, studying environmental political history has given me a better understanding of how long to takes to effect significant, positive change; and, conversely, how quickly we can cause irreversible damage. Being only 21 years old it seems like global environmental problems - climate change, world hunger, etc. - have always been around, when in fact we have only recently as a species had to deal with problems of such grad scale and rapid rates of change. I'm often shocked to think that we are still having many of the same conversations about the environment that we were having thirty years ago, but this is also a very new kind of problem requiring dramatically new ways of thinking about ourselves and the world we live in. While I have come to understand the reasons for our inability to change quickly, this class has also been a constant reminder that the environment does not operate on the same schedule. McKibben's 15 year prognosis is particularly haunting.
Secondly, I have been asked to question the basic assumptions I make when trying to develop solutions for environmental problems. The democracy assumption is probably the best example of this. Perhaps it's a cultural thing, but a concern for democracy and fairness tend to permeate the American environmental movement. However, this is not necessarily conducive to effective problem solving. Maniates echoed this frequently, democratic, individualized change is unlikely to create a movement with sufficient alacrity and weight to confront the mess we've made for ourselves. What we need instead is well organized, leveraged change, presumably led by experts and political elites. While I have yet to fully explore what I really think about this, the idea has nonetheless made me think in new ways about political and social change.
"Intro to Doom", "Despair 101", and other such epithets are all somewhat appropriate descriptions of our class on a day-to-day basis, but I leave invigorated. As insoluble, heart-wrenching, and huge these challenges are, they are equally important. It's going to be a long fight, a hard fight, and we're unlikely to see any cathartic conclusion in our lifetime. Dig in. Happy Holidays, I leave you with these:
I have to say that I got more out this class than I expected. I took it because International Environmental Politics is an SIS core class, and I wanted something a bit different as I have taken economics-based classes before and have studied conflict on a number of times as well. I have also always been a bit embarrassed about my lack of knowledge of environmental issues all the while claiming to be quite concerned with the world's growing environmental challenges. As such, this class appeared to offer a good opportunity for me to learn exactly what I was concerned about.
This class has left me more concerned, and now, I can pinpoint some of the things that concern me the most. For instance, I am now nearly certain that we genuinely need to dramatically alter our society and culture to address climate change and its broader effects. Even from a strict fiscal point of view, general lifestyle choices in the U.S. are not sustainable (many people and our government face nearly insurmountable debt), but the environmental issues that we currently face cannot be overcome without seriously reevaluating and reordering our priorities and making substantial changes to how we live. As Maniates stresses, it isn't enough to change some light bulbs or to take public transportation instead of driving; we need to collectively make a concerted effort to enact real change on a community, state, national, and international level.
There were definitely days that I left class feeling as though my hope for the future had been effectively destroyed and as if we really could not overcome the challenges that we face going forward. However, it does give me some hope to hear the different perspectives on environmental issues outside of the way it is framed in the media. Also, hearing about new technology and the different initiatives that are either out there already or being developed has made me feel that, while we face enormous obstacles, we can avoid disaster. After this semester, I can say that I view climate change and the environment more broadly as the biggest issues that we presently face. That climate change has become a politicized debate about whether or not it is even happening or, if it is happening, about who is responsible rather than a conversation about what we can and must do to fix the problem is disturbing. With that in mind, I'm apprehensive about the future but not completely without hope.
This class has left me more concerned, and now, I can pinpoint some of the things that concern me the most. For instance, I am now nearly certain that we genuinely need to dramatically alter our society and culture to address climate change and its broader effects. Even from a strict fiscal point of view, general lifestyle choices in the U.S. are not sustainable (many people and our government face nearly insurmountable debt), but the environmental issues that we currently face cannot be overcome without seriously reevaluating and reordering our priorities and making substantial changes to how we live. As Maniates stresses, it isn't enough to change some light bulbs or to take public transportation instead of driving; we need to collectively make a concerted effort to enact real change on a community, state, national, and international level.
There were definitely days that I left class feeling as though my hope for the future had been effectively destroyed and as if we really could not overcome the challenges that we face going forward. However, it does give me some hope to hear the different perspectives on environmental issues outside of the way it is framed in the media. Also, hearing about new technology and the different initiatives that are either out there already or being developed has made me feel that, while we face enormous obstacles, we can avoid disaster. After this semester, I can say that I view climate change and the environment more broadly as the biggest issues that we presently face. That climate change has become a politicized debate about whether or not it is even happening or, if it is happening, about who is responsible rather than a conversation about what we can and must do to fix the problem is disturbing. With that in mind, I'm apprehensive about the future but not completely without hope.
If only some men just wanted to watch the world burn
If we extrapolate this, the real problem is us. There are too many of us, living too extravagantly to keep up our life style. Sure, we do great things, but so much damage can be linked back to us. We are a utilitarian species that has developed into colonies that use up the resources around it at a rate that we cannot replenish. We are that big bad enemy when it comes to earth, and our institutions stand in the way.
What I have taken away from this course is the need for a massive intellectual and societal shift. I have also been solidified in the idea that it'll take something substantial to spark this shift. Substantial could be innovative, but it could also be destructive.
The Last Post...
Like most, if not all, of my peers, my reason for taking this class was to expand my knowledge of one of the most challenging and pressing problems of our generation. Unlike our parents who had very limited access to information about this issue, our generation suffers the opposite fate. We have too much information. Everywhere we look from the toothbrush made of recycled yogurt bottles in Whole foods to the recycling bins on campus, there are daily reminders of our current crisis. My initial reaction after the first few classes was complete and utter despair. We’re screwed was something I replayed in my head over and over again. Over the course of the class, however, I can say that at the most it helped me become a bit more hopeful about the future and at the very least it encouraged me to explore the issue in depth. Listed below is what I have taken away from all of the course readings and class discussions (because we are a culture of sound bites):
1. The world is changing and we are the reason.
2. Most of the changes are not a result of the current situation but a delayed reaction to past activities.
3. That does not absolve us from blame or responsibility.
4. There is no single perfect solution that will save us from imminent destruction.
5. The answer might be a composition of different ideas.
6. Individual action is great but things need to happen on a global scale if we ever want to seriously tackle the problem.
7. The Earth is worth fighting for.
While reading Paul Hawken’s “The Most Amazing Challenge”, two simple sentences stood out to me because it so perfectly described the wave of emotions that I experience every single time I think of the environmental challenge. “If you look at the science about what is happening on Earth and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t understand the date. But, if you meet the people who are working to restore this Earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a pulse.”
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