12th Grade - Climate Change

Emily Neeleman

ENG 323.01

Blog 1: 12^th Grade

January 22, 2014  

Climate change has become a major topic of the 21^st century as a global issue that needs to be fixed – fast. It feels as though environmental studies are becoming more integrated into the education system than ever. In high school, I took a class called “Global Citizenship”, which was required of all seniors, and it had a major focus on climate change and sustainability. In college, I took Environmental Science 101, which is a popular class among underclassmen at WSU. I did not go out of my way to become educated about the environment, but I did become educated, and what I learned was fascinating. After taking my environmental science class in college, I even considered changing my major, even though I had wanted to be an English major since my junior year of high school. Environmental studies are so important right now. I notice that my peers would maybe put it on the back burner of the problems of the world because it’s hard to notice environmental change if you’re not looking for it. However, I believe it to be extremely important that people are well educated about environmental change because although I cannot invent new sustainable systems to provide energy, I can do my part in trying to conserve. So, when I decided to become an English teacher I thought to myself that I would educate students about the environment through our English studies. The 12^th grade unit on nature we are discussing is a perfect opportunity to do so.

The videos, pictures, and story we read do not lead to a climate change discussion in an English class. I would have to dig pretty deep in an Environmental Science class if I wanted to discuss climate change in each of these mediums. However, what they do all posses is a way to promote respect for the environment in my students. The first step to educating people about the environment is making them care. “Snowfall” has a constant underlying tone that nature is this great force to be reckoned with. Nature should be taken seriously, and the skiers did not take the mountain seriously and paid the price – as grim as it is. Even the most experienced and professional skiers, who have a love for the ice, snow, and mountainside that I will never understand, did not respect the fact that that mountain was beyond their reach that day. There are forces that can be greater than mankind.

Hurricane Katrina falls under that category – a force greater than mankind. The images in the video show the destruction that a hurricane can cause, and the directors of the movie were trying to convey that in their film. People forget what nature can do until it happens. The BP oil spill included in the video is a perfect example of people not respecting nature, and the damages that follows. Using this video in the same lesson as the “Snowfall” article promotes the same idea of respect for nature in both the destruction it can cause, and the destruction we can cause. The hydraulic fracking video shows the same sort of destruction the BP oil spill caused. The best line in the video was when someone pointed out that something that nature has been creating for millions of years is destroyed quickly just with some heavy machinery. This video would hit home for most students – if we don’t respect the environment, then it can seriously affect our personal lives, in the way that fracking affected people’s drinking water.

Finally, the images in the “Vanishing Ice” exhibit promote respect not because nature is dangerous or affects our personal life, but because it is particularly beautiful. Climate change seriously affects the melting snow and ice, and if it continues, the icepack in many areas will be gone. The exhibit showcases the most beautiful images of snow and ice around the world, and to think that these sights might not exist because of a lack of respect for the environment is very saddening. I want my children to be able to visit Glacier National Park and Patagonia, but with the continuing rate of rising temperature, these parks will be seriously depleted by the time they would get a chance to.