This One's A Keeper.

This course is perhaps one of the most enjoyable for me this semester. It is in this course that I am able to test my assumptions of environmental politics and the debate surrounding climate change. At times it is frustrating trying to wrap my head around much of the debate and science of the issues. For me, the most interesting parts of the course were learning about different theories as they relate to environmentalism and the different approaches different actors utilize. That is, how nations differ in their approach than do international organizations or even grass roots advocacy.

In the beginning, I was entirely fatalistic about this course and how anything could change. It was depressing to learn about how just by living and the way we do we are destroying the environment. But I really enjoyed tracing our steps in history to how we got to this point, and attempting to think different about the problems. The last few weeks were particularly enlightening in this regard and now I am much more conscious of environmental efforts in my daily life. This is a difficult course to teach and covers a wide variety of topics but I believe Professor Nichols did a commendable job compacting much of the rhetoric and literature into applicable and learnable lessons. The speakers we saw were particularly valuable to making real world connections to the material.If there is one indicator at what I will take away from this course, it is the books I keep. Typically at the end of each semester students sell back the books they deem useless. But many of the books in this course I will choose to keep and refer back to in my future endeavors.

New Perspectives and Solutions

Despite the often depressing and hopeless subject matter, this class was my favorite of the semester. I had taken a few environmental classes before, but most of them focused on development (which is my concentration in SIS). After becoming interested in the environmental impacts of development, I decided to take this class to gain a greater understanding of the environmental issues that the globe is facing. What I did not really grasp before this class as the sheer scale and urgency of the environmental problems. I knew that climate change was occurring and that it would effect everyone, but I was not aware of the devastation is could cause.

Besides the facts of what is really happening in our environment, I am taking away a good deal of perspectives and viewpoints on the true causes and solutions to our environmental problems. I feel like I can view the discussion from multiple sides and I know where different actors and scholars are coming from (for example, comparing Eaarth and Cradle to Cradle). I would love to see a society like Bill McKibben proposed, but I can’t see enough people mobilizing quickly enough for it to be truly effective. Yet, at the same time, I am wary of the supposed power of technology as a cure-all. I am still unsure of the best way to move forward, in the face of the monumental challenge at hand. However, despite my uncertainty, I take solace in many of the small-scale actions that I have seen and we have discussed in class that are slowly working to preserve the environment. As a soon-to-be graduate with no definite plans yet, I am eager to leave the security of AU and do something of significance. I know that it will be in the field of development, but I have become increasingly interested in the intersection of environment and development. I hope that I can have a career in this field, and I am sure I will use the knowledge I have acquired in this class.

Linking Environmental Politics to Development

This course has greatly broadened my scope of knowledge on environmental regulations, international conferences, the politics surrounding various issues. I entered this class with a defined interest in environmentalism and sustainability, but I knew nothing about the different definitions of those two words, the contrasting perspectives, and criticisms of different approaches to handling the environmental crisis that strikes our planet.
My focus in SIS is International Development, but that does not at all make this course irrelevant to my studies. I have learned about the linkages between environmental degradation and development issues such as environmental displacement, issues with food aid, and how consumerism in affluent countries hurts developing countries. Reading literature by scholars like Aldo Leopold, Bill McKibben, Michael Maniates, and others, ha given me vast insight into the realm of environmental politics, and provided me with the right tools to analyze how this all relates to developing economies. Since I chose to work on a group project throughout the semester, I have spent a lot of time looking in to ways that activism spurs social change to positively impact the environment. My experience showed me the challenges one faces in activist movements to make lasting changes on a college campus, which I also had the opportunity to hear more about from Bill McKibben and Lt. Dan Choi on Saturday at Power Shift. I drew many parallels to my experience and the global climate change conferences and legislation developments we discuss in class. In both situations, (although mine on a much smaller scale), multiple parties are involved and affected by the proposed change I wanted, so that entails many steps and different people to consider. Finding out that I could not achieve my goal due one simple contract was quite disappointing, but also woke up me up to the reality. Contracts act as binding agreements between two agents, and are necessary for this capitalist society to function—another common theme with my experience and the experience that global actors play in efforts to reduce climate change.

I will take all of these experiences with me in my (anticipated) career in international development and activism.

Apologizes for Sounding Hopeles

There are certainly a lot of things that I will take from this course. Even though I am winding down my college career, this is the first purely environmental course that I have taken. I have picked up some new information on the various subject and topic areas we have discussed. But what I have taken away the most is a way of thinking, a mindset that considers the many different aspects of the environment and environmental thinking. This all probably all sounds a bit cliché, but the exposure to environmental thinking has made these issues much more visible to me.

I don’t intend to become utterly devoted to a radical environmental worldview or shift my career toward environmentalism (although if I can find a job in environmentalism now, I’ll take it). My concentration and my area of greatest interest remain development. But this course has taken a lot of what I learned in numerous development courses, and allowed me to further understand this material within an environmental framework. My thoughts and beliefs in development have become better formed from these materials.

