#environmental studies

[gemstonestudies]

04.10.2026

Spent a couple hours working on a piece for a Latine university magazine. I am kind of representing the environmental studies department, and I hope to do us justice by ensuring it is well-written and meaningful. *cough* No pressure.

Luckily for me, the cappuccino did its job and fueled a good introduction.

[hylianengineer]

Hey. You know what they taught me in my environmental studies classes, about how to work in this field and be able to keep doing it without burning out and crashing? And also about how to get the general public to care about what we do?

Ragebait isn't actually a very good strategy. Hope is. Showing people it's possible to make a difference is. Imagining a better future is. I think other movements need to learn this.

For years the strategy was to show people horrible things so they'd be angry and want to do something, but it turns out it's really easy to cross the line into them thinking 'oh god it's all horrible and we're doomed' at which point they get paralyzed with hopelessness. So that's not the recommended strategy anymore and instead we try to connect climate issues with things people care about and show them how they can help in concrete, achievable ways. Anyways, I'm still in this field three years later and I don't feel crushing despair about it so I guess it's working. Y'all should join me. Put down the images of sad polar bears and other assorted horrors; pick up something hopeful and useful instead.

[thejohnlockedfemboy]

Looking to talk to people who are majoring in my potential future major interests! I’m curious as to what your courses’ syllabus are, where you’re studying ( if you’re comfortable sharing ), what you find the most interesting, what you find the least interesting, what is easiest, what is hardest, any research you’re currently involved with, any projects you’re doing, career plans, ect!

Majors:

-marine biology

-marine science

-environmental studies

-environmental science

-ecology

-freshwater biology

-ichthyology

-aquaponics

-philosophy

-classics/hellenic studies

-medieval studies

-animal behavior/zoology

[cloudwhich]

taking an economic class as an environmental science major is so weird. like, learning how the system that is destroying the environment works and treating capitalist economics like it’s some holy, unchangeable thing.

Like, I’ve been taking classes surrounding ecology and environmental justice + policy my whole time at college. Each one of them reiterated the same thing: capitalism and its infinite growth economic model exploit not just the people within the system, but the literal planet as well.

I can’t find myself agreeing with any of the common thoughts or ideas presented in my economics class; some of them have answers that just seem… morally and ecologically wrong. ‘common sense’ econ feels way too morally removed from what people and the environment actually need to survive.

I don’t know if it’s just that I have a strong sense of autistic justice but it makes me kind of… sad? sick? uncomfortable? And I don’t want to be that person in class who constantly brings that up— im also the only one there who’s not an econ student. Idk. I’m going to finish the econ class but I can’t help but question everything about it each time I open my textbook or go to the lecture…

[roobeer-float]

how am i supposed to give a fuck about deer overpopulation when danny is gonna be releasing his reactions to Dreamscapers and Rise of Gideon soon? how am i supposed to read this peer reviewed study when billiam cipher is about to grace that man's eyeballs? im losing my mind damn you autism and your "a guy online i like is about to talk about the show I've devoted my every waking thought to" mindset

[averysillygoose]

dream job 🌱🪵🌎🌈

[ohwyrmies]

this is the very model of a salamander cannibal

(we are running linear regression models on cannibalistic morphs of Arizona Tiger Salamanders)

[adastri]

Environmental Science in Academia

I often see posts about how STEM pursuits are underrepresented in the dark academia community, but as an environmental science student I get disappointed when the only sciences talked about are bio, chem, and physics. So, I decided I’d take matters into my own hands! Below is a non-comprehensive list of things you could romanticize about life as an environmental major.

(Disclaimer: some sustainable practices are also included, because of course they must be)

Airy button down tops tucked into cargo pants for field work, hair pulled back hastily to get a closer look at the specimen your professor is pointing to.

Piles of case studies and research papers stacked on your desk, the already-read ones covered in annotations

Using vintage/old technology because it’s more sustainable and cheaper to buy secondhand (plus it adds to the aesthetic—wired headphones, anyone?)

Rushing into the lab a minute late, coffee in hand, long coat billowing behind you.

Studying outdoors when the weather permits, and by a window when it doesn’t. Nature inspires you, and you make a point to get out into it as much as possible.

Thrifting clothes at your campus’s donation center (because you obviously picked a school with its sustainability priorities in order)

Reading Silent Spring by Rachel Carson; rereading it over and over, the margins now gray with pencil annotations.

Trying to identify trees as you walk across campus.

A well-worn, but sturdy, pair of lace up boots that can withstand the elements, worn with slacks and a spotless knit sweater.

Classical music while you work on research.

Pressing leaves and flowers between the pages of your books and textbooks for the next reader to discover.

Attending climate protests in the nearest city, and bringing a carefully crafted sign to hold.

Biking everywhere.

Watching nature documentaries with your friends, seeing who can do the best David Attenborough impression.

A bedroom full of plants so you can continue your personal studies and observations outside of the lab.

Scolding your friends who smoke because you’ve studied air pollution and you can list every disease smoking causes.

Closing yourself and your lab group in a small room with a humidifier to measure air quality for a lab. Later wondering whether you all just inhaled mold because the lab results showed that indoor particulate matter increases with humidity. (It should be fine… right?)

Drawing out diagrams of specimens, food webs and nutrient cycles in your notes.

Feel free to add anything else that suits your fancy!