Environmental Studies - Curriculum

The Earth, both in itself and within the larger context of the universe, can be seen as a set of enormously complex unfolding processes and relationships. We are embedded in and dependent on those processes and relationships. In light of our enormous technical abilities and burgeoning population, it is especially important now to assess humanity’s impact on and responsibility for the state of the planet. The Environmental Studies concentration allows you to explore environmental issues from an interdisciplinary perspective, understanding that complex issues require a complex approach. For example, we believe that experiential components to studies are essential to full understanding and so we encourage them. Over the course of your studies, you will weave the many ways of conceptualizing interacting human and Earth systems into a framework that is multifaceted, complex, and always grounded in your own experience.

The Environmental Studies concentration is thoroughly interdisciplinary. At its core are the natural sciences, exploration of humans’ relationship to the natural world from historical and ethical perspectives, attention to environmental issues, how statistics and mathematics are used to describe natural processes, and implications of various actions. In addition, you might want to look at the natural world and environmental concerns through the lenses of literature, art, philosophy, and applications such as technology, religion and spirituality, political science, and the social sciences.

Like other concentrations in Union’s B.A. Program, this concentration requires that you address the following broad approaches in the course of your studies. You’ll find your own interests will be deepened by considering questions within each of these realms.

History:
The Earth has a history all its own, but from the beginning, human interaction with nature has deeply affected that landscape. Examining human understandings of their relationships with the natural world is essential to understanding the evolution of the natural world. Here are some examples of studies in which learners have explored environmental history:

• Animals in Captivity: The Evolution of Care and Behavior
• Study of Transformation of Land: Photo Documentation and Nature Essays
• Log Home Construction and History
• Environmental Law and Our Agrarian Roots
• Lake Champlain: A Vermont History and Ecology Study

Theory and Concepts:
Because it is an interdisciplinary concentration, Environmental Studies requires learning theories and concepts from many disciplines, including ecological systems, preservation and conservation, sustainability, the natural sciences, philosophy and ethics, mathematics, economics, geography, and cultural studies. Here are some examples of studies in which learners have explored various theories and concepts in an interdisciplinary way:

• Ecopsychology: The Healing Connection to the Earth
• Animal Culture and Ecology: The Gray Wolf
• Habitat Conservation: Wildlife Habitat Remediation and Conservation
• Permaculture and Sustainability
• Bioregionalism: What does it Mean to “Think Globally but Act Locally”?
• The Lure of the Ocean

Methods:
Again, this interdisciplinary concentration means you will be learning the methods used within its component disciplines, including the natural and social sciences as well as, in some cases, the arts and literature. Use of the scientific methods of observation and experimentation are important, but so are other ways of interacting with the natural world, and recording and reflecting on human relationships with it. Here are some examples of studies in which learners have explored various methods in an interdisciplinary way:

• Drawing Aboriculture: Tools, Trees, and Knots in Charcoal
• The Art of Observation
• Sacred Mathematics: The Structure of the Universe
• Nature Writing
• Field Journaling and Drawing

Controversies:
Beliefs about the appropriate relationships between humans and the natural world are different across cultures and even within our own Western culture. This leads to disagreements about whether or not there are environmental issues that need to be addressed, what those are, and how to go about addressing them. As someone concentrating in this field, you will want to understand all aspects of such controversies and be able to articulate and defend your own viewpoint. Here are some studies in which learners have explored various environmental controversies in an interdisciplinary way:

• Wolves: Facts and Myths; Being One of the Pack
• Government Regulation and Politics: How Politics Affects our Health and Safety
• Climate Change in New England: Global Warming and its Effects
• Environmental Attitudes: Understanding to Promote Thoughtful Conservation and Greater Sustainability
• What Shall We Eat?

Applications:
Most people who are interested in Environmental Studies are looking for ways in which to improve people’s relationships with nature and minimize environmental damage now and in the future. Here are some examples of studies in which learners have incorporated environmental action:

• No Child Left Inside: Reuniting Nature and Childhood
• Alternative Energy Resources: An Investigation into Inexhaustible Energy Sources
• Healing Gardens, Healthy Gardener: The Relationship between Garden and Gardener
• Intentional Green Communities: Solutions toward a Healthy Planet and Happy Beings
• On Becoming a Woman Nature Writer