{"id":270,"date":"2011-09-01T20:28:02","date_gmt":"2011-09-01T20:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/?p=270"},"modified":"2012-11-19T18:34:58","modified_gmt":"2012-11-19T18:34:58","slug":"am-i-making-a-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/2011\/09\/am-i-making-a-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"Am I making a difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I sit at my desk, staring into the eyes of the Lorax (yes, I brought\u00a0“the Lorax”\u00a0with me to colege), I can\u2019t help but feel a certain amount of resentment towards the article \u201cIndividualization: plant a tree, buy a bike, save the world?\u201d by Michael Maniates<\/span>. This resentment does not stem from a difference of opinion, rather in the fact that Maniates has sadly convinced me of how futile my daily efforts in support of the environmental movement a\"\"<\/a>re. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Since reading the article a few days ago, I have frowned at each can I put into my recycling bin, and sighed every time I go to grab my purse made from recycled plastic bottles. I shake my head as I unplug the coffee pot and toaster, roll my eyes at the organic blueberries in my cereal, and ride my bike with a little less enthusiasm than normal. Of course, I know that I am being dramatic here but after a lifetime of hearing that one person can make a difference, the Maniates article has left me a little disheartened.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0I agree with many of my fellow classmates, who have concluded that performing small individual actions, will not be enough to put an end to anthropogenic caused climate change. I agree, but at the same time I am left asking myself: Now what? Do I stop turning off the lights when I leave the room? Should I go running to the store for the steak I haven\u2019t eaten in four years? Of course not! Although Maniates has pointed out the flaws of \u201cindividualization of responsibility\u201d in regards to the movement to prevent climate change, I do not believe he is asking us to stop our individual actions to live a more eco-friendly and sustainable life. What he IS saying is that it is going to take a whole lot more than planting a few trees to slow global warming on our planet. It is going to take more united and widespread support to create new regulations and further creative technologies which WILL be able to change the course of anthropogenic climate shift on our planet.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So while I melodramatically contemplate the significance of my re-usable coffee mug and \u201ceat local\u201d sticker on my computer, I will try to find comfort in the conclusions of Maniates article. Even though my small actions might not amount to much, they connect me to a growing movement of people who will, one day, (hopefully sooner than later!) find a way to save the world. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I sit at my desk, staring into the eyes of the Lorax (yes, I brought\u00a0“the Lorax”\u00a0with me to colege), I can\u2019t help but feel a certain amount of resentment towards the article \u201cIndividualization: plant a tree, buy a bike, save the world?\u201d by Michael Maniates. This resentment does not stem from a difference of opinion, rather in the fact that Maniates has sadly convinced me of how futile my daily efforts in support of the environmental movement are.
\nSince reading the article a few days ago, I have frowned at each can I put into my recycling bin, and sighed every time I go to grab my purse made from recycled plastic bottles. I shake my head as I unplug the coffee pot and toaster, roll my eyes at the organic blueberries in my cereal, and ride my bike with a little less enthusiasm than normal. Of course, I …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":632,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1868],"tags":[34273,34227],"class_list":["post-270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservation","tag-dani-thompson","tag-maniates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/632"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}