Sunday, December 2, 2012

My Takeaways from Intro to Doom

When we started this class back in August, I had a lot of hope for my first Environmental Studies class. However, as Simon introduced the class as "Intro to Doom," I knew it might not be as bright and cheery as I had hoped.  While the doom and gloom of the course was rather overwhelming at first, I think one of my biggest takeaways from the course is that we need to get more serious about climate chance and preserving the environment.  I knew this was an imminent issue before, but it has become clearer that the feel good activism of the environmental movement, like recycling, clearly is not enough for what we actually need to do to continue to live on this planet.

Another of my takeaways is a fear that we actually won't do enough to save the planet.  I know it's good to remain hopeful and constructive for the environment, but I know how Erik Assadourian in the back of my head screaming about how we're all doomed unless we radically changed, and I know how difficult it will be to actually get people to change.  I have definitely taken away a new sense of terror for the future and possibly a new push toward more radical action.  I'm not sure how much time I have to physically commit to the movement, but I do feel more inclined to go to a protest or to take serious action towards environmental protection.

Another thing that I've taken away from this course is the fact that I really only know a fraction about the environmental movement.  There is a lot of science, strategy, and history that I really have no idea about.  This has definitely motivated me to look more in to these different topics, especially all the international conferences centered around the environment that most people do not know about.  The semester may be over, but the learning has just begun for me!


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