It’s hard to believe that the semester is finally drawing to a close, but looking back I can absolutely say I learned a lot. Besides simply becoming far more educated on climate change, environmental issues and sustainability, I now feel like I can start to see where things are going and I have to say they aren’t necessarily as bleak as I had thought earlier. The process of reaching sustainability is absolutely an uphill battle, but it is not impossible or already lost; I now believe that we are in the midst of a messianic movement that one day are on our way to the sustainable world of tomorrow. Throughout the semester, most of my responses displayed an air of hopelessness, and after learning about the incredible amount damage that has been done to the environment I certainly see where I was coming from. Today however, I find myself looking at initiatives like LEED or plaNY and thinking that they just might work. I’m starting more and more to see sustainability and some basic environmentalism as the way of the future and that our society’s current consumerist attitudes will seem dated and foolish in 100 years. Change is being made today however, electric cars are becoming more and more common and gas-guzzling behemoths such as the Hummer have really fallen out of style. What was once seen as cutting edge is now just looked at as wasteful and excessive; culture is moving towards sustainability.
Going forward from this class, besides becoming more conscious of my impact on the environment I plan to truly try to keep up with the issues and do my part. Since the beginning of the semester, my emphasis on recycling and reusing has been far greater than ever before, as has my support for initiatives such as plaNYC. I think social contracts like plaNYC and the Kyoto protocol are where the world needs to be heading and are the way of the future, and I now understand that my voice does make a difference.
As far as the structure of the class, while initially these weekly responses and the generally heavy workload seemed like a burden, I now can understand where they are coming from. This class served as an immersion into the concepts of environmentalism and sustainability rather than a light introduction. While I do realize that there is of course so much more to learn than I know right now, I at least feel that I have a far greater understanding of the sustainability movement, as well as its goals, opponents, tactics and message.
While I was skeptical at first, I am very happy that this course is a Macaulay Honors requirement, and I simply wish everyone had to take something similar to this, for I believe that most opponents of the sustainability movement are ignorant rather than truly opposed. If more people saw places like Treece or learned of the horrible history of even our own rivers I have trouble believing everyone would still sit back and watch the world burn, for the stories are too compelling to not have any effect on a person. I wish to truly make myself more involved and more aware of these issues but this class has given me a great foundation to do that from. I can absolutely say I walked out of this class more interested, more aware and absolutely more educated than the day I first walked in.
