Open Blog #3

As my semester is finishing up and I was writing my GAA #7 I was just thinking about how well all of my classes went together this semester in terms of sustainability as the common thread. I took Biology 102, ENVR501W: Sustainable Projects, ENVR202: Intro to Environmental Science, ECIV350: Intro to Environmental Engineering, and obviously POLI477. In ENVR501, we broke up into groups of 3 or 4 and worked on different projects as consultants. The project that I was working on was to create a publicity presentation for Crescent Hills, a healthy sustainable community in the making. The entire concept of the community is to create a small, close-knit community where people are able to walk where they need to go and where they learn to be take charge of their medical choices and be proactive as opposed to reactive. The community will have sustainably built houses as well as low impact development and other environmentally sustainable aspects. Therefore, I learned not only about environmental sustainability and how it relates to new construction and community development plans, but also about sustainability when it comes to health.
We obviously talked about sustainability and environmental issues in my ENVR202 class. I really didn't know much about environmental engineering before taking the class. But it is mostly about improving water, soil, and air quality. So everything from polluted groundwater from agricultural run off to increased carbon dioxide levels from kerosene heaters in a one bedroom apartment are issues that environmental engineers deal with. And environmental engineers work not only with environmental agencies such as the EPA, but they also work with companies who hire them to come in and do assessments. But generally, environmental engineers are helping to make the world we live in more sustainable by addressing the issues caused by modernization and industry.
I've learned about so many aspects of sustainability this semester from green political thought to healthy communities to the harder science of sustainability such as improving water quality through filtration systems and coagulative additives. Overall, these courses have helped to give me a more comprehensive look at how sustainability fits into so many aspects of life and how there are many options out there career-wise where sustainability is still a focus.