Before taking Global Environmental Politics I knew nearly nothing about the environmental situation; I would also say I had nearly no concern regarding it. As the semester started, I felt a like I was thrown into a freezing cold bath tub shocked as I learned all the insane facts about the strain being put on the environment and the current and potential repercussions.
What had the greatest impact on me was learning about how much growth in population and equivalently consumption has happened since the Industrial Revolution. It blew my mind seeing the charts spike up, and that’s what really made me concerned for the future of our world. Then learning about all the complex contributors to environmental degradation and how changing policy and changing the environmental situation is likewise very difficult helped me grow my abilities to analyze difficult situations faced today. Examining successful changes in environmental policy and innovations, learning about different viewpoints regarding a breadth of environmental concerns, and being presented the opportunity to take my own initiative to help the environment through a class project were the most beneficial aspects of the course. I have never taken a course that has sparked so much interest in me than this has. Because of this class I just decided to switch from concentrating in International Development to Environmental Politics. Next Spring I am even planning to study abroad in India in a program focusing on environmental concerns and will conduct my own research surrounding this.
Overall it is not so much all of the details and facts I learned that were the most beneficial but the strong spark of concern I am left with, the small changes in lifestyle I have subconsciously been making since the start of the class, the knowledge I share with my friends and family, and the enhanced ability to analyze and think critically about how to change the environmental situation today.
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