Luna – Spring ’25 Final Portfolio

• Week 1 – Intro
• Week 2 – The Meadowlands and The Trouble with Wilderness
  • This is named wrong, sorry!
• Week 3 – Max Liboiron 3-Pack
• Week 4 – The Home Place
• Week 5 – Nature
• Week 6 – Nature
• Week 8 – Desert Solitaire
• Week 10 – What We Think About When We Try to Not Think About Global Warming
• Week 11 – Eating Animals
• Week 12 – Placing Animals
• Week 13 – Crossings
• Week 14 – A Natural History of Empty Lots
• Week 15 – A Natural History of Empty Lots

Luna – Week 10 (Make Up)

Also apparently never posted this one, very sorry.

What We Think About When We Try Not to Think About Global Warming

• Page 34: “This weird state of affairs calls for a radical rethinking in how to communicate climate change. It seems that for most people in rich countries, the climate message of increasing disaster, damage, and doom is uncomfortable to live with.”
  • This section about the possible reactions that people have to thinking about climate change and their role in it was super interesting to me and made a lot of sense. It was easy to see it in the real world around me after reading about it.
• Page 54: “But when it comes to the facts of increasing climate disruption due to our human impact on the earth, there is an ethical obligation to respond. Those who actively give voice to or just passively live out their denial actually support the ongoing human violence to the land and clean air. This includes the humans who breathe and live in these landscapes. If we support denialism, then we lend our cognitive capacity, creativity even, to support a destructive cause.”
  • This is something that we all find really difficult to deal with in our environmental interests. If some people choose not to act, then it messes up everything we’re doing to act.
• Page 89: “No attempt has been made to address the concerns of ordinary people. The authors instead detach knowledge from meaning.3 There is no mention of the word social anywhere, and human is used only to indicate the “human contributions” to or “human influence” on the climate system. The whole report is a collection of universal climate facts written as if humans were fully outside climate (except for causing the CO2 emissions). As if this text were not part of a social discourse. ”
  • This relates back to everything we’ve been learning in Scientific Communication about the social aspects of science. If you make it overly scientific, it won’t effectively reach the audiences that you’re trying to reach.
• Page 116: “Everything discussed in the prior chapters, everything you see on the Internet or in your own friends’ and neighbors’ reactions to climate change, can be condensed into five main defense barriers that keep climate messages away. They work as invisible defense walls inside that block the messages from leading to meaningful response and action.”
  • I like the way that the author organized this into the five Ds. It was super easy to understand.
• Page 143: “Don’t describe a vision of a sustainable Dallas when you’re in Detroit—or vice versa. Speak of people, places, and spaces where you are.”
  • I honestly never thought that this mattered until reading this section. I thought that stories in general were effective, but I had never thought about the ways that location mattered in how relatable the stories were.
• Page 198: “Climate communicators ought to be aware that the time is ripe for our measurement system to shift emphasis from only measuring economic activity to also measuring people’s well-being.”
  • This is a super interesting suggestion. Climate change does greatly affect people’s well-being, but I’m wondering what good that could do in a research context.
• Page 232: “The paradox is that behind all that despair, as we travel through it toward acceptance, we may find a renewed way of caring for the land, air, ourselves, and others.”
  • I really liked the connection of the stages of grief and climate change psychology because that is what many of us are doing: grieving. I think the process is really interesting in this context and I appreciated that the author touched on it.
• Page 257: “But heaven may not be exactly as some have imagined—a transcendental realm far above, a permanent celestial spa, outside time and place, somewhere beyond the earth altogether. Another way of imagining it is more immanent: Our little breath eventually returns to the Big Breath.”
  • This section about air and religion was really well done. One of my favorite topics in this field is the way that people think about nature, and particularly, the spirituality of nature for many people, so this was super interesting to me.

Luna – Week 6 (Make-Up)

I missed this week and apparently never uploaded my blog post, so here it is.

