Recently in My ESA 200 class we have been learning about the keystone pipeline. The pipeline has not yet been built and is still under debate. The pipeline would carry Tar sands a type of Crude oil from Canada all the way throughout the United Started. This is been a big debate in the environmental field for the past couple of years. This is because Tar sands are the most dangerous type for the environment. They play a big impact on climate change. If it is built it could potentially increase global warming, pollution and more climate chaos. There are also health and safety issues that come into play as well. There is much worry about green house emissions as well as more carbon pollution. Another big factor is that the pipeline would run right through the Ogallala aquifer. We could be putting out water supply as well as wildlife at risk. Although the opposing side argues that it would create new jobs and energy. I think it may cause more damage then they think.
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Prompted Post, Week # 3
For this weeks blog I interviewed one of my ESA professors. He specialized in agriculture and food studies as well as education. He was very insightful on all of these items.
When I asked him about writing, he says that he does a lot on a daily basis. He gets roughly about 1,500 emails a day that he needs to reply to. Although he says most of his writing is done in writing grant proposals. He writes manuscripts for research, as well as journalistic types of pieces too. When it comes to communication he mostly communicates with his students, and team of colleagues. He uses lots of ways of communication. He is big on using social media such as Twitter and Facebook. He does a lot of communicating on the phone via text as well as conference calls, and face to face meetings. This is different than how we write in class because there is noting very formal about his writing an communication. Although he writes on a daily basis just like we do. His communication is not as formal either.
Next I asked him some questions about the ESA field along side education. He describes a day in his field as a new adventure everyday. He does a lot of teaching, but mainly does a lot with the research extension and outlook programs at MSU. This is mainly for agriculture for natural recourses education work in interface, where they intersect agriculture and food systems with people in areas all around Michigan. To help them understand good systems in formal and non formal settings. Besides that he does a lot of Email writing, and meetings. Just yesterday he had a team meeting with the USDA grant that took about 2 hours. He also meets with lots of grad students on a daily basis as well as working on annual reports. He says he often runs into challenges with the budget from the university for projects. Although it has been rewarding. He says the biggest reward is seeing students succeed and watching them interact, grow, get a job, and impact others. Therefor he is having an indirect impact of thousands of students out there. When is came to the environmental field one thing he didn't expect was how much moving around he has done living and working in multiple states. My professor said it took him a lot to get into his field. He got three degrees, starting with the bachelor of science that took 5 years, Next he got his teaching certificate that took a year, then onto his masters and PhD. Getting the job took even more time getting his 10 year, then 6 more years to get promoted and 5 after that to become a professor. Although he says it is the most rewarding job, he is paid to get to sit and think. He gets to research what he wants and teach the courses he is interested in while making an impact on others. From the environmental field he has learned that you aways have to keep learning. Learning is a life long endeavor because environmental issues as well as technology is always changing. Things don't always stay the same, he says things that were true when he was an under grad like myself are no longer true, and he has to keep learning. He became interested in this field because he was always attracted to the outdoors and being outside. He recalls fond memories of being young and enjoyed watching plants and animals grow. It amazes him how you can plant a seed and watch it grow, then wither away to nothing in the winter to non existence then be huge again next spring. His favorite part of his job is interacting with the under grad students. Although he does sped most of his time in his office, and works about 60 hours a week.
This interview effected me because it made me very interested in this type of field. I have been considering things like Environmental sciences and communications. Now I'm considering environmental teaching as an option. I think it is great that he gets to have a job where he is paid to sit and think. I want to be able to research whatever interest me as well as having an impact on others.
Sources: Anonymous, Personal Interview, 28 January, 2014
When I asked him about writing, he says that he does a lot on a daily basis. He gets roughly about 1,500 emails a day that he needs to reply to. Although he says most of his writing is done in writing grant proposals. He writes manuscripts for research, as well as journalistic types of pieces too. When it comes to communication he mostly communicates with his students, and team of colleagues. He uses lots of ways of communication. He is big on using social media such as Twitter and Facebook. He does a lot of communicating on the phone via text as well as conference calls, and face to face meetings. This is different than how we write in class because there is noting very formal about his writing an communication. Although he writes on a daily basis just like we do. His communication is not as formal either.
