Summing Up This Class

Biology 230: People and Resources In Ecological Perspective. Overall this class taught me a lot that I would have never known. I had taken a Global Climate Change class previously here at the University at Albany, but it seemed to be a class based more purely on facts. While in Bio 230 we learned about these issues from all angles, in a more eye opening fashion. We learned about the issues and how they impact each of us personally. This way we can take the issues personally and become motivated to do something about them. Dr. Hirsch has given us a means of going about this change. We've had guest speakers who have given their methods of sustainable living. Through researching articles for my blogs I have also come across ways that other people make their lives work while living a better more fulfilling lifestyle than most of us. They come up with little inventions in order to use energy more efficiently. They shop organically, or produce their own food in a safe humane manner. If we could all find out ways to make our own lives more satisfactory in this way, this class has provided me with the insight and some ideas on how to do this.

I now have the knowledge on "Stuff" in a way to be more intelligent when making purchases. If only my head could be as good as the goodguide.com then it would be a lot easier to make decisions on shopping at the food store. One this website is able to expand to more than just food items and daily household items it will be able to help us make decisions on EVERYTHING we buy. Imagine going to the store, looking for a new laptop and being able to make a decision that is best for you and the environment in a minute. Stores like Best Buy should provide us with the Good Guide ratings on their products. All companies should take the initiate to do this because it will create a positive competition in the market to go "green". I think that ultimately while our market can stir up a big change, our government is going to play the biggest role in our country's ability to convert to more renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. We all individually must contact our local government officials and let the people in power know what we want. We need to get this done to avoid a huge disaster that is headed our way. I don't understand why more people in our government don't understand the crisis like Al Gore does. His knowledge in itself is a powerful tool that he has been employing non stop to change the way people think about the environment. We need to stop the prejudice that people have about people like him as a crazy tree huger. Hes simply just aware of the issues at hand that other people think of as irrelevant. We need to change the general conception of this and do it fast. As Al Gore would say, "We need to go far and we need to go quickly."