After our class today, I decided to walk part of the TCU tree walk and visit the pollinator garden. I have observed these areas and enjoyed them since my freshman year. I appreciate that they are deliberate conservation and nature space efforts.
The environment has always been a passion of mine. Because of this, I’ve tried to take steps to make a tangible difference, and I’ve experienced environmental issues firsthand.
The first that comes to mind occurred during my time as my high school’s environmental club president. The club was mainly focused on building air gardens, recycling, and other small projects. My goal was to educate our members on real issues and expose the hard topics. Unfortunately, this led to a decline in membership that only came back when we did “fun” things. Here, I realized that it’s hard to get people to change their habits and focus on real, difficult issues.
A more recent example has come to me in the last few days. I just started reading “The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America.” This book has opened my mind to the history of conservation efforts and the backlash they have faced. I think a large issue with protecting the environment is that it often becomes political, which can cloud people’s judgment. I believe this is one of the largest issues facing conservation movements, as it restricts them from making progress.
This is a class I’ve looked forward to since sophomore year, and I am looking forward to the semester.