Next I asked him some questions about the ESA field along side education. He describes a day in his field as a new adventure everyday. He does a lot of teaching, but mainly does a lot with the research extension and outlook programs at MSU. This is mainly for agriculture for natural recourses education work in interface, where they intersect agriculture and food systems with people in areas all around Michigan. To help them understand good systems in formal and non formal settings. Besides that he does a lot of Email writing, and meetings. Just yesterday he had a team meeting with the USDA grant that took about 2 hours. He also meets with lots of grad students on a daily basis as well as working on annual reports. He says he often runs into challenges with the budget from the university for projects. Although it has been rewarding. He says the biggest reward is seeing students succeed and watching them interact, grow, get a job, and impact others. Therefor he is having an indirect impact of thousands of students out there. When is came to the environmental field one thing he didn't expect was how much moving around he has done living and working in multiple states. My professor said it took him a lot to get into his field. He got three degrees, starting with the bachelor of science that took 5 years, Next he got his teaching certificate that took a year, then onto his masters and PhD. Getting the job took even more time getting his 10 year, then 6 more years to get promoted and 5 after that to become a professor. Although he says it is the most rewarding job, he is paid to get to sit and think. He gets to research what he wants and teach the courses he is interested in while making an impact on others. From the environmental field he has learned that you aways have to keep learning. Learning is a life long endeavor because environmental issues as well as technology is always changing. Things don't always stay the same, he says things that were true when he was an under grad like myself are no longer true, and he has to keep learning. He became interested in this field because he was always attracted to the outdoors and being outside. He recalls fond memories of being young and enjoyed watching plants and animals grow. It amazes him how you can plant a seed and watch it grow, then wither away to nothing in the winter to non existence then be huge again next spring. His favorite part of his job is interacting with the under grad students. Although he does sped most of his time in his office, and works about 60 hours a week.
This interview effected me because it made me very interested in this type of field. I have been considering things like Environmental sciences and communications. Now I'm considering environmental teaching as an option. I think it is great that he gets to have a job where he is paid to sit and think. I want to be able to research whatever interest me as well as having an impact on others.
Sources: Anonymous, Personal Interview, 28 January, 2014
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Free Post # 2: Wicked Problems
This week I wanna talk about something I learned about in My ESA 200 class called Wicked Problems. Wicked problems are problems where no agreement can be reached. There are no True or False clear cut answers to these types of problems. They are also constantly changing over time. These types of problems include things like Global climate change, biofuel production, nuclear energy, or air quality. These types of problems are not tame, with a clear cut definition. In wicked problems many stake holders have different types of ideas about what the real problem is and what is causing it. They can not be fixed by what we call " normal science". There is always uncertainty over the system components and outcomes of the problems. This is a big problem in the environmental field because there are always growing concerns about many environmental problems. We can not just say this is the answer and have everyone on board. Wicked problems are something that need to be addressed. I think it is interesting to look into these wicked problems and see everyone different viewpoints, although it is a big problem because no agreement can be made to go about fixing them.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Prompted Post, Week # 2
I found two different pieces of writing that both have a central focus on the environmental problem of global warming, one was a news article, and the other a scholarly article.
The news article was written in short concise paragraphs. It told you about the problems we will face due to climate change. The author of the article did not take a side on the problem, he simply addressed the issue at hand. The article tells you about the viewpoints that the U.N. has on climate change and our future. It is written in very common language, so that most people could read and understand it. There is not a very dense vocabulary to the article. I felt it was more freely written than the scholarly article. The audience would be to anyone interested in environmental problems. It's purpose was to inform us that even the U.N. believes that climate change is a problem and that we need to do something about it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/17/science/earth/un-says-lag-in-confronting-climate-woes-will-be-costly.html?ref=earth
The scholarly article was different than the news article. It was arranged differently in the fact that is contained an abstract before the article. This one was also written in a more formal manner. The article was more fact driven than the first one. The author had taken a side in this article as well. He told you what he believed by telling you that all the facts show that global warming is real, as well as what it will do to our planet. Such as having an increase in rain. I felt this piece was very to the point and straight forward. It was directed towards anyone seriously concerned about the environment, and wanting to know what it will do to our planet. It's purpose was to let you know that there are facts supporting global warming, and increased rainfall due to it. There were lots of paragraphs of dense information supporting the statement.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/317/5835/233.full
works cited:
Gills, Justin. "U.N. Says Lag in Confronting Climate Woes Will Be Costly.". The New York Times, 16 Jan. 2014. Web. 22 Jan, 2014.
