{"id":396,"date":"2017-07-15T05:32:35","date_gmt":"2017-07-15T05:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385\/?p=396"},"modified":"2017-07-15T05:34:20","modified_gmt":"2017-07-15T05:34:20","slug":"watch-your-step","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385\/watch-your-step\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch Your Step"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The carbon footprint we are collectively leaving on the world is actively and increasingly destabilizing the climate (Litfin) and the severity of human intervention in nature and natural processes has created equally severe consequences that need to begin reversal, if that is even possible. In Lester Brown\u2019s Full Planet, Empty Plates<\/em>, he highlights the effects of exponential human population growth on the earth\u2019s natural resources. As \u201chuman demands have outrun the carrying capacity of the economy\u2019s natural support systems\u2014its forests, fisheries, grasslands, aquifers, and soils\u201d, we have undoubtedly arrived at an unsustainable future and our footprint on the world is only becoming more distinct as the population increases. Natural scientists need to consider social science perspectives and initiatives when responding to environmental issues and environmental scarcities. As the West has been contributing to the downfall of the climate for half of a century, already, we have another large population of people in developing nations who can greatly benefit from industrial technologies that we know are harmful to the ecosystem. Together, we have a worldly responsibility to allow these developing nations to embrace industrial and technological advancements, while keeping environmental goals and limitations at the forefront of policy. <\/span><\/p>\n

A question begged is how do we limit or reverse the earthly damage without oppressing people in developing countries who need these technologies to advance and survive? As Monica Berger-Gonzalez mentioned in <\/span>Anthropocene<\/em>, <\/span>one way we could greatly impact the planet positively is by teaching children about climate change, and giving them tools and knowledge of how to treat the planet respectfully with the future in mind, as they develop. As for adults, we need to go\u00a0<\/span>beyond the \u201cindividualization of responsibility\u201d as Paul Robbins says, and embrace a political stance through democracy against climate change and overproduction of resources. If we could create a political climate that addresses and responds actively to climate change in the next 20 years, and raise the next generations with environmental awareness, we would have a strong chance at restoring health to our world and raising the youth to innovatively explore ways to enrich our ecosystems in a sustainable way.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Works Cited:<\/span><\/p>\n

Lester Brown, <\/span>Full Planet, Empty Plates<\/span>, Chapter 2.<\/span><\/p>\n

Karen Litfin. Lecture 2. ENVIR 385 A. Summer 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jenny Richards, Steve Bradshaw. Anthropocene (film). <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Paul Robbins, <\/span>Political Ecology : A Critical Introduction <\/span>Chapter 1, pp. 11-25<\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The carbon footprint we are collectively leaving on the world is actively and increasingly destabilizing the climate (Litfin) and the severity of human intervention in nature and natural processes has created equally severe consequences that need to begin reversal, if that is even possible. In Lester Brown\u2019s Full Planet, Empty Plates, he highlights the effects of exponential human population growth… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[110,117,116,120,118,119],"class_list":["post-396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-anthropocene","tag-awareness","tag-biodiversity","tag-communityresponsibility","tag-environmentalawareness","tag-individualresponsibility"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":404,"href":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396\/revisions\/404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}