Environmental history

Change can be defined as the process through which something becomes different from what it was there before. It is altered into a new thing. While change may be beneficial, it also leads to a negative impact, and as such, it becomes a bit challenging to substantiate whether it is good or bad, or whether it is both. It is good in that when it comes to the normal human beings, change can give one an opportunity to forge forward in life and achieve his/her dreams. It allows people to change from the bad characters they were to people who have a positive character in the society. However, to realize the positive effects or facets of change, one must be ready to take up the risk that goes along with such. In three resources i.e. “The Wheels of Freedom: Bicycles in China” by Fred Strebeigh, “The Good News Is: These are Not the Best Years of Your Life” by Gloria Steinem and “The Trouble with Wilderness,” by William Cronon, the authors are trying to explain and show the facets and impact of change.
In the first piece, i.e., “The Wheels of Freedom: Bicycles in China” by Fred Strebeigh, the author illustrates how women and men attempted to make change by trying to throw their bicycles at the tanks aimed at preventing them from crashing down on their sovereignty, humanity as well as their dignity. Fred says that citizens were attempting to stop tanks by shoving bicycles at them, and flatbeds tricycles turned into ambulances for slaughtered children. It is thus evident that people like change and would go to any level so that they will experience the change that they want.

However, this does not just come easily as they have to risk to make this change happen just as the men in Fred’s piece risked their bikes so that they would finally achieve something. All those men and women had to risk and cycle to freedom as they fought for freedom against the tanks in the then China.

In Gloria Steinem’s “The Good News Is: These are Not the Best Years of Your Life,” the author details how the female gender is always discriminated, looked down upon, and treated unfairly just because they are of a different gender. However, a time has come when women have come together and fought for their rights. They have risked their lives to experience the change they deserve, which is to be treated equally and allowed the rights and freedom they deserve just like their male counterparts. Women have come together and worked hard to gain some influence, something that was not present in the past. Gloria (358) says “Just as young women’s most radical act toward her mother.” She is trying to say that the whole women gender including daughters and mothers have joined hands to achieve and enjoy the rights that they could not enjoy in the past. As such, it is evident that for any change to take place, people must be willing to take the risk and fight for it. It does not come that easily.
In the last piece which is “The Trouble with Wilderness,” William Cronon details how the society has to change the traditional concept of wilderness which is a potential threat to the entire society. People have to stop separating themselves from nature. They have idealized and thought of nature or else the wilderness as something that is remote and distant away from human life. Human beings should and must consider themselves as part and parcel of the natural world. It is a time that the society stops taking part in civilized society while also “imagining that our true homes are in the wilderness” (Cronon, 44). As such, for the society to manage to adequately protect and live as a part of the natural world, people must not only change the way they view nature, but they must also change the way in which they live in it and also interact with it.

From the above three excerpts, it is thus evident that change has more positive effects than the negative ones and as such, it is good to embrace change. However, one has to take the risk that comes with change if at all they have to achieve what they want by opting to change. For instance, change has brought a positive impact in that the female gender is now treated with the respect they deserve and women are no longer treated unfairly. They have joined hands and worked together and in the end, gained a voice and influence in the society. It is thus evident that change is good as it has a positive effect. Therefore regardless of the time that it may take for one to realize the impact of change fully, it is quite essential always to take the risk and take the first step into change and in the end, enjoy the fruits that change comes with. We can, therefore, conclude that any change despite how small it could be, will lead to a positive effect. However, one must take a step of faith, risk and put all the efforts in whatever they want to change.

Works Cited
Cronon, William. “The trouble with wilderness: or, getting back to the wrong nature.” Environmental history 1.1 (1996): 7-28.
Gloria, Steinem. “The Good News Is: These Are Not the Best Years of Your Life.” (1979): 64-68.