Heading into this class I already had some background knowledge on environmentalism, but I learned how people have shown concern for the environment in specific parts of the world and how environmental decisions have affected those people.
For example, we turned our attention to Indonesia, which has a large palm oil industry. I found it interesting to see how globalization plays a big part in our environment and how our consumption of products can have a massive impact in other parts of the world that we might not consider, as we are not seeing the environmental impacts in our backyard. For example, the high demand of palm oil has introduced high rates of deforestation which have negative impacts on surrounding ecosystems. As a result of this industry, "green deserts" are created—large areas where only one or two plants are grown, preventing ecosystems from prevailing.
When talking about this issue, the social aspect needs to be considered. People who work in these fields are being paid unlivable wages for intensive labor. It is not just a form of exploitation of the land but of the people who are victims of the industry.
To further dive ourselves into the topic, we would watch documentaries that would give us a better understanding of what the situations were and how people found themselves involved with the matter. Our professor wanted us to engage in discussions during class, which was motivating because it felt like a form of advocacy. These discussions would also be informed by reading articles and specific parts of books he wanted us to look into. Doing so allowed us to grasp the topic that we would be discussing for that week. It was a well-structured class, and to this day, I'm still motivated to talk about the topics we learned.
I would highly recommend this class to others if they would like to learn more about how environmentalism can be applied to real-world situations that demonstrate outcomes. A part of me wants to travel or study abroad in Southeast Asia. I feel that there is a lot to learn about the countries in that part of the world that is not often discussed.
Environment in Southeast Asia has been one of my favorite classes so far, but there may be more than one down the road here at Whittier. I would like to expand my knowledge in many areas of interest, and that's what I love about Whittier as an institution: I can take courses that will spark a particular interest of mine and dive further into the topic.
