Overall, talking with Karen was really illuminating becuase she had a really fresh perspective on where different parts of the environmental movement draw their motivation. For her, it wasn't books or movies (at least not at first) that pushed her to action, it was literally witnessing the actions taking place around her. It was seeing chemicals spill from a lawn into a gutter and knowing her that her own children could become exposed to the posions.

Having dealt so much with literature as a motivator, we hadn't discussed the possibility that things besides literature could "save" the environment too. Hearing what Karen had to say didn't really discredit or credit the general question of Can Literature Save the Environment? but as we get near the end of our class it's becoming clear that there may be no concrete answer to it after all. What's important is making the changes that need to be done; how we get there and what inspires us, is different for everybody.