Zoe Smith Blog

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.

10 Replies to “Zoe Smith Blog”

  1. At first, she told the story from her hometown of rural Pennsylvania with great imagery and then about her environmental advocatism in college. Although she did not tie her personal experiences to the lesson we learned in class. It is unclear what she means by the difference between rural, suburban and urban environmentalism? Like, what are they? Also at the start of the second paragraph she could have gone more in depth as to what she hopes to get out of the class. Though, I too, believe there is no escape from climate change. As humans are the innate cause of the planet’s suffering. There is definitely an appeal to emotion (pathos) for including the idea of children getting sick from poisoned taps as well as her development of ethos from being a part of SPA leadership and Environmental Sustainability group.

  2. I thought that this blog post was an interesting experience. I loved how the author had incorporated their own experiences in a farm near around Pennsylvania. The way it describes about the place can give me a bigger picture about what it is like; the bullfrogs, smokehouses, and rivers. It is great to see many different non profit organizations to step up and help the environment. I think what the author is saying about the different types of environmentalism is that rural is for areas that are nowhere near cities and that some farms contain pesticides and chemicals to grow crops and feed animals. Urban environmentalism is probably cities in which there are factories, a lot of electricity, and many cars are used. These are only some examples I could think of. The best sentence of the post was when climate change was inescapable. Good read.

    – Alan

  3. I enjoyed your blog post. Your story goes from farm life in Pennsylvania to the gradual change in living conditions and then mentions the activities you did to protect the environment. Most of us do not pay attention to the changes in the situation until we are caught up in what we do. Indeed, cities have less impact on environmental pollution than farms. Because rural life is more dependent on nature, while urban life is only further away from the natural environment. These are only my personal opinions. It helps me think about areas I’ve never been involved in before.

  4. I definitely resonated with this blog post. As someone also from PA in a city that has had much more than its fair share of pollution (Pittsburgh), I’ve had many off the same experiences regarding pollution. I can tell just from this blog post how passionate you are about these issues, and that you truly want to make a difference in the world in relation to the environment. The line that most stood out to me was “Children are getting sicker everyday over poisoned taps” because of both my experience at home with unsafe drinking water and the incident last semester when Northwest D.C’s water wasn’t safe to drink. This post was very passionate, personal, and obviously posted by someone who knows what they’re talking about.

  5. I have similar experience with you. As the environmental problems become more and more serious, I find that in my hometown China, the sky is no longer blue and the air is no longer fresh. At first, however, I was not taken seriously. Indeed, at first I didn’t think it was my responsibility to do anything about it. I didn’t realize the seriousness of the problem until I saw the documentary made by famous Chinese journalist Chaijing about China’s smog problem “Under the Dome”. I was shocked and determined to do something. Although the environmental problem is very serious, it is impossible for me to change it completely by myself. But I think I can start with some small things. For example, stick to garbage classification, do not use disposable cutlery, and participate in environmental volunteer activities. I totally agree with you. Everyone has their own career they want to do. Protecting the environment is something you can do no matter what you do. This applies to everyone. Therefore, I think arousing people’s awareness of environmental protection is the most important.

  6. The blog post was a good read. I like how you told us about your own experiences in your hometown in Pennsylvania and how you want to make a difference in as many places as possible. I also liked how you took the incentive to join organizations and groups that help support the cause to protect the environment. It showed how much the environment matters to you and how you want to try to make a difference and preserve the environment. Based off of your knowledge from home, I like how you connected it and brought that to DC and used it to support the cause more. You addressed the topic well.

  7. She told about a story that the environment of her hometown gets damaged. I also grew up in the countryside when I was a kid, and my grandma’s house was near the river. Thus, my friends and I used to swim in the river when I was a kid. A few years later, when I went to my grandma’s house, I found that there were more factories and large chimneys around, and the air quality was not as good as before. In addition, the river where I used to swim accumulated a lot of garbage. However, villagers did not realize how serious the factories polluted the environment. Therefore, I agree with her that people need to stand up against those who destroy the environment. It is important to cultivate people’s awareness of protecting the environment.

  8. I really enjoyed how you used real-life experiences to acknowledge the decline of biodiversity. It was an interesting hook that pulls in the readers, including myself. It creates a platform for readers to relate and if they can’t relate, to understand where you are coming from and empathizing with it. I love that you want to go into law with some sort of focus on environmentalism. I have noticed a lot of people focusing on the science part of environmentalism and less on the law side which I believe is equally, if not more, important. There is no use of the information scientist gather if no one can put the plans into effect. I thought it was smart to put in real-life situations that relate to what you are referencing (Flint, MI) to not allow for skeptics to lessen the value of your words. This whole post was a good read and very informative and clear.

  9. Your blog was very interesting to me and I was able to relate to your experiences on a personal level. Coming from a small town that is based around a clothing mill, I have experienced many of the disastrous affects from pollution including bad drinking water. In the past ten years the rivers and factories have been cleaned up significantly because of laws and legislation by the local government which enacted huge changes within the cities waste policies. The only way we will be able to see real change is through the creation of laws which will only be done if the right leaders are voted into office.

  10. I really enjoyed how you incorporated your own experiences of living in nature into your post. The imagery was very vivid as you described the sights and sounds of where you grew up and I definitely felt like I was sensing those things myself as I was reading it. I also think it was very effective how you mentioned being in the Environment and Sustainability group here at American since this employs a level of ethos into your post, providing a substantial amount of credibility. After reading your post, I could certainly tell that you have a passion for the environment and I would definitely be interested in hearing more of your thoughts on the topic.

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