Intro and Fish Article

I’m Liz from northern California and am an SIS junior. I plan to focus my degree in International Development. This is my first Environmental Politics class and really my first class that talks about the extensive list of environmental problems facing our Planet. I am now realizing that environmental politics are extremely relevant to International Development and how important it is that policies and practices of development act alongside the goal of becoming a more environmentally focused society - realizing that some of our development methods and theories should be centered around the health and well-being of our planet first and foremost.

I was raised partly in San Luis Obispo, California (central coast) and then moved to Cape Cod, Massachusetts where I went to most of middle and high school. My senior year of high school my parents decided that they had had enough of the East coast and decided to move back to California outside of San Francisco. My Dad is a Landscape Architect and has been working for the National Park Service for a long time now so most of childhood was spent outdoors going on hikes or bike rides.

The NY Times article by Stanley Fish really spoke to how I feel about the environmental movement. All the pressure and push to drastically change how we live our lives seems somewhat unrealistic. On a deeper level than not liking the unfamiliar taste of organically raised beef - How can you change the values and basic structure of an entire society?
I realize that this kind of defeatist attitude is a major contributor to slowing down environmental efforts – but it is evident that a lot of people think this way.

I think that what Kat mentioned about the affordability aspect of greener options is extremely important. As long as there is a cheaper option I think it is very hard to get people to change their consuming habits.

Stanley Fish admitted that he was on the “losing side” in regards to his argument to continue living life as he pleases, the way he has always been. He sees that times are changing and there are things we are going to have to do this generation that no one has ever done before in terms of restructuring our habits and changing our lifestyles. Fish is reluctant and frustrated by having to change, but he admits his defeat and adjusts. I think that sooner or later (hopefully sooner rather than later) people will begin to come to this same kind of conclusion.