One of four core classes for the Environmental Studies major, ENVS 220 is a pivotal class for potential majors and minors. This class has three main components: 1) Facilitating the concentration or area of interest process for single and double majors, 2) Providing us with the tools necessary to perform both qualitative and quantitative research in order to make what the ENVS department calls “a different difference” and 3) Utilizing these tools by focusing in on a situated project within the Portland area. These three methods plus the interdisciplinary approach of the Environmental Studies department gives students the tools necessary to perform critical environmental analysis. Below, I will discuss these three components in more depth.
1) Concentration
At a recent lecture given by science educator Bill Nye (yes, the science guy), we were all encouraged to “change the world.” Luckily, this is exactly what we intend to do as Environmental Studies majors. In the beginning of the semester, we had the entire world in front of us. This freedom proved to be quite intimidating: As we learned at the Environmental Affairs Symposium keynote address, many people begin to freeze and become apathetic when they are presented with all the vast environmental problems and complexities of climate change. At Lewis & Clark, we systematically narrow down our focus to a certain topic in a situated context, allowing us to become experts in that field and make a “different difference.” We went through weeks of brainstorming, peer reviewing, meetings with advisors, and multiple drafts before finally submitting a proposal to the Environmental Studies Steering Committee for review. As I wrote in 3 become 1: Creating a Concentration, I wanted to merge my three passions of art, environmental education, and ethnic studies. I pursued this for a while, but later learned that I can do those things more successfully with a more open ended concentration. My multiple interests remain though, and I will continue to pursue them through the breadth courses listed in my concentration. The great thing about the concentration process is that it actually promotes an interdisciplinary approach in which students are encouraged to take classes from multiple departments. I write about the process of simultaneously narrowing down and broadening my topic in Place-Based Education 2.0: Editing my Concentration. It took a lot of time and thought to shape my concentration into something that was different and exciting, and I worked very hard to merge the somewhat idealistic literature of place-based education with the more reserved and “big-picture” world of environmental studies. Eventually, by focusing on the concept of “place,” I found a way to combine the two. You can read my approved concentration, Place-Based Education in Late-Industrialized Countries here.
2) Tools
One of the hierarchies we focus on in Environmental Studies is the relationship between data, methods, theories, and frameworks. We focus on data and methods in our ENVS 220 lab section that meets once a week for three hours. During this time, we learn various qualitative and quantitative tools to perform high quality environmental analysis. Throughout the course, we learned how to use WordPress, Zotero, Excel, SPSS, Gephi, GIS, Fulcrum, Flickr, and GoogleTours. After each lab, groups would produce a lab report detailing our entire process and drawing conclusions based on the data we analyzed, collected, and arranged with these programs. These labs gave us the tools to organize and present our data in ways that make the most sense to outside viewers. For example, our Social Network Analysis Lab illustrates connections between the references cited in environmental classics, our RVNA Mobile Devices Lab armed us with the tools needed to perform high quality data collection and analysis by utilizing the Fulcrum app and mobile Flickr on iPad minis and then presenting the resulting data in a map created on GIS. In our Qualitative Analysis Lab, we learned the steps involved in executing critical qualitative analysis by breaking the object of concern into categories such as what is included/excluded, how are elements presented/arranged, and what morals arise. We applied these steps by analyzing Lewis & Clark’s welcome video with the welcome video for Arizona State University. Throughout the course, we have been able to apply all of the tools we have learned about on relevant environmental topics; so far ENVS 220 has been a sort of environmental analysis sandbox for us to play with these new tools, and we implemented them in the second half of the semester in our situated projects and concentrations/areas of interest.
See a detailed list of tools we used in ENVS 220 labs here.
3) Situated Approach
In the second half of ENVS 220 we used all of these tools to collect, analyze and present data in a situated project that each lab group conducted research on. These projects were situated around Portland so we were able to study the area and collect data firsthand. My group’s project, Generational Perceptions of Wilderness, focused on wilderness as an object of concern, and used the Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs (FWOC) as a case study. Our project was unique in that the former president of FWOC approached the Lewis & Clark Environmental Studies department and asked us to help his organization recruit more members to expand the organization’s pool for potential leadership. We approached this by situating our project in Oregon, which contains twelve of the member organizations involved in FWOC. After gathering data on the demographics of these organizations, we found that the majority of the members were females over 50 who had been a part of their respective organization for over six years. Additionally, by performing a narrative analysis on FWOC’s newsletter, Outdoors West, we found that there was a strong focus on political work like drafting resolutions as opposed to hands-on work. As a result, we created a survey that we administered at the Environmental Studies poster celebration, which attracts people of the demographic FWOC is trying to attract. We used this opportunity to gather data on what this demographic would want in an organization like FWOC, and plan to present our findings to the students in ENVS 330 next spring to further this research.
The situated approach is one of the most important aspects of environmental studies, because it allows us to focus in enough to get a good sense of what is going on, but is still broad enough that we can apply it to larger-scale processes. We each created a situated project in ENVS 160 and after a lot of work, my project actually turned into a scholarly session about Cellulosic Biofuels in the Pacific Rim at the 17th Annual Environmental Affairs Symposium. I was able to experience the value in a situated approach this past summer while on the Mt. Fuji Overseas Program. This program was situated on and around Japan’s highest peak, Mt. Fuji. We used a lot of the tools that we learned about this semester to do field research on three different lava flows around the volcano, and since we were led by a geologist and historian, used a very interdisciplinary approach to understanding the geological, historical, cultural, and environmental implications of the area. The situated approach is instrumental in performing environmental analysis — it provides an area small enough to thoroughly understand yet large enough to hold global significance.