Nature

• Page 17: “But industrial consumption of fuel is not a precondition of dirty and hazardous air and water. Any concentration of people burning wood as domestic fuel will contaminate the atmosphere.”
  • I appreciated that the book touched on this because I often think that people forget this because pollution got so much worse with industrialization. I just feel like it’s important to note that humans were hurting the planet even before machines.
• Page 39: “Despite all the noble dissenting views that historians like Hughes have resurrected, and regardless of the promising religious traits ecofeminists and environmental historians have drawn to our attention, the prevailing approach to nature in antiquity, which united the majority of intellectuals with the rest of society, was manipulative.”
  • Once again, humans are just the problem.
• Page 58: “If rugged places were bracketed with hell, gardens were invested with heavenly qualities.”
  • I am super interested in this concept that gardens are treated as heavenly and enjoyed reading this section.
• Page 75: “A host of ecofeminist treatises contending that women and nature share a common stigmatization as ‘other’ lean on these arguments for historical validity.”
  • Ecofeminism is one of my favorite concepts in this major and thinking about the ways that women and nature are treated similarly in society is super interesting to me.
• Page 101: “Alfred Crosby has provided a provocative explanation of the ease and speed with which Europeans were able to conquer the world’s temperate zones: the biological superiority of various European organisms.”
  • I felt like I learned a lot about this in the book. I’m interested to know if the organisms were at all actually better or if that just had to do with the superiority complex of many Europeans at the time.
• Page 125: “Modern environmentalism has been conditioned by a range of dangers to land, air, seas and inland waters that are largely unique to the period since the Second World War.”
  • Modern environmentalism is, or at least should be, so different from post-modern era environmentalism. So much has changed and there are now so many interconnected factors that are killing our environment that it does need to be conditioned differently.
• Page 143: “Scientific endeavour is no less subjective and historically contingent than work in the humanities and social sciences. Ecologists themselves have been active in modeling nature’s identity.”
  • I have always believed that the natural sciences and the social sciences are not actually that different, although many STEM majors argue otherwise. The thought that environmental scientists are kind of discussing nature’s personality and identity really secures this opinion in my mind.
• Page 170: “Nature also justified Nazi views on sexual orientation, racial purity and women’s status.”
  • This is (obviously) gross. Don’t use nature, which has zero biases, to justify being horrible, problematic people.
• Page 189: “As well as putting things that have been taken apart back together again, we must learn to recognize nature beyond what we traditionally think of as the natural world. To say that there is hardly anything or anywhere that is entirely natural anymore does not mean there is no nature left.”
  • This all comes back to the conversation about the definition of nature that we have in every class. I really like that basically every reading has touched on it in some capacity.

Charlton – Final Portfolio

Week One: Introduction:

Week Two: Meadowlands (this one is titled wrong. Sorry!):

Week Three: Max Liboiron:

Week Four: The Home Place

Week Five: Nature by Coates Part 1

Week Six: Nature by Coates Part 2

Week Seven: Connection Conference!

Week Eight. Discussion Leader – Desert Solitaire

Week Nine: Spring Break

Week Ten: What We Think about When We Try Not To Think About Global Warming

Week Eleven: Eating Animals

Week Twelve Placing Animals

Week Thirteen: Crossing: Road Ecology

Week Fourteen: Empty Lots Part 1

Week Fifteen: Empty Lots Part 2

Charlton Week 13 – Re-Upload

Upon trying to link my posts, I could not find this one. Anyway, here it is.

Honestly, I think this book might have been my favorite one so far (4.5/5 on my Goodreads).  As someone who wants to go into planning, this book’s theme of road infrastructure is exactly the niche that I want to explore as a ~real~ adult. As boring as it sounds, influencing road infrastructure is an amazing way to establish sustainable change in every community, and I’m so happy that this book highlights the significance of roads on basically every aspect of our lives. 

In the first few chapters, the information did not quite surprise me. Busy roads become ecological barriers is a subject that was introduced to me in an intro biology class and is thus not new, neither is the phenomenon of roadkill, but it is interesting to read about how much roads influence the evolution of species. I am not a biologist or an ecologist by study (not my side of ENVS), but I know enough to understand that evolution is a long-term process. I share the author’s concern over the songbird’s traits changing with traffic patterns. While not nearly as explored, it’s also interesting to note that roads were not well maintained until cyclists came along and demanded for better roads. That’s fascinating. It also seems like cyclists were treated significantly better by society than how they are treated now by drivers. 

Connection: Seriously, why do people hate cyclists so much?

