Cooperation for a Successful Outcome

It is difficult to sum up all that I have gained through this course because it has had a tremendous impact on me, to the point that I have decided to pursue a future carrer with a focus on the environmental challenges of the future. Before entering this class, I had some knowledge on the environment due to science courses I have taken in the past, but this course has allowed me to look at it from a different angle- the global environmental politics. I was able to learn about the conventions, protocols, theories, arguments, challenges, and politics of the environment movement, among many others. Thus, I was able to expand my knowldege in this area and realize that there were many more actors involve than what I had previously though. It seemed to me before that the solutions to the envionmental challenges were easier to pin-point at.  But in reality, its such a complex issue to address because it affects everyone- the businesss sector, goverments, communities, species, individuals, cities, housing, biodiversity, etc.With so many actors, where do you start? This a question that many probably ask. I believe that the most important thing I have taken friom this course is the ability to understand that this issue is full of complexities but it own nature, so to try to find a one-fits all type of solution, would be wrong. First, one must understand that there will have to be compromising, losing, and sacrificing from all these sectors. But most importantly, the believe that there has to be understanding and cooperation between all sectors, and especially, environmentalist must not focus on one envirnmental challenge, they need to be more open-minded to others and thus adapt solutions that can be more successful.

Final Thoughts

I transferred into American three semesters ago because I wanted to study environmental policy, D.C. seemed like the right place to be, and of the schools in D.C., AU had the best environmental studies program geared toward a basic understand of science, policy, and political change. Of course, I'm a college student and as such I have changed my career path about six times since being here.

After being in school a while, I realized that I hate politics. I enjoy policy, but only from the angle of how it can be informed by politics. After years of ducking interest in science in an effort to not be my parents (a biophysicist and a plant systemitist), I realized that what I really want to do with my life is research. True confession: I want to be a scientist.

That doesn't meant that I don't think that this class was superfluous to my academic interests. Au contraire, this class will stand out in my memory for the lessons I learned about science communication. It can get frustrating when other people don't understand what you're saying, when they ignore facts, and value party politics more than the truth. As easy as it is to chalk that up to stupidity or assholishness, I've come to learn that the biggest fault lies with me, the communicator. If someone isn't getting it, than I'm not explaining it right. Sure there are always going to be people who push back (the 6 Americas), but I shouldn't waste my time on them.

I want to affect social change. Just because I also want to be in the laboratory, doesn't meant that I can't be a communicator, that I can't spread a message that can change this world for the better.

It has sucked to be on the liberal side of any issue for the past 2 years. Even when we succeed in accomplishing something, the country devolves into an argument of what is fiscally responsible. I want to use the lessons I learned in this class to change that conversation to what is morally right. I know that I can use what I have learned to affect social change through whatever means I choose.

The End

I came into this course with certain preconceived notions of environmentalists and their movement. Because of the militant, aggressive attitude that I had previously encountered with environmentalists, I was quite apprehensive about the class and any discussions that would take place. Any support I have for the environmental movement has been eaten away by the condescending treatment by the movement’s supporters – often, they do more harm to their movement than they know. However, contrary to my low expectations at the beginning of the semester, I ended up really enjoying the class. Despite being in the minority for most discussions (with my decidedly market liberal approach in a fairly social green class), I did not feel completely ostracized by the professor or the class as in previous cases. Rather, I felt that my points were acknowledged, and sometimes, even taken into consideration in their search for environmental solutions. Because of this attitude shift, I actually enjoyed learning about the environment and started to care more about finding a solution for the problems that it faces. The class showed me that there are more problems than just climate change, and that there have been successes in the past – so we should have hope for the future, if we can continue the efforts of environmentalists before us. In the end, I will take away a better understanding of the current environmental situation and the different environmental camps that are all lobbying for separate solutions to these problems. Also, and what I think might be more important, is that I will be taking away a kinder outlook on environmentalists and the movement as whole. As we learned in class, meaningful change stems from a fundamental shift in attitudes, so this class was a turning point for my relationship with environmentalism. I enjoyed my time in the class, and learned a lot that I can take with me into my future.

Towards the end...

This was my first time taking an environmental course, and I have learned a lot from it. Before taking the course, I had some knowledge about the environment today, but it was just too broad and general. Throughout the course, I've learned that the environmental problems that we face today is actually a lot complicated than I thought. I would say, most of the factors, such as poverty, innovation, and pollution, that exist in the world do affect the environment, and they are the causes of the environmental problems. I also learned that there are several thinkings towards solving the environmental problems--Market Liberals, Institutionalists, Bioenvironmentalists, and Social Greens. After knowing these concepts, I am favored of both Market Liberals and Social Greens because economy (technology) is capable of solving some of the environmental problems that we face. This is because it is essential that we have enough capitals to implement whatever the project is. In order to do so, we need our economy to keep enhacing. I agree with Social Greens to some extent because we definitely need to value our planet because if we keep on harming the environment, we will lose natural resources. As a result, our economy will fall down. Even worse, it will threaten human security, such as diseases, due to pollution and the climate change. I've learned so many from this course, and everything that I learned was new to me, so I was always engaged to the class. I will definitely take some environmental course when I get back to Japan. Thank you so much for the wonderful class!

