Brandon Colcord
Professor Frank
English 110
November 18th, 2021
A Liberal Education Will Help Climate Change
Climate change is an ever growing subject amongst most schools right now. Reason being, is because it’s become concerning to everyone, rather than denying it we are all trying our best to prevent it from getting worse. Although the years of denial may have done us in for good, I believe furthering your education in the liberal arts will help you at least do your part beyond “Reduce, Re-use, Recycle”. It has been proven through recent articles I have read, “ Climate 101” by Ciara Nugent, or “A Hotter Future Is Certain, Climate Panel Warns. But How Hot Is Up To Us” by Brad Plumber and Henry Fountain, that the world is getting hotter everyday due to humans and our habits. So why not prevent a disastrous future for your children by helping do your part and educating yourself on how bad it really has gotten in the world and actually help prevent further damages.
You are not climate literate without a liberal education. Throughout the article “Climate 101” Ciara Nugent discusses the benefits behind incorporating climate change into our school system and how us as students need to prepare for an environment that is changing drastically before our eyes. Although unfair, we still have to play our part to fix what the past generations have taken advantage of. The only way I see us doing this is through upgrading everyone’s knowledge on the subject. In the article Nugent says, “In Spain, lawmakers have amended a climate law moving through congress to mandate “cross-cutting” approach to climate education, meaning all objects should incorporate climate from their perspectives, rather than having a separate climate-change subject” (Nugent, 84). Meaning other countries are already incorporating climate change into their education not just as a whole subject in itself but in every subject. Personally, I’ve already noticed it happening within my school. Currently, I am a freshman at the University of New England and out of the 5 classes I am taking this semester, 4 of them have discussed climate change in a way that associates with the other subject. I’ve noticed how I didn’t know much about climate change, I would say I was definitely not climate literate, still not because i’ve yet to finish my education, in fact it just started but I can already see how the little knowledge i’ve obtained has already got me second guessing my every decision in order to be sustainable within my household. So overall I can tell a liberal education is going to make me a climate literate person. Which is what we need more of in America.
Knowledge that is not spent toward climate change is a waste of time and resources, and a liberal education around climate change is a must. The globe is getting hotter everyday as explained in the newspaper article by Brad Plumber and Henry Fountain. They say “The hotter the plant gets, the greater the risk of crossing dangerous “tipping points” like the irreversible collapse of the immense ice sheets in Greenland and West Antarctica” (Fountain and Plumber, 1). They are letting us know the urgency of repairing our planet. Not only are they showing us how important it is that we get to work on this now, but they also are telling us things will only get worse if we just sit and wait. This shows us as “new college students” that time spent towards anything other than climate change is a waste of time because if there is no earth to study on then what’s the point? Aside from that fact, the resources and money spent to teach these other students about redundant subjects, when the money could be better spent towards the schools sustainability. As explained by Matt Sehrsweeny in his article “Covid-19 Is Just The Warm-Up Act For Climate Disaster” he says “It has never been clearer that to avert catastrophe, universities need to take drastic action, and they need to do it now” (Sehrsweeney, 2). He is explaining the important role Universities play in climate change and how we need to take action now against it while we still can before another catastrophe happens to society like Covid-19, or like the severe storms we have been having lately. I just don’t understand what we are waiting for.
Some people may ask, why should only rich people who are able to pursue a higher education be responsible for fixing our environment? Honestly, a liberal education has formed around most schooling anyways, not just intended for rich people, but whether or not a higher education is affordable is a topic for a different day, my point is everyone is responsible for fixing the environment but we need people with a leaders personality to step up and get the education firsthand in order to pass it down or direct the rest of the general public into a more sustainable future.
Embracing critical thinking and allowing students to fix your mistakes from the past brought onto our environment is our right as students. Critical thinking is an amazing way to become a better citizen and better member of society. Not only will it help you achieve countless goals and become successful, but I think it just makes you an all around better person if you can develop this skill. Only way I see that being possible is through a liberal education. As is, I never gave it any thought until I started my schooling here at The University Of New England, mind you it is a liberal arts school, so I know first-hand the benefits of receiving this kind of education. In the article “Critical Thinking And The Liberal Arts” by Jeffery Scheuer he says “Free minds are flexible minds, trained to recognize that many areas of inquiry are interconnected and many disciplinary boundaries are porous” (Scheuer, 2). He is explaining the benefits of expanding your mind through liberal learning, and I believe this is what we need right now. Everyone has a one track mind and that’s money, so why not go beyond just “making money” and look at the work that needs to be done to our planet. In Sanford J. In Ungar’s article “7 Major Misconceptions About The Liberal Arts” he explains throughout his article several things that the general public believe to be true without any supporting evidence. However, this made me realize that there will always be “misperceptions” or “rumors” about receiving a liberal education or even about climate change. I believe you just need to hopefully look past all the fake information because anything is possible if you really want to do it, and this is something that needs to get done now.
In conclusion, regardless of belief the world is dying a little bit everyday and everyone in the world has played a small role in that. Some people may feel it is not right to fix what you didn’t destroy, however I don’t believe its “past generations” are at fault either, I believe they were just “under-educated” and made a lot of bad decisions. However, we need to fix it regardless of who is at fault. Only way I see it being possible is by pushing yourself any way possible in order to receive a liberal education and put it to use by helping develop a more sustainable future. All in all a liberal education needs to be your future in order for us to have a future.
Work cited
Plumber, Brad and Fountain, Henry. “A Hotter Future Is Certain, Climate Panel Warns. But How Hot Is Up To Us.” The New York Times, August 9th, 2021, Pg. 4.
Scheuer, Jeffrey. “Critical Thinking And The Liberal Arts.” American Association of University Professors, November-December, 2015, No Pg.
Sehrsweeney, Matt. “Covid-19 Is Just The Warm-Up Act For Climate Disaster. ” The Chronicle Of A Higher Education, October 8th, 2020, Pg. 7.
Nugent, Ciara. “Climate 101.” Time, No Vol, No Iss, April 26th/May 3rd, 2021, No Pg.
Ungar, Sanford. “7 Major Misperceptions About The Liberal Arts.” The Chronicle Of A Higher Education, February 28th, 2010, Pg. 6.
