The Meaning Behind Super Wicked Waste

I have always been bothered by my personal consumption and waste. I love nature and I have always had a passion for the environment, yet I wasn't putting that love into action. I started this website/blog/insta with the hopes to be accountable to myself, as well as helping others recognize changes that they could make.

This past year I have taken two really influential classes for my environmental thought, Environmental Law and Policy and Watershed Ecology. Both of these classes ignited the passion that was once a small flame into burning forest fire to help with all the environmental crises. There are too many of these issues for one little 22-year-old to tackle, but that doesn't mean I can't make a difference.

In my Watershed Ecology paper we discussed some of the reasons that these environmental problems are so difficult to tackle. Specifically we discussed how these problems can be classified as "super wicked problems." A cool name for some not-so-cool issues. Nevertheless, this term spiked my interest. We read all about them in the article "Overcoming the tragedy of super wicked problems: constraining our future selves to ameliorate global climate change" by Kevin Levin, Benjamin Cashore, Steve Bernstein, and Graeme Auld. I definitely recommend this read. In this article, super wicked problems are defined as problems where time is running out, those seeking to solve the problem are also causing it, there is little to no central authority, and where the future is discounted irrationally. Nearly every environmental issue falls under this category.

We can solve super wicked problems. It is possible. It just requires super wicked solutions which require super awesome people to solve them. Those people can be me and you. We can work together and address these problems.

Like I said, my waste is a problem. It is both a personal and a global issue. Though this blog will seek to explore all sorts of environmental issues, I first hope to address my super wicked waste problem. Why it matters, what it impacts, and how I can begin to solve it. Come with me on this little journey and together we can make small changes that have big impacts!