Wentz, Frank J., Lucrezia Ricciaduli,Kyle Hillburn, and Carl Mears." How much more Rain will Global Warming bring?". ScienceMag. 31 May, 2007. Web. 22 Jan, 2014.
The news article was written in short concise paragraphs. It told you about the problems we will face due to climate change. The author of the article did not take a side on the problem, he simply addressed the issue at hand. The article tells you about the viewpoints that the U.N. has on climate change and our future. It is written in very common language, so that most people could read and understand it. There is not a very dense vocabulary to the article. I felt it was more freely written than the scholarly article. The audience would be to anyone interested in environmental problems. It's purpose was to inform us that even the U.N. believes that climate change is a problem and that we need to do something about it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/17/science/earth/un-says-lag-in-confronting-climate-woes-will-be-costly.html?ref=earth
The scholarly article was different than the news article. It was arranged differently in the fact that is contained an abstract before the article. This one was also written in a more formal manner. The article was more fact driven than the first one. The author had taken a side in this article as well. He told you what he believed by telling you that all the facts show that global warming is real, as well as what it will do to our planet. Such as having an increase in rain. I felt this piece was very to the point and straight forward. It was directed towards anyone seriously concerned about the environment, and wanting to know what it will do to our planet. It's purpose was to let you know that there are facts supporting global warming, and increased rainfall due to it. There were lots of paragraphs of dense information supporting the statement.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/317/5835/233.full
works cited:
Gills, Justin. "U.N. Says Lag in Confronting Climate Woes Will Be Costly.". The New York Times, 16 Jan. 2014. Web. 22 Jan, 2014.
Wentz, Frank J., Lucrezia Ricciaduli,Kyle Hillburn, and Carl Mears." How much more Rain will Global Warming bring?". ScienceMag. 31 May, 2007. Web. 22 Jan, 2014.
Monday, January 20, 2014
Free post # 1: Recycling
This week I want to talk about recycling. Recycling is a big environmental issue. We have been discussing its impacts in my ESA 200 class. We as americans throw away so many items that should be recycled. Instead we don't take the time and just throw them in the garbage, this creates so much waste that we put into our ground, that should be reusable!Last week we got to do something that really showed the impacts of recycling, and how much we waste. My class met at MSU's recycling center, and did a trash short. We took a dumpster from Bailey hall, and dumped its contents out from the pervious day. We then sorted through everything pulling out papers,plastic, glass, metals, and landfill products. We assumed there would not be to much that should have been recycled because Bailey Hall is home to the RISE program students. These are students who are all for recycling and trying to get to a zero waste baseline for recycling and trash. It was very eye opening experience, almost 40% of what was deemed as landfill was actually recyclable. That is a big amount and should not be that high. Also it was surprising to me how many things should have been recyclable, but could not be because they were contaminated because of food waste. This is something I was unaware of before this experience. So take a yogurt container for example, its plastic and should be recycled, although if it is not properly rinsed out, the food waste left in it makes is no longer a recyclable product. We need to work harder to recycle, and stop wasting.
Prompted post, week # 1
When it comes to a career in Environmental science, here are some questions that I had about the major. Not a lot of my questions could be answered using the book, but an online recourse as well as my ESA 200 class filled in most of the blanks.
1. Q: What kinds of jobs can I get with a degree in Environmental science?
A: Agricultural jobs, ecologist, forestry environmental analysts, air and water quality, environmental lobbyist, or health specialist, environmental consultant, wildlife and conservation, a natural recourse manager, teacher, agribusiness and many other things, it is an extremely broad major.
