Discussion 7: Sociological Conserving

The following is from your required article this week entitled, “Why social values cannot be changed for the sake of conservation.”

“The conservation sciences document a wide array of devastating ecological effects brought about by humans (Pimm et al. 2014). What remains perplexing to some conservation professionals is society’s indifference to these findings. Why do people seem unconcerned about the unprecedented loss of biodiversity, and why does society fail to act in the face of calamitous predictions? Research provides a rather disconcerting answer to this question: a great many people simply do not prioritize the environment as an important concern relative to other issues in their lives (Pew Research Center 2015).”

For this discussion, you will need to consider the required reading mentioned above as well as your textbook. 

For this discussion, choose an environmental related issue – this could be climate change in general, plastic in our oceans, or whatever you want..there are ideas in the link below- and then after reading Schwalbe’s chapter on conserving, discuss how we could make that environmental issue ‘better’ without sacrificing social values. Pay close attention to his sociologically mindful approach to conserving. Can you think of one area in which we could convince Americans to change, as it relates our environment, that would follow these guidelines, help us to maintain our social values, and also make our planet just a little bit better? Remember we are working towards social change to make the world a better place! 

***For ideas, here (Links to an external site.) is an article explaining the 5 biggest environmental issues facing America today. 

Please be mindful of discussion forum guidelines before posting. 

DQ should come from the following attached text only