“The arrival of humanists to the environmental enterprise should be welcomed. It will mean deeper reflexivity and an increased competition of ideas and perspectives. It will also bring a sense of realism back to our work for the environment and sustainability. When even humanists have come to the point at which they consider the environment (almost) as important as people, there may—malgré tout—be reason for hope.”
-Environmental Studies.
-Mitigator between scientists and the public.
-Interdisciplinarity lense.
-Critical Thinker.
These are the sentiments that come to mind when I think about my college degree. They definitely sound nice but I just hope they will ring true and valuable in the “real” work world. Will I, a humanist, be welcomed to the environmental enterprise? Or will I always be looked down upon as someone less than due to not having a true STEM background? I do feel like I have the capacity to be deeply reflexive as a result of our extensive work deconstructing complicated concepts and ideas. Surely that will be a vital skill in this ever increasingly complex world? I do indeed hope I will be welcomed to the “environmental enterprise” and taken seriously for the potential I believe in my heart that I have.
However...At this point in my life, the only thing that I know for sure is that insecurity does still exist within me. I have to have the power to accept that I can't be sure of my skills at all when I consider a lot of the jobs that I may prosper at don't even exist yet in the job market. More importantly, I have to be okay with the fact that these jobs may never exist.
Despite this fact, this whisper of negativity in the back of my mind, I do love my degree. I really, really do.
I love the way that we are able to take technical and complicated information and transform it into something that anyone could understand. We can create messages that have the potential to reach broader audiences than ever before with the help of our interdisciplinary lense.
That is beautiful.
Environmental Studies is beautiful.
Environmental Studies is change waiting to happen.
Keeping this in mind as the countdown to graduation reaches 39 days is vital. At this present moment I have to constantly remind myself to be an optimist. To push myself to have thoughts that are as deep, well rounded, and meaningful such as those put forth by both Sergio Gomez, Asberg, Hedren, and Neimanis in these weeks readings..
Hopefully there is malgré tout - reason for hope. For not only me but all of my fellow Environmental Studies majors. Because we are important. We are needed. We are the future.
...Even if the rest of the world doesn't know it yet.
ashley-- you are such a powerful writer. Every single one of your posts has me tearing up. Go you!
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