Final Reflections

Though our lived-in ethics projects are coming to an end, there are several things that I learned throughout my project that will surely stick with me for a long while to come. Many of the significant things I learned I have written about in previous posts such as bioregionalism, the joys of getting your hands dirty, the sense of accomplishment that comes from planting a tree, and ideas for increased sustainability on campus. Another big component of the project that will remain with me beyond this class, is the Shooks Run Agro-Forestry project itself, which I plan to continue next year and hopefully beyond that as well.
I gained a lot from this project but in retrospect there are some things that I wish I had done differently. One of these things came to me after reading the article by Walter Sinnot-Armstrong, which for the most part I do not agree with, however, I found his argument about the responsibility to advocate for large scale, institutional, and political change to be very valuable. I wish I had incorporated into my project time to write letters and make phone calls advocating for important environmental causes.
Regardless, the project also made me think about all of the different feasible ways, some more ambitious than others, I can continue practicing lived-in ethics. On a smaller scale, I would like to make a conscious effort to take more time eating meals and being fully present in conversation, two things that Schor discusses the importance of in True Wealth. On a larger scale, for the next 3 years at CC (and hopefully beyond those), I would like to avoid taking planes back and forth from home. There is a train that runs from here to Boston and the only reason I wouldn't take it is because it is less time efficient. It is, however, significantly more sustainable than plane travel and allows you to see the country in a way that planes do not.
Overall this project, and this class in general, has been a very beneficial experience for me and I feel that I have gained a lot of insight and further developed my own, personal, environmental ethic.