Hello everyone! My name is Caren Levin and I am currently a sophomore attending Penn State, University Park Campus. I grew up in Potomac, Maryland, which is about thirty minutes outside of DC. I’m studying Early Childhood Education (Pre-K to 4) and hoping to receive a minor in Spanish along with an ESL certification. After I graduate, I want to teach kids in kindergarten or first grade. I am taking this course because I am interested in learning about the affects between human-environment interactions in more detail. Now more than ever, it is important for us to be conscious of our actions, which are constantly leaving traceable marks on the earth. I am also hoping to learn more about sustainability.
After completing Module 1, one topic that really captured my attention is the social science perspective. It is important to recognize why and how people are affecting the environment. How are we causing depletion in natural resources? Why should we respond to changes in environment policies? If people were more aware of their actions, could we prevent animal extinction? These are the questions we need to ask ourselves in order to protect the earth. Natural resources can’t always be replenished. I think if more people took the time to understand human impacts on the environment, the environment impacts on humanity, and environment policies, then people will be more mindful of their actions. It is essential to look at these different ideas from a variety of perspectives.
Hello! I want to be a teacher too! You make a very good point when you talked about the importance of recognizing why and how people affect the environment. If we ignore this, then there can be many negative results on the environment. I feel that people think that resources are unlimited because so many people aimless use them, or people don’t think that they can hurt the environment with their actions. Last semester, I witnessed a student aimlessly throw his trash in a bush when there was a trash can about five feet away. People like the student don’t realize that these “small” things can have a big affect on the environment. I agree that before we do something, we should question that if it is good or bad for the environment. By doing so, we can stop our bad habits of not thinking about something before we do it, which will prevent us from hurting the environment.
Here is a link to my introduction blog:
http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/01/16/getting-to-know-me-2/
Hello Caren! What a great degree track, those kids will keep you young! I too enjoyed the social science aspect of geography. It frustrates me to see the effects of anthropogenic climate change and the possibility of already being in the midst of the next great extinction (Anthropocene). We need to answer the questions of how and why we are damaging the Earth. The problem is, I think we cant see the forest for the trees. Its kind of like we cant get our scales or perspective right.