Intro to Nature and Society

I am sitting in the Environmental Studies office taking my "final exam" for my Intro to Nature and Society class. This has been a very interesting semester. I started my second major or minor in Environmental Studies (ENVS) with this class and I feel that this class has created a strong knowledge base for my future pursuits in ENVS. Coming from an engineering background, my thought process is typically very straight forward. This class has taught me that people who present only black and white situations have not yet looked at the entire scenario. Life never seems to be either or, so why should our alternatives to fossil fuel use only be the select few ideas that are currently available? Creative thinking and competition are proven to drive civilizations forward. I have learned to think outside of the normal thought process, because the "normal" thought process in industrial and residential communities has led to the current problems we are having with our environment. The future will bring change, whether that is positive or negative is now up to us.