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| Robert Gassman Class of 2018 |
An important facet of the first year of my college experience has been the reevaluation of some of my presuppositions. I have had the opportunity to do just that through a course in environmental history. This course evaluates humanity’s interaction with the environment and posits the most impactful interaction to be agriculture. The development of agriculture during the Neolithic Revolution had dire consequences for the long-term sustenance of Earth’s environment. Man cleared vast expanses of forest which were vital to ecosystems, providing a protein buffer and protection from soil erosion.
As human population grew larger, a vicious cycle of unsustainable resource extraction ensued. More land was required for agricultural production to support the urban commercial centers. Complex irrigation systems diverted water supplies, and caused salinization, which in turn required more lands and larger irrigation projects to maintain food production. Vast amounts of labor was invested in the maintenance of agricultural systems; and the laborious projects typically were carried out only for short term production gains, ignoring long term consequences or the possibility of sustainability.
I had never examined for myself the possible inefficiencies of certain agricultural practices, and therefore assumed that it was a consistent and sustainable system. This full investigation into the repercussions of agriculture painted a very different picture from the utopian farm portrayed in my childhood cartoons. For me, the discovery of the flaws inherent in agriculture represented something larger than waterworks and soil nutrient loss. It represented the multitude of forces in my life that I fail to think critically about.
If I am to be the best man, student, and leader that I can be, I have to remove my willingness to accept the world in its current state, and start looking for the ways in which I may improve it.
Robert Gassman is a freshman McConnell Scholar at the University of Louisville. He studies political science.