Realizing We're Screwed... And Other Lessons

"My home's with the hills and trees around me. My ceiling holds the moon and stars above." - from Whiskey by Trampled by Turtles

Ignore the song title above, but the quote is perfect.

I have lived in Colorado my entire life, except for the two and a half months this past summer I lived in a tiny town in rural, Granite County, Montana.  In those two and a half months 'abroad' from my home state, I learned several things.  Mostly, I learned that I am a city girl.  But I also learned that I am irrevocably drawn to the mountains - both here and in Montana. 

See, I love the ability to get a decent cup of coffee, and amenities like Walmart.  I love a crowd of people window shopping.  I love the exhilarating rush of nearly getting run over by a car at an intersection. I love the ability to go and get a haircut or go to the post office without taking time off work.

But I also love the mountains.  A lot.  I am quite lost without them (and not only because I don't know which way is west).

But this wasn't the moment I really realized that protecting the environment is important. 

I came back to school with all these thoughts in my mind.  And as I sat in environmental economics at the beginning of the semester and was reminded of the oh-so-simple concept of opportunity cost, I finally realized that opportunity cost was perhaps the most true thing in all of economics (because assuming that all people are rational is a little naive). Now, I can look over and see the mountains and the beautiful Colorado sky out the window.  But climate change is a reality.  I don't know why people feel the need to argue about it anymore.  And so opportunity cost made me realize that, as it stands, it's either the environment or our consumerism and growth.  It is us versus the mountains, in a way.

And though I've learned about opportunity cost and natural resources and sustainability several times over throughout my education, that was the first time I realized the gravity of the situation.  I realized how it all fit together, in a way.

And I really don't like it.  Because I know how the world should work.  But our chances of actually working toward it? I'm not sure I'm very optimistic.