In our first week of Macaulay Seminar 3: Science and Technology, I took two things from the lesson. One, the slow deterioration of our world is impacted by the actions of everyone in the world, individually as well as major corporations and capitalist organizations. Two, scientists and environmentalists have been able to identify a myriad of environmental issues, and have developed means, plans and treaties to slow down our pollution as well as make better the damage that has already been done. Prior to entering the classroom on the first day, I was aware of the impact the human people have made on the world, for the worse. What I did not know was to what extent our populations have taken a toll on the world, nor how capable we are of rectifying our mistakes. I would describe this class as informative or eye-opening right off the bat.
Walking into the class I knew about ozone pollution, as well as the slow extinction of species and especially the loss of the Amazon. Although, despite knowing that these problems exist, I was never faced with the tangible statistics that we went over in class last week, nor did I understand its impact. For instance, I was taught in school since I was a young, the ozone layer was developing a hole from the CO2 in the air we produce. However, I never learned that we emit 34 billion tons of CO2 a year. The most shocking thing we learned for me was not the physical weight of CO2 we emit, but the impact it has on our species. The correlation of CO2 in the air, to acidity of the ocean was a scary fact to learn. I had never taken into account the further implications of our actions now. It frightens me to think that sooner rather than later the CO2 we emit every day will cause the acidity of the oceans to rise, which will affect the populations of fish, which affects our diets. The startling realization I came to, in my first time being educated about the environment, is that we have such readily accessible information about the state of our planet, why it is happening, and the ways in which to fix it, yet still environmentalists struggle to find mass support to stop the destruction of our planet.
Beyond destruction for utilitarian means, the planet’s aesthetic is declining rapidly; from the destruction of the mountaintops in West Virginia, to 80% of coral reefs vanishing from the oceans. The debate we discussed of utilitarian vs. purist value to the planet is also completely knew to me, and has many layers to each side. Yet at the core of this debate is the idea of sustainability, and what I learned is that if we can sustain our stay on this Earth, while sustaining its own life, why are we not trying?