Infiltrating Industry

The most interesting section of Cradle to Cradle for me was the section in which William McDonough and Michael Braungart describe their work with Ford Motor Company to redesign their Rouge plant to be eco-efficient.McDonough and other environmental architects (David Orr, etc.) are known for their work on college campuses, but it is hardly surprising that colleges (bastions of liberal, forward-thinking professors and students) would be engaged in next wave of environmentalism. What is more surprising is that not only a company, but a company that produces a product so harmful to the environment as cars, would be interested in making their oldest plant eco-efficient.

What is especially interesting about the case of Ford is that even for the automobile industry, the company is not known for being environmentally proactive. Like other American car companies, Ford scrapes by, producing cars that barely meet CAFE standards (although this has changed slightly since the most recent recession). It is encouraging that this company could adopt eco-efficiency in their building design, if only for one plant.

What is needed is a revolution in industry so that more companies adopt this model on a wide scale. Why has the Rouge plant not been more widely advertised? Why is this not pushed in every single commercial? An adoption of eco-efficiency in construction would lead to a healthier, happier workplace for so many Americans.

Kudos to Ford for giving this a try. If only this could expand into other factories and into their design aesthetic. They've seen how eco-efficiency works for them, it's time for them to share the wealth and design eco-efficient cars for the rest of us.

Cradle to Cradle

While reading the book Cradle to Cradle the concept that struck me the most was the idea of upcycling. Growing up I have always been taught that recycling was good for the environment. That one should not throw away a water bottle or piece of computer paper that might be used for paper, but recycle them instead. In fact, the whole idea of recycling is one that everyone has heard before and is one of the major points that is countered in the book Cradle to Cradle. The authors William McDonough and Michael Braungart argue that instead of making products with recycling an end result of the product, we should design things with their future use in mind. They counter recycling by raising the point that once an item is recycled it a item until it is no longer useful, in which case it gets thrown out and still finds its way to a land field. The only purpose of recycling the item was to delay the step of it reaching the land field.
The same is said of recycling a water bottle or pieces of paper, yes it does save some of the original product but the inputs that have to be put into the original item to get it to the state of renewal is sometimes more harmful and takes more energy that the benefits of recycling it is not even worth it. And that is where the idea of upcycling comes in the authors’ purpose designing products with the idea of the future use of the product in mind. They not only state their claims in the book they also designed the book with that in mind. I am still not entirely sure what the book is made out of, but I do know that if I were to recycle the book, which is water proof, the ink on the pages can be stripe off with hot water and the cover too. The book does not have to go through an elaborate dismantling and remodeling stage like most other books that might be recycled. And because of this, this book is lessening the inputs that have to go into it to the recycling process or upcycling process, I should say. The book can also be made in to other things that are worth more than the book is now.
The whole concept of the designing things that can be reused for something in the future instead of making the product for now and then deciding what to do with it when it is thrown out is a novel idea. I not only loved reading the book, but also enjoyed the fact that the book was water proof and could be used in multiple ways. In fact throughout the week, I would walk up to people and ask them to hold the book for me, they were at first shocked at how much the book weighed and then where amazed at the fact the book was water proof. This experiment was probably one of my favorite. I was also shocked to see how many of my friends were in to the concept of making things with the items future in mind.

Cradle to Cradle: Easy, Reinforcing, and Engaging Reading

I found the book titled, Cradle to Cradle, by  William McDonough and Michael Braungart, to be insightful and a great general view of the environmental challenges that exist. For someone with a vague knowledge of this subject, this would be a perfect book that would expose the reader with an accurate overview of current environmental issues ranging from the history of environmental movement to air pollution. The very material of the book, made from plastic resins and inorganic fillers, is already making a statement of environmental conciousness.

As I read, I encountered many environmental issues that McDonough and  Braungart explained of which I already had a strong knowledge of, thus for me it was an easy, reinforcing, and engaging reading. Yet there were also many arguments that were raised by both authors that expanded my knowledge of the issue and made me think more about certain points I had not analyzed before. Especially in one chapter, they went through the Four R's, also known as reduce, reuse, recycle and regulate. For them, actions with good intentions such as reusing and recycling products became additional environmental problems. For example, in many places where sewage sludge is recycled and used as fertilizer, it carried many harmful chemicals due to the current design and treatment of the sewage systems. Also, I learned the term, downcycling, meaning that the recycling of certain products reduces the quality of the material over time. Thus a product such as soda cans, which are made from aluminum, when melted for recycling results in a weaker and less useful product. I agree with their argument that we sometimes automatically believe that by recycling we are making eco-friendly choices, yet in reality our choices and actions can become an additional burden on the environment. Overall the authors presented a variety of issues, and raised many questions with relevant data that placed them in a good track in their attempt to explain an overview of the current environmental challenges.