Month: January 2020

I care about climate change and environmentalism because I grew up on a farm in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania. I’ve been outdoors my entire life and have begun to notice changes. The bullfrogs stopping croaking at all hours of the day. Smokestacks poked above the tree lines, billowing smoke. The local rivers were blocked off from the public. They were no longer safe for humans to swim in. My teachers told me it was because of pollution, Winters are less snowy and last longer into the Spring. Fewer snow days, Overall, not much but it definitely peaked my interest. I came to college with concerns but little experience. I am a part of the School of Public Affairs Leadership Program and am in the Environment and Sustainability group. We are working to raise money for local nonprofits to lessen pollution in DC’s rivers. I am continuing to learn the different between rural, urban, and suburban environmentalism. There are many facets of environmental injustice that I had no idea about before now. 

Taking this concern and doing something with it had been a goal of mine. I am interested in law but do not have a focus decided as of now. Environmentalism and conservation and law are connected in many ways. Lawsuits occur often over the rights of whose land is whose to abuse. Children are getting sicker everyday over poisoned taps. Now that people are starting to realize the effect they are having on the Earth, there is more disagreement about environmental health. That intersection is easy to see. As we move forward though, I believe the intersection will widen. Opening up more cases like Flint, MI. People are going to be put in danger by the suffering environment. I believe the disagreement between people are environment will turn from a ‘this will occur’ to ‘this is occurring and people are sick’. Environmental Law will become a battle between the Earth and its people harming each other because it will just keep getting worse. I find this will apply to everyone, including me, because there is no escape from climate change and educators, lawyers, protective forces, and people will have to stand up against it.

I first got interested in climate change and environmentalism when I took the course AP Environmental Science in high school. In the course I learned about different issues happening to the planet and different groups that are trying to help, support, and stop the changes that are effecting the earth. Climate change is one of the big topics that I learned about and it is any changes in temperature, precipitation, or wind patterns, among other effects, that occur over several decades or longer. We also learned about the influence of human beings on nature which is also known as anthropogenic. It got me more interested in the topic knowing that a lot of the issues were human caused, which means that there is more hope in fixing or lessening the issues, rather than not knowing where the source of the issues are coming from. The career that I am currently considering is working in the medical field as a Physicians Assistant. This career path correlates to environmentalism because the environment and our surroundings have a influence on our health. For example, the air that people are breathing in, the water that people are drinking, and the food that people are eating all affect their health. In order to be healthy the air needs to be safe to breathe in, the water needs to be filtered properly, and the food needs to be clean and even better if its organic. As a physicians assistant, they care for people everyday who come into the hospitals and offices with health issues. Indirectly, environmentalism effects people, and those people are going to physician assistants, so they are all connected by a chain of events. Overall, I am very interested in learning about the environment and all the ways that we can improve the damages occurring and affecting Earth.

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