Through my undergraduate career, I have written various papers having to do with Urban Agroforestry, Urban Sprawl, Green Roofs, Green Mentoring, and Traditional Ecological Knowledge, to name a few.
Recently, I had an epiphany and realized all of the papers I've written as an undergraduate inherently critically analyze why such a disparity exists between environmental science and environmental justice. I realized I was unconsciously focusing on "fixing" some form of environmental science something by adding an environmental justice component by asking if anyone had considered how a given technology alleviates or agitates human social needs. In writing these papers on an individual level, I hadn't even considered that a passion for environmental justice lied within me.
Gomez's "Four Directions for the Humanities" suggests one solution for negative framing is moving toward transdisciplinarity in the humanities wherein collaboration between academic scholars and other publics can reflect their roles as hybrid practitioners. In writing these papers on an individual level, I hadn't even considered that I was moving toward transdisciplinarity. By writing articles as a scholar, but being involved in the campus community, I was reflecting my role as a hybrid practitioner.
My role as a hybrid practitioner has only just begun, however. This field must continue developing interdisciplinary inquiry into environmental questions and assumptions. Even more, the field must challenge already established questions and assumptions.
Environmental Humanities provides a holistic perspective that is so necessary in solving each an every one of the world's ailments. Without the environmental humanities, we fail to tie ourselves into the context of the intersection of the planet in which we live. Environmental Humanities is essentially an avenue in which we can have our cake, and eat it, too.
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