When I was younger, I always reminded my mother to turn off the lights after leaving her room. My class had just learned about climate change and I was motivated to do my part because I felt hopeless against an issue so vast. I had never encountered a problem beyond my lifetime, but I knew I wanted to be part of the solution. I turned off lights, took quick, short showers, recycled, and more. As I got older, I learned how to compost, shop sustainably, and realized that my passion for the environment was something I wanted to pursue in college.
Gallatin initially interested me for its freedom in constructing my own concentration, but after attending university for two years, the interdisciplinary work cultivated by my professors has been the most beneficial part of this program. Entering freshman year, I was determined to combine my interests in architecture with my desire to plan for a sustainable future. My educational goals were to develop a comprehensive understanding of urban architecture and eco-conscious engineering. That semester I took a class in Introductory Painting as I believed this was the beginning of combining my passion for visual arts with educating my audiences about the environment. I still believe that creative solutions are needed for education about environmental issues, but I realized that I wanted to explore environmental studies more closely and use my paintings outside of my academic career. That semester I enrolled in an interdisciplinary seminar known as Slow Looking, where I looked at visual art pieces, including architecture, through various perspectives (authors, media, etc.). My final project included an in-depth analysis of the platinum LEED Cooper Union building. This project was the beginning of examining our relationship, specifically an urban culture, with the natural environment. I began to question our relationships with each other and how that influenced the human relationship with the environment.
The following semester I took a course formally known as the Anthropology of Climate Change in which we discussed cultural understanding and solutions to climate change. This class helped me realize that while urban ecological development is valuable, it is not where my interests for my concentration lies. I came to the conclusion that I am heavily interested in human culture in relationship with the natural environment. Specifically, how various societal issues influence solutions for and attitude towards climate change. Now my educational goals have changed to explore the many solutions to climate change and understand a global human relationship to the environment.
A few readings have helped me realize my educational goals and eventually lead to my questions for my concentration. The Planet in a Pebble: A Journey Into Earth’s Deep History by Jan Zalasiewicz gave me a new perspective on how we understand the Earth. It took away some of the vastness of the Earth’s complex ecosystems by addressing how it is all connected through a single pebble. It helped me realize that humans are not exclusive from Earth but play a role in Earth’s history. The collectiveness implies a global issue and the film Plastic China by Jiu-Liang Wang solidified the idea that our choices affect not only the planet, but each other. This film documents just a few individuals suffering from foreign plastics. The western world has failed to take responsibility for its waste by sending its plastics to China and other developing countries where they negatively impact the livelihood of billions of people. These two texts have evidently shown me that climate change is an anthropogenic problem affecting the Earth and all humans. Both of these sources were discussed in my course from last semester, Anthropocene Narratives.
Questions I want to answer by the end of my time at Gallatin are: Why is it important to think about climate change as a global issue? How has the relationships between humans and nature changed over time with what reasons and consequences? Is our influence on climate “new” and how does various understanding of the environment become influenced by time, region, innovation, etc.?
My underlying conceptual tools to answer these questions will be to analyze change over time through historical analysis. My class in Archaeology: Early Societies and Cultures will hopefully allow me to accomplish this. I wish to better understand human relationships and perhaps the beginnings of globalization so that I may connect it to environmental studies through my current/previous courses. Another underlying conceptual tool I will use to answer my concentration question is to analyze relationships between individuals, communities, etc. An interdisciplinary seminar that particularly intrigues me is The Arts and Archaeology of Royal Women in the Ancient Mediterranean for its direct correlation to premodern work and environmental studies. Two semester ago I took a class in global feminism and I see this course as opportunity to apply what I learned to women’s relationship to the ancient natural environment. Finally, I desire to analyze understandings of nature, Earth, and the environment in different contexts (rational v. religious). I hope to find a course that could discuss ancient people’s relationship to the Earth whether it be rational or religious. To develop an understanding of how science changed our relationship to nature is crucial to expanding my concentration. As I continue my time at Gallatin I will continue to explore these concepts.
I also aspire to intern with companies, organizations, or individuals working in environmental justices to help form my concentration. I desire to complete my premodern and early modern requirement by the end of junior year, as well as, conduct an internship this upcoming summer or fall semester. Along with historical context in environmentalism, I wish to address the global aspect of environmental issues. My work the past four semesters have shown me that global efforts are a priority in combating climate change, so I continue my studies with an interest in an international relationship. Past semesters courses in global bioethics have been offered, so I desire for the opportunity to enroll in a seminar or lecture discussing this. With my main focus in premodern, early modern, and global studies on the environment in these upcoming semesters I hope to take all the knowledge I have learned to graduate school. I plan focus on environmental justice and move my career to that field. My work in undergraduate has given me focus to not only understand the everchanging field of climate change, but to pair that with our relationship to it. My final semesters at Gallatin will be to explore the solutions to this global issue.