Category: Sustainability
June 29, 2017
A Look at Sustainability Director Careers for Environmental Science and Sustainability Students
Businesses, governments, and other organizations are increasingly aware of the importance and benefits of environmental sustainability. Not only can taking steps to be more sustainable make an organization look more socially responsible, but it can even lead to reduced resource consumption, saving money over time. For many organizations, hiring a sustainability director is an important… Read more »
June 22, 2017
2 Examples of Ecological Restoration to Inspire Students at Environmental School
The world faces many environmental challenges, with issues of pollution, habitat destruction, and others contributing to the decline of species and wilderness in many areas. Though these are problems that will require hard work to overcome, it’s important to remember that there is hope that things can get better. Around the world, many restoration projects… Read more »
June 15, 2017
Examining Social-Ecological Systems in Environmental Studies Careers
Friction between society and the natural world is an ongoing source of political and economic stress leading to endless debate about how much of the environment ought to be exploited for resources. Some propose that economic benefit justifies the damage caused by acquiring resources. Others fight for a protected environment, even when that might mean… Read more »
June 08, 2017
The Pros and Cons of Genetic Engineering in Environmental Science and Sustainability
Genetic engineering is a new and controversial process. With its medicinal, therapeutic, and agricultural applications, many scientists view it as a scientific beacon leading to a new era of discovery and solutions. However, others view the novelty of genetic engineering as one of its downfalls—there are so many unknown aspects of this new branch of… Read more »
June 01, 2017
Contributing to Greater Soil Health with a Sustainability Master’s Online Degree
With the world’s population set to increase to over nine billion people by 2050, it’s becoming increasingly important to find new and better ways of growing more food on agricultural land. Complicating matters, however, is the fact that much of the world’s soil is experiencing a decline in health. Some areas are becoming contaminated with… Read more »
May 25, 2017
Addressing E-Waste after Completing Environmental Graduate Programs
Digitization has taken much of our lives and societies from the physical world to the virtual one—communications, entertainment, finances, and more can all take place electronically. While this shift has made many tasks far more convenient and has allowed for more intricate connections between people and organizations all over the world, it has not come… Read more »
May 18, 2017
How Students at Environmental Science Colleges Can Contribute to the “Carbon Law”
Climate change and issues of environmental degradation can often feel too big to tackle. A problem of a global scale demands global solutions, and attempts to provide such solutions often have mixed results. For example, the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference in Paris saw many countries commit emissions. However, even if countries honor these commitments,… Read more »
May 11, 2017
Combating Microplastics with a Master’s in Sustainable Development
Plastic pollution is nothing new—nearly everyone has seen a plastic bag or bottle strewn somewhere it shouldn’t be. Likewise, the consequences that this kind of pollution can have are also fairly well documented, with images of creatures trapped in plastic packaging all too common. In recent years, though, greater focus has been placed on “microplastics,”… Read more »
May 04, 2017
2 Reasons Hormones in Water Should Concern Students in Environmental Science Schools
The list of damages humanity is causing to the natural environment (and its inhabitants) is long and is getting longer all the time. In addition to the regular culprits commonly discussed in the media—things like wastefulness, CO2 pollution, and more—there’s a sneakier, but no less insidious, phenomenon that is ongoing: hormones infiltrating the world’s water.… Read more »
May 03, 2017
Track 1 or Track 2? How to Choose Your Sustainability Concentration
As concern for the state of the environment rises around the world, sustainability studies are becoming increasingly valuable. This kind of education helps professionals develop a keen understanding of environmental concerns affecting the planet, and helps them develop the skills needed to implement solutions to these problems. Do you want to lead the charge toward… Read more »
April 27, 2017
Making Resilient Communities with an Environmental Sustainability Degree
Though much is made in the media of preventative action that can be undertaken to prevent environmental catastrophe in the future, the unfortunate reality is that the climate is changing today. In many regions, this means increased incidences of drought, extreme weather events, prolonged heat waves, and other negative manifestations of a worldwide rise in… Read more »
April 20, 2017
Restoring Hope to the World’s Oceans with Sustainability Studies
The world’s oceans are hugely important to human wellbeing. They are home to the majority of the world’s fish stocks, which the UN states “provide more than 3.1 billion people with almost 20 percent of their average per capita intake of animal protein.” They also store massive amounts of CO2, influence global weather patterns and… Read more »
April 12, 2017
Why Tree Selection Matters for Professionals with a Natural Resource Management Degree
Conservationists engaged in protecting and rehabilitating woodlands know that deciding which trees to protect and introduce is complex. Some organisms may be great fits for specific climates or regions, while others may have a mixture of qualities that make them too weak or too strong for a particular region, making them poor choices for projects… Read more »
April 06, 2017
How Environmental School Grads Apply Systems Thinking to Data Modeling
To work as an environmental scientist means examining ecology, the economy, and society, all of which can impact or be impacted by the general environment. All are complex systems involving hundreds or thousands of individual components. For example, an ecological system could comprise many types of wildlife, plant species, fungi, weather patterns, geography, and much… Read more »
March 30, 2017
The Role of Land Use in Environmental Science and Sustainability
As the human global population grows toward a projected 9 billion in 2050, developing a system of sustainable land use is becoming imperative for sustainability professionals. Sustainability in land use will mean balancing the territory devoted to living spaces and agriculture with that which is allowed to remain untouched, and ensuring that all environments remain… Read more »
March 23, 2017
The Importance of Quantitative Methods in Environmental Science and Sustainability Measurement
Environmental science is a continuously evolving academic field that seeks to help us gain a progressively better understanding of our natural world and develop effective solutions for important sustainability issues. Challenging the status quo to address environmental problems requires solid evidence to persuade decision makers of the necessity of change. This makes quantitative literacy essential… Read more »
March 16, 2017
Mitigating Invasive Species with a Natural Resource Management Masters
After habitat loss, the most severe threat to biodiversity according to the World Conservation Union is invasive species. While the practice of transporting animals outside of their native regions goes back thousands of years to the earliest world explorers, globalization has resulted in a greater number of plants and animals being introduced into new environments.… Read more »
March 09, 2017
Innovative Solutions to Conservation for Students in Colleges for Environmental Science
Conservation is vitally important for all living things, not just to protect animals and their ecosystems but to ensure the sustainability of our precious natural resources and, by extension, the survival of our species. The degradation of the planet’s natural areas resulting from land conversion practices, pollution, and extreme climate impacts is responsible for about… Read more »
March 02, 2017
How Grads with a Sustainability Degree Can Respond to Climate Change Skeptics
While the key facts regarding global warming have long been agreed upon by an overwhelming majority of scientists, political and popular debate about the existence and cause of climate change continues on, especially in the United States. Sustainability science students and graduates have likely encountered climate skeptics and deniers in their own families or social… Read more »
February 09, 2017
The Importance of Ethical Practice in a Master’s Degree in Environmental Science
As environmental science and sustainability studies often involve finding an optimal balance between economic development, social equity, and environmental protection, ethics provide an important standard of conduct that empowers professionals in this field to work towards the good of society as a whole. Environmental ethics is a systematic and critical analysis of morality, which may… Read more »