Sad for it all to end

International Environmental Politics has been an amazing experience, and I will walk away in May having learned more from that course than many others I have taken at American University. My only regret is that I somehow managed to put off this class as an SIS major requirement until my last semester; the knowledge I gained would have nicely complemented much of my other coursework, which has largely been focused on Latin America and development. This misfortune is slightly upsetting because much of the development coursework I have done has largely been devoid of the environmental aspect of the field, which becomes a crucial consideration in light of what I've learned in IEP, and particularly when I reflect on the quote about needing to curb carbon emissions by 80% by 2025 (or is it 90%, at a different year? I've heard it so many times I can't remember it properly!). Now I have to synthesize my development background with the knowledge of the environment that I gained through IEP. Other valuable aspects of the curriculum have been the discussions we've had regarding international regimes related to climate change, and particularly the international conferences, as well as the discussion of food.

I am also taking Professor Nicholson's class on food and agriculture on Mondays. These courses have nicely complemented each other, and I love Professor Nicholson's teaching style. If anyone has the opportunity to take the other course, it has been an exceptional inquiry of why the current food system doesn't work. Think about those two classes we had about food and magnify the issues! Occasionally some PowerPoint slides overlapped, but this never bothered me - in fact, in often drilled home the point and helped me remember Nicholson's point even better. Between these two classes, I have really confirmed my desire to work in the field of social justice as related to the environment. For this confidence, I truly owe Professor Nicholson, and also Peter, a huge thank you.

I've also decided to share some reflections about Powershift 2k11 below, which I partially attended this week.

Well, actually, I only attended one portion of it, which was the WeatherizeDC city canvass campaign, in which I served as a canvass captain in charge of 10 Powershift delegates from all over the country that were eager to get their hands dirty with some activism. I intended to go see Bill McKibben speak, but grew fearful that I might leave depressed and thereby ruin a fun Saturday evening. He did, however, quasi-optimistically "tweet" that our generation might just be the one to stir up the change we need. I was more interested in the activism aspect of Powershift, but unfortunately will be able to participate in some of the activities tomorrow due to class. In the future, I would definitely encourage everyone interested in these social movements to go to Powershift and be more involved than I was!