2. Q: What makes this major unique?
A: There are many different opportunities, and you can be highly involved inside and outside the classroom. You can help to solve problems that were or may be effecting others.
3. Q: What kind of skills or abilities can I gain by becoming an environmental major?
A: math, economics, chemistry, deductive reasoning, verbal and alalytical skills, and the ability to communicate well with others.
4. Q: To be an environmental major do you have to get into a certain program?
A: There is no certain program you have to apply to.
5. Q: What are types of problems you deal with being an environmental major?
A: As the environment can be so controversial you often deal with what are called wicked problems, problems where there is no clear cut solution, or true or false answer.
6. Q: What types of classes are needed for an environmental field?
A: Often chemistry, biology,geology, and mathematics, and heavy science courses.
7. Q: What is the average starting salary for a general environmental major?
A: In general, you will typical earn between $60,000 and $85,000 in this field depending on what route you decide to take.
8. Q: What would a typical work day be like?
A: It could be almost anything. Research work, teaching, business type of work. or doing work out in the field.
9.Q: What type of student is geared towards success in the environmental field?
A: Typically one who has actual concerns for the well being of the planet, and enjoys sciences.
10 Q: What is environmental science?
A: According to my book it is the bond between organisms and their environments in which they reside. It is the study of interactions between living and non living things with an emphasis on humans impact.
The book was only helpful to an extent because the environment is dynamic and always changeing so it is hard to get the most up to date information. My ESA professor was extremely helpful in answering some of these questions, he has done all sorts of work in the environmental field and told us all about them.
Sources: Discussion Course on Choices for Sustainable Living. Portland, OR: Northwest Earth Institute, 2009. Print.
"Who Should Be an Environmental Science Major?" Who Should Be an Environmental Science Major/Minor. UWGB, 5 June 2012. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.
and ESA 200
1. Q: What kinds of jobs can I get with a degree in Environmental science?
A: Agricultural jobs, ecologist, forestry environmental analysts, air and water quality, environmental lobbyist, or health specialist, environmental consultant, wildlife and conservation, a natural recourse manager, teacher, agribusiness and many other things, it is an extremely broad major.
2. Q: What makes this major unique?
A: There are many different opportunities, and you can be highly involved inside and outside the classroom. You can help to solve problems that were or may be effecting others.
3. Q: What kind of skills or abilities can I gain by becoming an environmental major?
A: math, economics, chemistry, deductive reasoning, verbal and alalytical skills, and the ability to communicate well with others.
4. Q: To be an environmental major do you have to get into a certain program?
A: There is no certain program you have to apply to.
5. Q: What are types of problems you deal with being an environmental major?
A: As the environment can be so controversial you often deal with what are called wicked problems, problems where there is no clear cut solution, or true or false answer.
6. Q: What types of classes are needed for an environmental field?
A: Often chemistry, biology,geology, and mathematics, and heavy science courses.
7. Q: What is the average starting salary for a general environmental major?
A: In general, you will typical earn between $60,000 and $85,000 in this field depending on what route you decide to take.
8. Q: What would a typical work day be like?
A: It could be almost anything. Research work, teaching, business type of work. or doing work out in the field.
9.Q: What type of student is geared towards success in the environmental field?
A: Typically one who has actual concerns for the well being of the planet, and enjoys sciences.
10 Q: What is environmental science?
A: According to my book it is the bond between organisms and their environments in which they reside. It is the study of interactions between living and non living things with an emphasis on humans impact.
The book was only helpful to an extent because the environment is dynamic and always changeing so it is hard to get the most up to date information. My ESA professor was extremely helpful in answering some of these questions, he has done all sorts of work in the environmental field and told us all about them.
Sources: Discussion Course on Choices for Sustainable Living. Portland, OR: Northwest Earth Institute, 2009. Print.
"Who Should Be an Environmental Science Major?" Who Should Be an Environmental Science Major/Minor. UWGB, 5 June 2012. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.
and ESA 200
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