Tag Archives: Week9

Week 9: Environmental Humanities

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Chapter 1 of the book “The Environmental Humanities: A Critical Introduction,” edited by Robert S. Emmett and David E. Nye. The Environmental Humanities is an interdisciplinary field that explores the relationship between humans and the environment through various lenses. What stuck with me from the reading was that, “Human beings do not have special rights relative to other species. Rather than view animals and plants in terms of their usefulness to humanity, we can see them as having an intrinsic right to exist. And when an entire form of life disappears, its loss diminishes human culture too.” (Nye, 11) They argue against the idea that humans have special rights over other species and advocate for acknowledging the intrinsic value of animals and plants. By emphasizing the intrinsic value of non-human life forms, the authors promote a more holistic and ethical approach to environmental management. They highlight the interconnection of all life forms, arguing that the extinction of an entire species or ecosystem has ecological effects as well as a negative impact on human culture. Species extinction can destroy cultural legacy, disrupt traditional traditions, and reduce the variety of human experiences and viewpoints.

I agree with the authors that humans should not feel themselves superior to other creatures. Instead, we should acknowledge the inherent worth of all living beings. By considering animals and plants to have an inherent right to exist, we recognize their role in preserving ecological balance and biodiversity. Furthermore, I agree that the extinction of a species has far-reaching cultural consequences in addition to environmental ones. Every species contributes to our world’s richness and diversity, and their extinction reduces the fabric of human civilization as well.

Week 9: Blue Humanities

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Out of the two readings for week 9, I found the Blue Humanities one to be more interesting. This article discussed our scientific and conceptual history of the sea and how it has developed over the last few centuries. One part I liked was when the author talked about how with more analysis of historical sea documents, we have started to understand our changing perceptions toward the sea. Our view of the sea has primarily shifted from a more utilitarian and mechanical perspective to an aesthetic, modern, beautiful conception. This tied into some of our discussion from last week, when we talked about how the sea used to be only visited by people who went there for work, but it later moved into a more recreational activity for people as it became this beautiful, relaxing concept. Our interaction with parts of nature depends on our subjective value of the entity. This can apply to really everything; for instance, our social interactions with others will depend on our subjective value of the other. But even within our subjective values of parts of nature, there is variance between person to person. No two people see the world the same, as our worlds are shaped by personal experiences and our top down processing of the world creates a biased and personalized living experience. Take for instance–some people go into nature and take the ‘leave no trace’ method, while others destroy and litter. All depending on subjective value. But it is interesting to see when these perceptions of the world are something that are the same from person to person–this shift from a utilitarian ocean to an aesthetic ocean. Mediums such as stories and paintings are fascinating to analyze because of how they may affect the viewers and change their own perspective of the world. How much of our reality is actually real, and how much of it is influenced and made subjective? I don’t believe anyone can truly see the world in objective eyes. I wonder what other parts of the world that we disregard may become more ‘aesthetic’ to us, or the reverse. Will the ocean become less aesthetic and beautiful to us as we discover more about it? Or as environmental pollution/destruction ruins it? Will we have places on land, similar to aquariums, that mimic what the ocean used to be like? 

From STEM to STEAM

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¨STEM be expanded to STEAM to recognize how the arts contribute to inventiveness in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.¨ This is a direct quote from the “The Emergence of Environmental Humanities” article by Robert S. Emmett and David E. Tying it back to the quote, something that I found interesting about this week’s reading was the concept of STEM being transitioned to STEAM due to the importance of arts in science, technology, engineering, and medical fields. The arts include additions such as ¨humanities, language arts, dance, drama, music, visual arts, design, and new media¨” which are claimed to all add to the value of the concepts within STEM.

This is a widely debated topic yet has been granted a lot of support as STEAM adds to the ¨problem-based learning methods used in the creative process.¨ This is a topic and change that I agree with because I believe the arts are extremely important in contributing to scientific knowledge and participation. In this class, we discuss heavily the topic of art and the different variations of art in the media and society. I wanted to use this post as a way of focusing on art and focusing on the exact quote stated at the beginning of this blog post. The word ¨inventiveness¨ is key to recognize because the arts play a crucial and pivotal role in our study of science, technology, and medicine because it is how we as a society communicate our relationship with the environment. Currently, we use the media to demonstrate our understanding of our position in the environment and the changes that we need to make, not make, etc. We see art in the form of design, graphics, language, etc. that demonstrate these positions, which is why it is important to have art as a standout in the STEM field and be recognized as a crucial role.

https://theconversation.com/explainer-whats-the-difference-between-stem-and-steam-95713#:~:text=STEM%20represents%20science%2C%20technology%2C%20engineering,using%20STEAM%20to%20make%20discoveries.