Week 2 Questions

1. One huge global environmental problem is climate change. It has accelerated so much recently and we as humans are contributing greatly to this. Like other environmental issues it is one that adversely affects the entire globe yet some are contributing much more than others to it. The coal industry and its wealthy adversaries include some of the greatest forces behind this problem. The issue here is that they may be gaining financially from these actions that are ultimately harming the rest of the world and may have permanent damage on the planet. This is an example of the "ecological shadow" that was discussed in one of the readings. Although the pollution and release of toxins may be mainly coming from one area, there are no boundaries to hold them in therefore the surrounding societies many times must deal with the negative effects even though they may not be contributing them. This is what is happening with climate change although the entire world is changing because of it and the effects, such as extinct species, will be irreversible. One of the other articles brought up the issues that environmental movements face due to the strong universal belief in state sovereignty. Although the entire world is being affected by the economically driven and environmentally careless actions of the people, no one wants to give up their sovereign rights in order to create norms and standards that the whole world must follow. As more developed nations, it is especially hard and hypocritical to ask nations, such as China, who are only just going through their own industrial revolutions, to cut back on emissions when we ourselves have already been there and caused irreversible damage to the world because of our economically driven technology. It is hard to pinpoint the one most important global environmental problem because they are all interrelated.

2. Living in an "environmentally friendly" way is probably something different for everybody. I believe, however, that it is more based on intent than actual actions. If your intent is to be "environmentally friendly" then you will strive to fulfill your duty based on what you know. Being a college student and having taken a few courses on the environment I might be more aware then someone who has not been lucky enough to have the same education as me. Even little things such as unplugging my computer when I am not using it is perhaps something that would not even cross other peoples' minds. At the same time, someone who has extensively studied the environment and our human impact on it is probably more likely to think about their own impact on it and will perhaps therefore do things in an environmentally conscious way that would not even cross my mind to do. Being "environmentally friendly" can also be based on personal opinion and one's own priority. Some may believe that big industries can be "environmentally friendly" if they use "greener" technology to run their businesses while others may think that industries in general, not matter how much money they put into technology that is less harmful to the environment, are always going to be unnecessarily harmful to the planet. I believe that being "environmentally friendly" is listening to your environmental conscience and at times going out of your way to avoid doing things that may ultimately negatively affect the environment. I try to do little things such as unplugging appliances and using canvas bags to shop in and choosing to walk over driving when possible. But these, like I said, are little things and ultimately I don't think I am doing that much to help our negative human impact on the environment. It is hard to ask people to dramatically change their lifestyles even though it may be just what we need.