The End Is Near

I was a little nervous to take this class at first because my knowledge of environmental issues was almost zero. Being at a school like AU, where so many people are environmentally conscious, I thought I would be in over my head in a class full of experts. Over the course of the semester, I've learned an incredible amount. The thing that has resonated most with me is a validation of the seriousness of environmental change. Being someone who had only a cursory knowledge of the issues, I never knew who or what to really believe on the reporting of environmental concerns. Now I have a solid baseline of facts that have established my belief in climate change and the acknowledgement that a serious effort needs to be made to reform how we interact with our environment.

Another important thing I will take away from this class is knowing that to effectively confront climate change, idealism is going to have to yield to pragmatism. It's impossible to fix everything right now, so smaller steps will have to be taken to accomplish this goal. Overall, I feel like I learned a lot about a new topic and realized that while the outlook isn't always pretty, it's still not impossible to create change and improve the planet we live on.