Course:ECON371/UBCO2024WT1/Reflections/Karver Smith

  

Reflection 1: Post Midterm:

The reason I took this course in the first place was because I firmly believe that the environment is critically important and we as a society do not give it half of the respect it deserves. If I am being honest, I am one of those people. Initially, I was hoping to learn some things I was able to do as an individual that would help out the environment more especially since I run a business that is not particularly respectful to the environment. That being a painting company. I do what I can without shutting down my business. I minimize my gas usage, and I strictly use eco-friendly products, but there are some things I simply can’t avoid with what I know currently. Several topics in this course have dramatically changed the way I think about the environment. Surprisingly, not always in a positive light. But this is because some issues are more complex than just environmental impacts.

I had not deeply considered what an environmental injustice meant before this class. I knew they existed, I knew some happened to me, but I didn’t really stop to think about why before now. The moment that stuck with me the most was discussing water access to bands. I had always known that the conditions were bad, but, even coming from a community with inconsistent clean water myself, I didn’t think about it too much. But it disappointed me to think that some groups were arguing that it wasn’t an injustice because communities that aren't native also experience these issues. But that got me thinking that these problems are much more complex than I initially thought. I am firmly under the belief that the water issues should be solved for bands long before communities like mine are even looked at. As they are facing several more injustices. Both environmental and non-environmental. Several of these environmental issues are difficult to fix in a manner that’s fair for all parties.

As someone who has grown up in a rural, lower-income environment, I also gained a lot of value from seeing a more urban perspective. For example, the discussion on the carbon tax. It has wildly different effects on different individuals. For example, when I am running my house painting business I do a lot of driving. The subsidy that comes in is not even close to being able to cover my additional expenses even after I have reduced my driving as much as possible. But, I am more than happy to pay that additional amount considering that it prevents as much unneeded driving in the city. As a side note, I also updated my own political views as a whole while in this class when we discussed political views and environmental views being separate. On that subject, I have deeply enjoyed researching news articles to write reflections on as it gives me a reason to stay more updated on world events. I have even started doing this for leisure from time to time just so that I can stay informed on non-environmental events as well.

A terrifying realization I have had in this class is that as a society, we have gotten to a point where one person being eco-friendly is no longer going to make a difference if we hope to save the environment. Over the duration of this course, I have started looking into going into politics myself to try and make a difference. Although I don’t have the resources at this point in my life to be able to achieve this, I am taking action to open that door for me later on. Mainly, looking at world events and seeing not only what I would like to see fixed. But how I would like to fix it.

Reflection 2: Pre Final

This class has taught me a lot about the world around me. I mentioned this part in my last review already, but I was to specify again that this class has been encouraging me to follow the news and world events more often. Not just to keep up with the environment, but other events going on in the world as well. For several reasons, this course has made me a better citizen.

Before this class, I used to be pro-nuclear power. I believed it was our current best alternative as most green-viewed energies were not abundant enough or strong enough yet. In this class, I learned it is not as viable an option as I thought it would be. I wouldn’t say I’m against nuclear power by any means I still believe it's a good fallback when it is absolutely needed as this course did strengthen my opinion that it is better to have highly dangerous waste in a small area than things like massive amounts of “less harmful” C02 emissions. I do believe we should be investing more in green energy.

Something else I had not really thought about for environmental issues is that several of them are indirectly tied to poverty. This changed how I view social issues. As someone who grew up without as much money as the average person, and with my family still mainly having financial issues rather than anything else, this has strengthened my opinion that we need to deal with economic injustices. If anything, it is encouraging me to try and fix these issues more. As of now, I do not have to feel like it is selfish to try and protect my own group as these actions should help everyone on the planet in the long run (by allowing the planet to continue)

I also now understand that fairness in treatment is important. Previously I was not as kind to uneducated people’s opinions about the world especially when it came to world issues. But I distinctly remember the day you had asked me in class if that makes their opinions any less valid. This made me realize that what someone does or doesn’t know should not prevent them from having their opinion considered. A much better approach to solving world issues could simply be preventing the spread of misinformation (Although this won’t be easy)

I will also be more considerate when I am thinking about situations with open-access goods. For example, we talked about sewer system issues and how educated people bought water filters to fix the problem rather than stop their own pollution. I know that if it is just me fixing my own pollution in situations like this, it won’t make a difference. But if everyone thought like that we’d never fix our issues. I might as well try. This class renewed my motivation to try and fix these types of issues that I had mostly lost about two years ago in my life when I stopped feeling like I was making a difference in the environment. But I have started making strides to do better again. After the 1st reflection, I started trying to take small steps here and there. Things like using less water in the shower after finding out that BC is in a water drought. My current record for a quick shower is 4 minutes.

Prof: Thanks for your thoughts. It would have been great to spend more time talking about the relationship between poverty and sustainability. One way of thinking about sustainability is as intergenerational justice: what is the just way to share resources between the present and the future, or what do we who are making decisions today owe the future? If one thinks about that carefully, then one can conclude that the difference between current and future generations is along the time dimension. Should we also not consider intragenerational justice? That would be justice along a spatial dimension in the same period of time. No conceptual difference. Wish we had more time to explore these things.