Jiahao Peng

Reflection 1

My experience with Economics and the Environment let me see how different it is from the fundamental economic concepts I studied in previous classes. Basic economics seemed to have everything simpler—mostly focused on supply and demand, market efficiency, and how people or companies maximize profit. But this course encouraged me to really consider the broader impact of economic activities on the environment and society and go beyond just commercial transactions. I think the experience of Econ 371 changed my whole view of the economics of the environment. Anyway, used to, I focus and understand that the economic sector can conclude the environmental-related issue. While we can understand that from accounting the cost and benefit. That’s what I learn from the project management courses. But in this course, we get in touch with more concepts that impress me the environmental-related issue can’t only be figured out by cost and benefit. Moreover, we need to look at stuff such as externality, the willingness to pay or accept, or, let’s say, a more specific term such as engineering cost. These concepts give a new idea and make a perfect illustration of the environmental issue. Coming to the concept, they are kind of related to the knowledges that we learn from Econ 101, 102. As we know, they are the basis of the whole economic world. But I can feel and understand that we are having a border and more specific application on that stuff.

Such as the way externalities—especially negative ones like pollution—are treated as one of the key differences. Our year 1 knowledge argues that, without government intervention, market interactions are supposed to be efficient. However, in this course we frequently deal with them; they are emphasized as basic market failures. Although they introduce the idea of externalities, year 1 economic courses usually do not explore the significant environmental effects of unregulated economic development. We are only taught that the externalities exist and how to measure them. But we don’t have a further understanding on the externalities themselves. Well after reading the textbook and some classes through, I got a lot knowledge on that. It helps me to build a comprehensive mind to concepts. That we are more focused on application and understanding, not the definition.

Sustainability was another idea that confused me in the past. In basic economics, the future is sometimes discounted seriously and we are advised to concentrate on consumption or immediate profits. This course did, however, introduce me to the sustainability standard, which emphasizes that we cannot simply use resources now without considering how they affect next generations. It really made me wonder if the long-term environmental damage is worth the short-term financial gain. Before, I had not given things like intergenerational equity much thought; this concept—that we have a duty to guarantee a livable planet for next generations—had not really appealed to me. It's something I now believe is absent from conventional economic models, which seem to be concerned with short-term profits.

Anyway, which can’t be denied is the greatness of the course design by professor John Janmaat. I always think that a "powerpoint-reading" style of teaching can’t raise the interest of students. Indeed. Look at what we have in this course; everyone can engage and leave their thoughts freely. We are not only locked in at that course material but given a better chance to engage and analyse the other event that we are interested in. Feelings of interaction make me more excited on what is going on next. I am looking forward to other concepts we will learn in the next couple of weeks.

In conclusion, this course has definitely changed my viewpoint. It made clear to me that long-term consequences, ethics, and environment are closely related to economics—not only numbers, profits, and markets. I feel like I have a more whole knowledge of how the economy interacts with the environment since I now see that normal economic models sometimes overlook these larger, more complicated problems. It has made me more critical of the emphasis on expansion in fundamental economics and led me to consider sustainability and the moral consequences of economic choices far more.

Reflection 2

Two ideas from the second half of the course really impress me as highly changing as I consider the subjects we covered: clean technology and nonrenewable resources. I first explored these subjects from what I now understand as a simple, somewhat idealized point of view. Like many others, I thought of the loss of nonrenewable resources as basically a faraway issue, something that might influence next generations but not mine. In the same way, I believed that clean technology was an easy fix requiring only more funding and general acceptance. The reality is, however, readings from textbooks and class slides questioned these assumptions in the debates. For nonrenewable resource management, for example, the Hotelling model provided an aspect of complexity I had not thought about. It showed how economic incentives, market pricing, and intertemporal trade-offs enhance physical availability in resource extraction. This changed my perspective from seeing resource depletion as basically a "scarcity" problem to realizing it as a dynamic balance between present and future consumption. Seeing how market forces might either hurry or slow down resource depletion depending on perceived future scarcity is amazing and rather depressing. Also, our discussions in class deeply influenced how I considered clean technology. I had always believed that, as society develops, innovation in clean technology will be linear and unavoidable, which is something that comes naturally. I discovered instead how firmly ingrained political and economic systems could hinder these developments. As the textbook discusses, the importance of path dependence and market failures exposed the urgent need of policy intervention. For example, it emphasized how important government incentives such as carbon taxes or solar energy subsidies are in reversing the predominance of fossil fuels. This complex knowledge has helped me to value the work required to transition to a sustainable future.

But anyway, one thing that makes me feel engaged and important is the freedom that the professor gave us to vote out subjects most relevant to us, and that really improved my experience in this course. This adaptability let me explore these fields of study and personal interest further, which gave the content relevance and power. I would want to thank you for this strategy since it not only improved my knowledge but also enabled me to consider serious problems that will shape the future of my study. The course has included group projects, and my experience working with teammates proved how important cooperation is to reaching goals. Every member of our group showed great coordination, and each one of us significantly helps to guarantee the completion of our projects and quality. Our effective teamwork came from our careful distribution of tasks among several key elements. Every task was allocated according to personal strengths, effectively enabling us to maximize our overall abilities. One team member, for example, led in setting deadlines and planning our meetings, which guaranteeing that we stayed on target and displaying great leadership. For this one, a big shout out to Aya for give us a great mind to set up our work. Whether it was refining the material or solving problems, another member gave priceless technical support, that increasing the professionalism of our work. Thank you, Tahlia for giving us a big foundation of how to operate the wiki page and upload our work perfectly every time. This experience proved to me that group projects are about learning from others, building relationships, and refining skills like communication and adaptability in addition to finishing a task. I truly appreciate the commitment of my peers, which made working together fun and quite meaningful.

At the end, this course not only increased my beliefs in the relevance of environmental economics but also given me a more informed, critical viewpoint. Along with a greater respect of the difficulties we face, I hope that careful policies and creativity could open the path for a more sustainable planet. Once again, big shout out to our professor Janmaat. Thanks for providing a chance for us to attend such a valuable and creative course. I appreciate that!

Prof: Thanks for the feedback, and your description of your group. Group work can be challenging, and I do somewhat 'throw you in the deep end' with this project. Not all groups have a leader emerge. Perhaps there is something for me to encourage future groups to do, to pick someone to take responsibility for scheduling meetings and coordinating tasks. I've taken several courses in avalanche safety, and those have emphasized that in an emergency, in this case when someone might be buried, it is important that someone quickly take charge and coordinate the search.