Thursday, May 23, 2013

End-of-Semester Update

Hello Readers!

   I have finally wrapped up my first semester towards my Master's of Science in Environmental Studies. I have learned a lot this semester; I worked with seven other students to develop a proposal for an in-depth evaluation of SUNY-ESF's Graduate Program in Environmental Science. My role was to copy-edit the document, and in final review there were only two misplaced punctuations that I had missed in over 100 pages. I have to give credit to my other classmates of course, they produced an outstanding foundation for me to simply polish!
   I learned more than I ever expected to (and possibly needed to) know about the environmental policies of China, but I gained a significant appreciation for the amazing transformation that the country is undergoing. I learned more about the environmental harms inflicted upon the heartlands of America, and I learned that the computer I'm using to type this blog update represents over 1500 pounds of consumed raw materials in water, metals, precious metals, solvents, mine tailing, and more.
   I retraced my undergraduate foundations in sustainable development studies, and really delved into the foundational documents of the sustainable development discourse, walking away with a new appreciation for the ongoing nature of the discussion. I learned that, if you are to take the methods of certain economists and apply them to the services provided by the world's ecosystems in food, raw materials, filtering and buffering capacity, that this figure would dwarf the combined global output of all economies everywhere.
   I learned about how best to communicate risks in certain scenarios, and studied incidents such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (spelled it right the first time! take that, auto-correct!), which is the scientific term used for mad cow disease. In a future increasingly impacted by the rising concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, knowledge of the do-s and don't-s of risk communication may prove useful in my future work. Studying aspects of our understanding of how people make decisions will both enable me to make better decisions, and help others to analyze how they are going about reaching theirs. I learned, for example, that telling yourself over and over that someday, you are going to do that thing you always say that you will do, actually activates the same parts of your brain as if you had actually already done it. I think this might be the root of procrastination! More science must be done...
   I also developed the first draft form of my thesis proposal, which will save me significant headaches in the near future! I am working through the summer on both Superstorm Sandy research and SUNY-ESF's outreach programs by supporting them from behind the scenes, in the outreach office. I plan to upload more examples of my academic work, not all of which will be similar to my last update, and hopefully I can find some time to update a few times through the summer before falling back into the school routine come August.