At the same time, my greater knowledge of environmental issues of today is leaving me with a bit of exasperation. Throughout the course, so many of the biggest problems we face environmentally have been discussed, as have some of the potential solutions. I personally, struggle to understand the optimism for our future in some situations. Bill McKibben must be idiotically optimistic if he believes the solutions proposed to the apocalyptic future are possible or even enough. From a global view, the reality of reversing human impact seems hopeless, and it is something I make no attempt to think I can solve. Global efforts may be required, but I will take solace in the local efforts and local mindset. These smaller pictures can have hope. Apologizes for making it seem all I take from the class is to give up.

Responsible Technology

I found the book “Cradle to Cradle” to be a refreshing approach to the environmental problems at hand. While the authors took a clearly very technology-centered perspective, it was one that I found responsible. We have frequently discussed in class the dangers of growth-centered societies and assuming that technology and innovation will solve all of our problems. And while I typically find myself agreeing with that perspective, “Cradle to Cradle” promotes responsible technology that not only eliminates harm to the environment, but also nourishes it. I think part of the reason that the book really struck home to me was that the authors did recognize that there is something wrong with the economic system within which the world functions. Corporations must move beyond standard measures of efficiency and work towards “eco-effectiveness”. Essentially this means that not just factories need to be eco-efficient, but the entire process of creating and disposing of goods needs to be environmentally aware. I really do think McDonough and Braungart’s ideas are creative and insightful, and I would love to see the world that they envisioned.

However moving in this direction will be slow, and will take a lot of convincing on the parts of business owners. I think the fact that McDonough is reconstructing Ford’s River Rouge factory is a big step, because if other corporations can see how effective their strategy is, it could flourish. Until we convince business owners and consumers that working towards a healthy environment is in their best interest, large-scale change will not occur.

Reducing reliance on "Reduce, Reuse Recycle"

McDonough and Braungart’s book Cradle to Cradle approaches sustainable living from a unique angle. They have disposed of the “reduce, reuse, recycle” mantra, and pointed out that it is far from the solution that we need for sustainable living. Reading this book, I was very surprised to learn of many of the processes and dangerous materials that are involved in the production of even the most innocuous products. It is fascinating to learn of some of the chemicals and metals that seem superfluous, yet have found their way into all sorts of everyday items. It would have been interesting to hear from McDonough and Braungart’s perspective the history of how these materials became involved in so many of our products.

The alternative production system that these authors suggest, a shift away from “cradle-to-grave” toward a “cradle-to-cradle” system, is in line with the radical shift that other environmentalists have suggested is necessary for a new global political and economic system. McDonough and Braungart call for a new approach to consumption may be necessary, but it seems almost market liberal in its reliance on technology as the solution for all environmental ills. The right technology may make a significant difference to humanities sustainability, but other issues like population growth and land practices must be considered as well.

The future of the environmental movement will require a shift from “reduce, recycle, reuse” toward the “cradle-to-cradle” approach suggested in this book. This requires a radical shift in system, one that will not be easy. However, this approach must begin with a push from somewhere.

Efficiency in the "Olden Days"

In Cradle to Cradle, authors William McDonough and Michael Braungart explore pretty much every type of consumer product imaginable, how it is made, and how the mind frame of "efficiency" has affected its production. The authors are against this idea of efficient production because they think it ignores the true ways that production could prove sustainable, and does not "reach deep enough" (62). Eco-efficiency tries to make the best of the mess we have already created, work with a tangled, badly designed system, and reduce waste instead of just creating a whole new system that wouldn't create any waste at all. This is what we need to do, the authors express, in order to live and work in a world that acknowledges the entire linking relationship of all things. But capitalism does not allow for this. Unfortunately, I don't think we will ever reach a system like this because companies care only about producing goods quickly and cheaply--and that's their definition of efficiency. For many companies, eco-efficiency isn't even something they will consider because it constricts them to regulations and limits them to how much waste they can produce.
The authors also discuss our consumer culture of waste. Waste has become embedded in our daily lives to a point that it is completely unavoidable to live a zero-waste life (unless maybe we go transcendentalist and live outside for the rest of time). Most of the products we use are comprised of parts that come from many different spheres of the globe and are extracted from nonrenewable sources. I found a lot of similarities from this reading and the video "The Story of Suff," which examines our shopping culture as a driver behind "perceived obsolescence," which the authors also discuss in Cradle to Cradle. Products today are designed not to last long so that we feel we need to throw them away and buy more. This contagious mind set is dangerous and must, somehow, be expelled if we want to continue living on this planet.
One particular story in the book I found interesting was the discussion of prior leather shoe production. Conventional leather shoes, they say, are "monstrous hybrids" (99) comprised of too many different biological and technical materials. In the past, leather shoes were tanned with vegetable chemicals and the wastes posed no real problem becuse the shoe could biodegrade after use. But this required a lot of time to produce, and has therefore been replaced with a cheaper, quicker mode: chromium tanning. But this is emits dangerous toxins (often in undeveloped regions, pointing to the unequal disparities within the system), and leather shoes can no longer biodegrade. So why don't we go back to the old design? Because capitalism does not idealize it.

After reading this, I am completely at a loss. What can I do, then, if there is an ethical issue behind literally every product I use in my daily life? Perhaps well-educated architects could come up with a new system to remedy the situation, but will the world ever adopt it and let it replace the old one? Doubtful. I'm curious to see what others have to say about this.