As people kept getting smarter and inventing new things, we started to see that some of these inventions were not good for the world around us. A long time ago, before the years 1500-1700, when the Scientific Revolution happened, people thought that things they didn't understand were caused by magical or spiritual beings. The Catholic Church told everyone what they thought was true about the universe, and if you disagreed, you could get in big trouble. Then, during the Scientific Revolution, thinkers like Francis Bacon, Galileo, and John Locke started questioning what the Church said (Hendry). They used reasoning and logic to explore areas like math, physics, and astronomy. As they made more progress, people started thinking differently about nature. Before, we used to be scared of nature and believed we had to live by its rules. But with the Scientific Revolution, we began to see nature as something we could use and change however we wanted. This shift in thinking meant we lost some of our spiritual connection to nature. Instead, we started relying more on the scientific method. Think of ideology like your own special set of beliefs that guide how you see the world and make decisions. It's like a unique compass in your mind, shaping your views on things like society, politics, and life. These beliefs affect how you understand the world and the choices you make every day.

            Manifest destiny is the idea that Christians believed it was their destiny to move westward and spread their way of life across the country. Unfortunately, they didn't consider how it would affect the environment and Native American populations. People started thinking they were better than nature and could change it however they wanted. Here is a link to a quick and informational YouTube video about manifest-destiny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhFioJhryJM. This way of thinking still causes a lot of environmental problems today. When there's an issue caused by humans, we often try to fix it with more human-made solutions, which usually makes things worse. Around 1900, the Industrial Revolution brought new ways of travel, technology, and a bigger population. But all this progress harmed the environment and used up a lot of natural resources. Back then and even now, many people see the world from an anthropocentric point of view which puts humans at the center, thinking everything on Earth is there for us to use. Some cultures, though, have a different view that values everything on Earth, whether or not it benefits humans. Many cultures that have shown more respect towards nature have a biocentric or ecocentric point of view. The terms ecocentric and biocentric means that everything on Earth has value in and of itself, regardless of if it could benefit humans.

            As time went on and our ways of thinking became more modern, humans started realizing the consequences our want for progress has on the planet. We have since been able to identify a lot of issues that we have caused, but the issue now is finding out how to get the world, especially the United States, to make some lifestyle changes. People that live in countries like the United States have so many instant luxuries that come from areas where people are forced to work terrible conditions and exploit the resources of their natural homeland only to bear the worst of the effects of climate change that stem from countries like the United States. We have been able to identify methods of sustainability and ways to hopefully begin a shift in western perspectives.

            Conservationists and preservationists have been working to protect natural ecosystems and prevent exploitation in many areas of the United States. Conservationists are people who try to take care of nature, like forests and animals, so we can keep using them without causing harm; they want to make sure we use resources wisely and leave enough for the people who come after us. My favorite conservationist is David Attenborough. Aside from the awesome and educational documentaries he narrates,  he has helped the environment in many ways including advocating for less meat consumption, more protected areas, and saving our planet's biodiversity. Preservationists are people who want to keep nature as it is, without making any big changes. They think it's important to protect natural areas and animals just the way they are, without too much human interference. Both of these groups of people helped push for protected natural areas, like National Parks, but a lot of these protected areas can have their rights removed by whoever is in governmental power at the time. Protected areas should have a lot more red tape around them when it comes to stripping them of their rights to protection from exploitation. 

            I think that we should start pushing incentives towards the American public to adopt more sustainable habits. A lot of American habits or norms are extremely unsustainable; fast-fashion, frequent traveling, and certain dietary choices are all examples of things that are bad for the environment. There have been some tax incentives to encourage people to switch to solar panels or buy an electric car, but these incentives are so small in the grand scheme of things. One way we could try to start implementing a mindset shift within the American public is through social media. It's hard to get older people to change their views about things, so I think it would be best to mainly focus on the younger generations through popular types of social media like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, and whatever else they use.

            Just making informational videos about how our actions affect the planet hasn't been enough because people like to scroll on and ignore sad videos. Creating new sustainable trends on these social media platforms could be really beneficial if presented in the right way. There are millions of people out there who mindlessly follow any silly trend they watch their favorite influencer do, even if it's bad for their health. If we could get some big environmentalist groups to pay some popular influencers to start certain sustainable trends, we could get a lot of other people to follow it as well. Starting these mindset changes within the American public is so important for the future of our natural environments.

Hendry, J. (2020). Communication and the Natural World (Vol. 2). Strata        Publishing Inc.

YouTube. (2023, June 8). Manifest destiny - one minute history. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhFioJhryJM