Aspiring to be Influential

Over the last few weeks, I’ve felt more concerned about my environmental worldview and whether it affects the people around me. In my opinion, nature is like a house filled with chores. Though the chores take a long time to complete, they always have a reward. Therefore, I believe my beliefs coincide with the environmental stewardship model. Our success depends primarily on how we manage Earth’s resources.

            Whether my opinion matters or not to the world worries to me. Maybe I’m just one person that cares about our rapid use of scarce resources. Maybe I’m too young to change or inspire other people’s worldviews. But I’m okay with that. After all, it is said, “to the world, you may be one person; but to one person, you may be the world.” Hopefully, I can inspire at least one person with my respectful view of the planet. 

Dissolving Scientific Stereotypes: A Lesson from the Gorilla beringei Lecture

What makes a scientist a scientist? Is it the white lab coat and pocket protector? Or rather, is it the strict, introverted data collecting that makes for awkward conversation? These stereotypes no longer define the successful scientist. In a recent lecture on a primatologists' research on the Gorilla beringei, I've learned education can only mentally prepare one for a field research study; the physical and emotional components develop as the study progresses.

To begin with, most people don't realize that Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey were regular women with little knowledge of the animals they studied. In fact, it was their lack of exposure that made their research so successful. Naming their subjects gave a personable touch to the animals; this revolutionized the way scientists viewed their subjects. Perhaps this approach to the field research formed a bridge from quantitative research to qualitative research.

The best way to approach a field study is with an open mind and a spirit of adventure. Walking into the field with leather boots and an adorable flower-print dress will have no benefit; instead, bring only the bare necessities essential to survive. Luxury has no place in science. You are in a relationship with your work, and you should have no intention to leave it.

Also, dissolve any preconceived image of what you think a scientist is. Culture and science work hand in hand to provide an ultimately enriching experience. Shocking at first, different value systems are hard to comprehend and compare; developing a universal sense of ethics is practically impossible. Instead, begin your research with an open mind. Allow people to introduce their culture to you and accept what it is. If these people have been killing animals their whole lives, there’s a big chance that you probably won't be able to change their lifestyles. Instead, work around this cultural barrier by thinking outside of the box. What can you do to respect their traditions, but also effectively save an ecosystem?  

Science isn’t a grand puzzle where only the selected few have an answer. In fact, it’s a door waiting to be opened! Ordinary people are just as valuable to the scientific world as trained scientists are. Accepting cultural norms into your scientific study will supplement any research study. Leave your glasses and textbooks behind, my friends, and instead, strap on your hiking boots, get out a map, and dive head first into the world of curiosity! The world is waiting to be discovered.  

"Endlessly Ours": A Dangerous Mindset in American Society

            Five and a half Earths. That’s how many Earths it would take to let everyone in the world live as selfishly as I do. I found this fact not only startling, but also repulsive on many levels. First and foremost, I look at myself as one of those people who can preach, but can never really follow their own environmentally friendly advice. Sure, I yell at people for littering my school and complain about cars’ emissions polluting my air—I admit, I have always had an active voice in my community. But when I saw my own ecological footprint, hypocrisy stared straight at me. Why can we always give advice, but never really take it for ourselves? I believe that the ecological footprint concept encourages optimism in the most pessimistic way possible. By showing people’s direct impact on the earth, they can put a measurement to the destruction or sustainability that they’ve created.

            No one likes hearing the truth; however, an ecological footprint needs to be blunt. Pessimism is an extremely valuable tool; ecological debtors are expected to see their damages to the environment along with little leeway for change. Instilled in the footprint’s owner’s mind is the idea of limited options; one can only have so many chances to turn around before the environmental destruction they are causing becomes permanent, or unchangeable. With this in mind, there are two solutions for the footprint’s owner: either follow the guidelines to a sustainable life, or live in an unsustainable world.            

            As if this “life vs. death of all mankind” question was not pessimistic enough, one can also use the option to see how happily and sustainably other nations live. Comparing the average American to the average Ethiopian is like comparing the day's light to the night’s darkness—they are polar opposites. Though this comparison seems like an interesting cultural awakening, it actually shows how far the industrial revolution has destroyed us as a society. Importing, exporting, shipping, driving, flying, manufacturing, sewing, modifying, etc., are all the culprits behind our dark ecological footprints. Unsustainably advancing our technologies and economic empires takes a major, nonrefundable toll on our precious planet. But yet, our greedy politicians and heartless corporations refuse to admit that their concoction of “happiness” is really the source of all of our problems. Like the saying goes, “the first step is admitting you have a problem.”

            In the end, there are only so many opportunities to solve our problems. Our citizens can easily adopt simple tasks such as recycling, installing energy efficient light bulbs, and saving water. These relatively straightforward ideas can be the beginning towards our great leap to a sustainable future. With ecological footprint calculations, our citizens can place an exact value of their personal lifestyle’s consequences. All the opportunities for change lie in our reach; we are ripened with the knowledge of universal sustainability. However, if we do not take heed to the warnings of our disastrous lifestyles now, our future generations will grow up with our same dangerous mindset: the world is endlessly ours.