Just Another Credit

When I signed up for “English 382: Literature and the Environment,” I had no real interest in the environment, and my attitudes about it were essentially non-existent. As I geared up for the semester, the course title seemed a bit daunting, but I decided to stick with it.  The course appeared to be just a credit I needed to fill, but the knowledge I gained throughout the class was remarkable. To credit the knowledge I gained, a few of the books we read really opened my eyes to how the environment has been affected by humanity. The most important books to me were Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and A Walk in the Woods, and I learned quite a bit about not only the destruction humanity has done to the environment, but also how we can rectify the problems that are now presented. Due to these books, I’ve found myself not buying water bottles, refusing plastic, non-biodegradable containers, and being more conscious of what I put into the earth. Also, researching the illegal wildlife trade blew me away, as there is so much that the public is blind to when it comes to the trade. All of the pieces of this course have shifted my attitudes and perceptions to a positive, but also concerned, viewpoint. I’ve focused on how I can personally change my habits to better the well-being of the planet, and I think most of my classmates would also say the same.

            In regards to writing and researching, my skills have greatly improved. I thought I was a decent writer coming into the course, but I learned I was lacking in some of the more basic skills, such as grammar, sentence structure, and also the dreaded comma. While I still have not perfected these areas, I have vastly improved due to assignments such as the comma exercise (even if it was accepted with grief from us). Also, learning how to properly research a thesis using databases and scholarly sites is a tool I will use for life, and I am very grateful for being correctly taught how to during the course. With practice, I believe I will be able to fine tune my researching skills already established from taking the class. The research also played a part in creating meaningful blog posts as well.

            The entire blogging aspect of the course this semester was new to me. I struggled with creating thought provoking posts at first, and not just meaningless narratives that meandered on to nowhere. Thankfully by the second batch of blogs, I felt much more confident in what I was sharing with the web. I focused on topics that irritated me, such as my post about cigarette butts, and provided solutions to fix the problems that I had a bone to pick with. Blogging about nature and the environment was a very positive experience, and I may continue on with my blog after the semester has ended. Overall, by taking this course I learned so much more than I could have ever imagined. I want to personally thank Dr. Triezenberg for making me critically think about the environment, and providing texts and videos that showed how we can fix some of the mistakes we have made towards the Earth. It has changed my attitudes about the environment in a positive way, and I owe it all to the class I mistakenly thought was “just another credit.”