Planting the Seed

To be honest when I made the switch to environmental studies I didn't quite fully understand what exactly it was that I'd be getting myself into. The article, Affective Arc of Environmental Studies Curriculum, written by Dr. Sarah Ray sheds some insightful light on the environmental studies program here at Humboldt State. Had I read this piece before joining the major I would of been able to wrap my head around the curriculum more. That being I didn't realize how emotionally strenuous these ENST courses were going to be until I was already stuck in the mist of it. The stand out course for me was ENST 295 Power, Privilege, and the Environment where I made my first connection to how my privilege "intersects with social justice and the environment"(Ray 4). When I switched my major I did it with this foolish notion in mind that I was going to gain the knowledge I needed to make a lasting impact that would better our planet and society. That knowledge is already possessed inside myself, for me what I've actually gained from this program is how to unlock that knowledge through confronting my own privilege. ENST 295 broke me in a way where I had to embrace ideologies about myself that made me uncomfortable and as stated in Dr. Ray's article, "Addressing environmental problems will require uncomfortable self-reflection"(Ray 4). My self reflection is being put to the test right now in ENST 490 capstone and program leader Dr. Ray addresses this by designing, "A capstone experience that achieves hope through agency and through a sense of collectivity"(Ray 9.) My capstone service learning project provides just that in where I am fortunate enough to have the experience of working with the Humboldt county office of education. Through this agency I find hope in working to further programs that help youth engage with their environment in a way that is both inside and outside the classroom setting. These programs include working to design an EdVenture quest that will lead the participant on a self guided tour through the Mad River hatchery allowing them to engage with their local environment. In conjunction with the EdVenture program I am also involved in furthering the classroom aquarium education program. A program that brings hatchery fish to local elementary classrooms where students will then have the opportunity to raise their own fish. Both of these two programs are deeply intertwined with the environmental studies lens in ways that the kids might not necessarily unpack it as yet, but the seeds are there. Before they even know it they'll begin to deconstruct these ecological, ethical, and sociological narratives that surround their local environment and begin to question why things operate the way they do.