Greener Future

Ultimately, this course has been a great learning experience for me. If anything, I am disappointed that I have waited until my senior year to take an environmental course. I am an International Development major with minors in Spanish and economics, and I feel that environmental policy is very related to what I have been studying. In all of my international development courses, whether they pertain to human rights or simply the basics of development, it is impossible to deny that the environment plays an important role within it. Especially the idea of sustainable development. I have heard the term tossed around before, but it was not until after this course that I really felt like I understood it. The quote that sustainable development is development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” has struck a cord within me and I think of it often. Anyone can talk about how important it is to help the impoverished and aid the developing world, but if we ignore the environment, our actions and the actions of developing nations with have dire consequences. Following that same train of thought, I will take away a lot of concepts discussed in the course and apply them to my study of economics. I saw the connection between the environment and the economy most clearly when I wrote the first paper for this class on Rio+20. After reading all about the Rio+20 themes and agenda I paid close attention to the concept of a green economy. There are ways that we can influence how developing nations grow and methods of encouraging them to take a greener route than nations like China and the US. Two of the methods that stood out most to me were green subsidies and facilitating green practices such as organic farming. There is so much more we can do to help developing nations than throwing food and money at them. For example, if we give them the tools to farm organically and efficiently we will we aiding their sustainable development as well as helping the environment as a whole. Another important concept I will take with me is the idea of practice what you preach. How is the US in a position to tell other nations how to be green when we ourselves are one of the largest, if not the largest, contributor to pollution and environmental harm. I also need to start taking actions to become greener instead of talking about them as well. This course has been invaluable for me and has opened my eyes to just how interrelated all of the SIS disciplines are and I hope to remember that as I continue my studies and enter the “real world” in May.