Lauren Klotz
Pol S 385
Although Michael Pollan and Michael Maniates point out many problems with civilizations’ approaches to environmentalism, the authors do not pose viable solutions for individuals to follow. Michael Pollan presents various solutions that involve resources such as time and money that the average citizen does not have and Maniates does not provide many solutions besides the traditional consumerist approaches such as buying a bike or seeds to plant trees. In order to spark real change, society needs guidelines and clear directions in order to make change in their daily lives.
In section, we spoke about social movements. Social movements are important in inspiring new perspectives and initiating revolutionary actions. A viable way to promote environmental change is through education and social movements can be very successful in spreading information that is useful for changing one’s lifestyle practices that are hurting the environment. Not only do they increase individual knowledge but they also put pressure on local governments to promote change within their existing systems. For example, the recent women’s movement has uncovered many gender biases and issues within corporations and spread information regarding the pay gap between men and women. Real change was sparked through this movement and laws have been updated since the initial laws made in the 1950s and 1960s. Ideas that an environmentally friendly social movement could promote include: purchasing reusable cloth instead of paper napkins, removing plastic bags from purchase at grocery stores, reducing dryer usage and starting a compost pile in order to reduce waste output. These alternatives are more realistic for the average consumers that are both affordable and simple.