“You’d think that all those nomads would be hard to miss, but for decades most migrations went undetected by scientists. Animals moved under cover of darkness or through rugged terrain where they couldn’t be tracked.” (51).  I know this segment is to introduce how detrimental roads are to migratory species, but it kills me to think about how much we still don’t know about these species and all of the ways that roads impact them that we can’t even begin to perceive. 

“In 1928, Dayton and Lillian counted the “preponderance of creeping and crawling things,” mostly snakes, on their way to Florida and observed the most deaths on Illinois’s “fine concrete roads.” Traveling from Iowa to Albany a few years later, the couple calculated a rate of precisely 0.029 skunks per mile of improved New York road.” (34). 

When I was finishing the book (audiobook), I was driving to my hometown to get a background check for my summer job, and while I did not like having to carve out my whole morning to do this, this did give me the chance to count roadkill on my way there. In the maybe ~40 miles of distance between the Rowland Avenue SLUs and the Licking County Sheriff’s Office, I counted 11 dead animals on the side of the road – squirrels and chipmunks, deer, raccoons, opossums, and what appeared to be a fox (I was on the highway, so I didn’t get too good of a look). All in all, this is 0.314 dead animals per mile, not counting animals that I didn’t see, have been picked up and disposed of by ODOT, have been obliterated by being repeatedly run over by additional cars, or have been picked apart by scavengers. I’m sure the number is higher, and this is what disturbs me. This is a lot of death, and it concerns me how much most people don’t care about it.

Connection: link. There are birds that like road salt and end up as roadkill. I had no idea until this week. 

As much as roads impact wildlife in every sense, they also impact humans. In the same way that roads create barriers for animals in the first few chapters, they do the same thing to human communities. The way transportation planners deliberately built highways through Black neighborhoods is a stain on American history. Not to mention, it’s a stain that keeps returning. This is not a past issue, it’s STILL a current one: Now, these regions have much higher air pollution concerns. 

Connection: Link. In lack of academic prowess, all my homies hate Robert Moses. A planner who is notorious for doing this kind of damage to communities. Here’s some information about how a community is trying to fix the damage of the highway. 

Also, in the least academic of senses, I greatly enjoyed the wit of the author. The combination of statistics, the history of road development and animal conservation, and random sarcastic quips was delightfully entertaining. I laughed out loud at one point when he said that Joseph McCarthy hit a deer and followed up with a quip of “the deer must be a communist.” HAHAHAHAHAHA. 

Environmental news: Local people take on the environment and the new Intel plant. How does Intel deal with potential pollution?

Old blog post: https://environmentalgeography.wordpress.com/2016/02/24/superbloom-nature/. 

The 2023 superblooms were awesome. I didn’t know there was an even more awe-inspiring version of Death Valley in earlier years. 

Naples Final Portfolio, Spring 2025

Week 1 (1/26): Introduction

Week 2 (1/23): The Trouble with Wilderness + The Meadowlands

Week 3 (1/30): Max Liboiron 3-Pack

Week 4 (2/6): The Home Place

Week 5 (2/13): Nature (Preface + Ch. 1-5)

Week 6 (2/20): Nature (Ch. 6 –End)

Week 7 (2/27): Connection Conference!

Week 8 (3/6): Desert Solitaire

Week 9 (3/13): Spring Break!

Week 10 (3/20): What We Think About When We Try Not To Think About Global Warming: Toward a New Psychology of Climate Action

Week 11 (3/27): Eating Animals

Week 12 (4/3): Placing Animals 

Week 13 (4/10): Crossings – How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet

Week 14 (4/17): A Natural History of Empty Lots (Intro – Ch. 5)

Week 15 (4/24): A Natural History of Empty Lots (Ch. 6- End)

Howard Final Portfolio

Week 1- Howard Introduction

Week 2- Meadowlands/Trouble with Wilderness

Week 3- Liboiron Readings

Week 4- The Home Place

Week 5- Nature (Preface-5)

Week 6- Nature (6-End)

Week 8- Desert Solitiare

Week 10- What We Think About When We Try Not To Think About Global Warming: Toward a New Psychology of Climate Action

Week 11- Eating Animals

Week 12- Placing Animals

Week 13- Crossings – How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet

Week 14- Natural History of Empty Lots (Intro-5)

