Filed under: J500 Week 14, Society + Media | Tags: environment, environmental issues, service learning
I am astounded by the vast amount of knowledge I have acquired from this course. When I enrolled in this class, I expected to come away having learned about various ways to be environmentally conscious and knowing definitions of environmental terms. What I didn’t expect to happen was to gain valuable insight on issues ranging from factory farms to food labels to the cleanliness of water.
From day one of this class, I discovered that environmental issues are also human issues. Before, I thought of it as completely separate concerns-one having nothing to do with the other. I was under the impression that environmental issues didn’t affect me; which made me, in part, disconnected from my surroundings. I assumed that my daily routines and practices were too minuscule to have an effect on others or the world around me.
I was mistaken.
Throughout the course I started to see and understand the importance of the connection between people and the planet. My point of view began to change. By using food and agriculture as our lenses through which we viewed environmental matters, it brought about the realization that environmental issues are also day-to-day concerns such as, purchasing produce sprayed with pesticides, pumping gasoline into our cars and discovering the by products in drinking water.
Photo by Only Sequel/Courtesy Flickr
This class was made all the more rewarding by getting the opportunity to give back to our community through service learning with the Douglas County Food Policy Council. The aim of the DCFPC is to attain a local, sustainable food system for Douglas County. To me, the best way to learn is through active learning. Getting the chance to speak with people in our community and to be an influential part of creating a local food system for our county, for this generation and future generations, took learning to an extraordinary level.
All in all, this class gave me a new-found respect for the world which I inhabit. I learned life lessons that I will carry with my throughout my existence. This four-month journey has taught me that even though change takes time, it is forthcoming. To be a part of that change towards a more sustainable environment is breathtaking.
Micole Aronowitz
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J500 Media and the Environment 
Micole-
Comment by jackiemcc May 2, 2010 @ 2:26 pmGreat post! I agree with you on how the best learning is through active learning. I also mentioned that in my post, that for me it is so much more beneficial to learn through a hands-on experience than through a book.
My question to you is: what was the most insightful or influential thing you heard or learned through your interviews? Who was it, and what did they say?
Great post!
-Jackie M.
Micole,
How do you think you’ll be better at relating issues to people? Like the “circle of worry” that professor talks about, how do we get people to care?
Sean T.
Comment by Sean T. May 2, 2010 @ 2:52 pm