Levin 1 Jonathan Levin Professor Pamela Booker Writing II (m/w) 26 February 2012 Understand and Experience; The Keys

to Saving the Environment Poverty, war, genocide, hunger, terrorism, homelessness, AIDS, cancer, are just some of the many pressing issues facing the world today. Internationally, nationally, locally, and in our own homes there are problems. While all these issues are significant, there is one issue that has been and will be affecting people past, present, and future, regardless of race, gender, or class. That issue is the environment and more specifically humans relationship to the environment. From natural disasters are destroying countries to lack of natural resources such as water and oil that are leading to countless deaths, there are numerous environmental issues. While some problems may only affect certain people in certain places, the issues facing environment the environment affect everyone everywhere, and everything. Stan Tag said, No literary theory would be worth a whit if the sun burnt out tomorrow. Similarly nothing else on Earth will matter if the environment is destroyed. We are destroying our environment and most people are not even cognoscente of it. Humans have damaged the environment and have the power to do further harm to it. However, humans also have the power to reverse the course and help preserve the environment. Through examination of essays by Cheryll Glotfelty, Stan Tag, and Thomas K. Dean, as well as looking at A Song of the Rolling Earth by Walt Whitman, many ideas are offered on how to help restore humans relationship with the environment and thus help save it.

Levin 2 Cheryll Glotefelty believes that raising people consciousness regarding the environment is the most important task in restoring peoples relationship with the environment. For the most part, people want to leave the earth in good condition for their children and their childrens children. Most people are not scientist and do not know what exactly they are doing that is hurting the environment and are also unaware of what they can do to help it. Certain ways to help the environment have entered the common knowledge: driving hybrid or electric cars, recycling, turning the thermostat to a low temperature when leaving the house, turning off the lights when leaving a room, among many other things. Suggestions like this and similar to this need to be publicized more so people can know what to do to help. Many people do not understand that human culture is connected to the physical world and that we are affecting it and affected by it. Each action people make has a direct consequence on the environment. Prior to the release of iTunes in 2001, most people were getting their music by stealing it off of the internet. There was a study done that 80% of people stealing music dont want to be, there was just no legal alternative. Similarly people dont want to deliberately harm their environment, it is just that a lot of people dont know what they are doing wrong and what they can do help. Glotefelly says, We are facing a global crisis today, not because of how ecosystems function but rather because of our ethical system function I believe that most of the people who are behaving unethically towards the environment do not know that they are. If awareness surrounding the environment is raised people will help the environment. Glotefeltysays Historians, along with literary scholars, anthropologists, and philosophers, cannot do the reforming, of course, but they can help with the understanding. If people have a better understanding of the environment and their

Levin 3 relationship to the environment, people will make a difference. We have more information available to us than any other time in human history, which is good because we can attain more knowledge, but also bad because many important things get overshadowed. Despite that historians, literary scholars, anthropologists, philosophers, and other informed peoples need to be able to get their message out there so the less informed people can become informed and make a difference. As Stan Tag notes in his essay, most humans are completely detached from their environment. Tag believes encouraging and enabling students to explore the natural world firsthand will help the environment. People spend less time outside than anytime before. With televisions, computers, video games, and other technology why would people ever need or want to leave their homes? Even when people are outside, they spend most of their time staring at their devices. At my High School in Chicago, it was nice one day and my English teacher decided to hold class outside. It was amazing. The fresh air, rather than the fake air-conditioned air. The wind. It was a great experience and one that I wish had happened more. When kids are in school they are very impressionable, and if schools have more nature related activities kid would grow an attachment to the environment. One can watch movies about the outdoors, or goolge pictures of glaciers, but experiencing the wonders of the environment is an unparalleled experience. Activities such as planting a flower are remarkable experience as you watch what was once was a couple of seeds grow into a beautiful flower. If people spend more time experiencing the environment, they will be more inclined to help it. In Walt Whitmans poem A Song of the Rolling Earth he says, To her children the words of the eloquent dumb great mother never fail. Mother nature has never failed

Levin 4 humanity, but humanity has failed her time and time again. She is labeled dumb, because it seems like she was foolish to trust people with the responsibility of taking care of the earth. It is time for humans to rise up the challenge of protecting the environment and take responsibility. I believe two of the most effective ways of doing this are raising peoples understanding of the environment and making sure people get to experience nature. Whitman says, Each man to himself and each woman to herself, is the word of the past and present, and the true word of immortality It is each man and womens responsibility to ensure the survival of the environment.

Works Cited Dean, Thomas K.. "What is Eco-Criticism?." ASLE ~ The Association for the Study of Literature & Environment. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2012. <http://www.asle.org/site/resources/ecocritical-library/intro/defining/dean>. Glotfelty, Cheryll. "What is Ecocriticism? ." ASLE ~ The Association for the Study of Literature & Environment. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2012. <http://www.asle.org/site/resources/ecocritical-library/intro/defining/glotfelty/>. Tag, Stan. "Four Ways of Looking at Ecocriticism." ASLE ~ The Association for the Study of Literature & Environment. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2012. <http://www.asle.org/site/resources/ecocritical-library/intro/defining/tag/>. Whitman, Walt. "A Song of the Rolling Earth." Princeton University - Welcome. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2012. <http://www.princeton.edu/~batke/logr/log_091.html>.