Week 15- Natural History of Empty Lots (6-End)

HAGS! 🙂

Bechina Final Portfolio, Spring 2025

Week 1 (1/16): Introduction

Week 2 (1/23): The Meadowlands & The Trouble with Wilderness

Week 3 (1/30): Max Liboiron 3-Pack

Week 4 (2/6): The Home Place

Week 5 (2/13): Nature: Western Attitudes since Ancient Times (preface and ch. 1-5)

Week 6 (2/20): Nature: Western Attitudes since Ancient Times (ch.6 – end)

Week 7 (2/27): Connection Conference

Week 8 (3/6): Desert Solitaire

Week 9 (3/13): Spring Break

Week 10 (3/20): What We Think About When We Try Not to Think About Global Warming

Week 11 (3/27): Eating Animals (my discussion)

Week 12 (4/3): Placing Animals

Week 13 (4/10): How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of our Planet

Week 14 (4/17): A Natural History of Empty Lots (intro – ch. 5)

Week 15 (4/24): A Natural History of Empty Lots (ch. 6 – end)

Schtucka – Spring ’25 Final Portfolio

Schedule (as copied and pasted from the blog, that’s why there’s two week 12s… I also messed up labeling some of my posts sorry)

Week 1: Thursday, January 16 – Introduction 

• Schtucka Week 1 (intro) 

Week 2: Thursday, January 23 – Cronon “The Trouble with Wilderness” + Sullivan The Meadowlands 

• Schtucka Week 1
• Messed up the labeling here

Week 3: Thursday, January 30 – Max Liboiron 3-Pack

• Schtucka Week 3

Week 4: Thursday, February 6 – Lanham The Home Place (entire book)

• Schtucka Week 4

Week 5: Thursday, February 13 – Coates Nature (preface and ch. 1-5)

• Schtucka Week 5

Week 6: Thursday, February 20 –  Coates Nature (ch. 6 – end)

• Schtucka Week 6

Week 8: Thursday, March 6 – Abbey Desert Solitaire (entire book)

• Schtucka Week 8

Week 10: Thursday, March 20 – Stoknes. What We Think About When We Try Not To Think About Global Warming: Toward a New Psychology of Climate Action (entire book)

• Schtucka Week 10

Week 11: Thursday, March 27 – Foer: Eating Animals (entire book)

• Schtucka Week 11

Week 12: Thursday, April 3 –  Urbanik: Placing Animals (entire book)

• Schtucka Week 12

Week 12: Thursday, April 10-  Goldfarb: Crossings – How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet

• Schtucka Week 12
• Sorry for the double name, was just following the blog’s schedule

Week 13: Thursday, April 17 – Brown: A Natural History of Empty Lots (intro – ch5)

• Schtucka Week 13

Week 14: Thursday, April 24 – Brown: A Natural History of Empty Lots (ch6 – end)

• Schtucka Week 14

Coleman – Final Portfolio, Spring 2025

Week 1, January 16: Intro: Claire Coleman Introduction

Week 2, January 23: Cronon “The Trouble with Wilderness” and Sullivan The Meadowlands: Coleman – Week 2

Week 3, January 30: Max Liboiron 3-Pack: Coleman – Week 3

Week 4, February 6: Lanham The Home Place: Coleman – Week 4

Week 5, February 13: Coates Nature (Preface and Chapters 1 – 5): Coleman – Week 5

Week 6, February 20: Coates Nature (Chapter 6-end): Coleman – Week 6

Week 7, February 27: Connection Conference (no class)

Week 8, March 6: Abbey Desert Solitaire: Coleman – Week 8

Week 9, March 13: Spring Break

Week 10, March 20: Stoknes What We Think About When We Try Not to Think About Global Warming: Toward a New Psychology of Climate Action: Coleman – Week 10

Week 11, March 27: Foer Eating Animals: Coleman – Week 11

Week 12, April 3: Urbanik Placing Animals: Coleman – Week 12

Week 13, April 10: Goldfarb Crossings – How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of our Planet: Coleman – Week 13

Week 14, April 17: Brown A Natural History of Empty Lots (Intro – Chapter 5): Coleman – Week 14

Week 15, April 24: Brown A Natural History of Empty Lots (Chapter 6 – end): Coleman – Week 15