As this was my first formal introduction into the world of international environmental politics, I feel as if I will leave the course with a new found grasp of the challenges and opportunities within the field. In particular, I found our section on food industrialization as well as competing theories within the field regarding potential solutions to climate change.
It was fascinating to me to learn about the Green Revolution and today's global industrial food system. The tension between strategies to eradicate hunger and the long term implications of food mechanization. How can we feed the world's hungry in a way that they will be able to sustain themselves and their families for generations to come? Does the food system need to be overhauled completely as Jenny Edkins proposes or do we need to address market entitlement failures as espoused by Amartya Sen? Trial and error seems to be at work here. How can we know for sure that the solutions we propose will not negatively impact all stakeholders involved?
As we moved through the course and delved deeper and deeper into the challenges of climate change, the light ahead of the tunnel seemed to disappear. For me, I began to regain hope with William McDonough and Michael Braungart's cradle-to-cradle methodology and ideas of eco-efficiency. Although criticized for playing into the very system that has destroyed our environment and impacted human health, I believe their work to be quite effective. I appreciate their vision that "industry can be safe, effective, enriching, and intelligent... humans can incorporate the best of technology and culture" (Cradle to Cradle 87). I think that their approach is key to creating new paradigms regarding our relationship with nature, the way we create products, and understand production and consumption cycles. In this way, Mcdonough and Braungart can be seen as a small group of individuals making a big impact on the environment. I hope to see more of their eco-effective vision in the future.
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