Introduction

The journey through ENVS 330 was riddled with pot-holes, precarious ladders, polluted waters, jagged mountains, and white-water rivers so far.  However, this is the territory of environmental studies, and it is in these harsh conditions that we must learn to thrive, to climb, to swim so to speak.  Learning how to properly situate environmental problems and solutions is no small task.  At first it seemed almost impossible, but the more and more I came to class and thought about environmental problems and solutions, the more I saw connections across spatial scales, across temporal scales, and even across academic disciplines.  A key part of conceptualizing many of the issues we discussed in class (whether they were perceptions of American Indians, forest management, wetland mitigation, eco-villages, or floodplain management) has been connecting issues to other classes like Global Resource Dilemmas or Philosophy of the Environment.  Indeed, it was rare that a class period went by and somebody did not reference course material from another class (i.e. Ecology, Geology, Economics, Philosophy, etc.).  Environmental studies truly is an inter-disciplinary field.  I believe it is so crucial in today's world that there are people who can combine spatial, temporal, and academic fields in order to solve environmental problems.  We have seen where a lot of one-way looking has gotten us in the hard sciences and in the social sciences.  Yes, these fields have led to important discoveries, but it is becoming increasingly clear to me that scientific research and discoveries do not always lead to correct environmental action.  In order to analyze the environmental problems of today and formulate appropriate solutions factors of human welfare, morality, economic development, proper ecological practice, and many others must be considered at the same time, not separately as has been done in the past.  Situating Environmental Problems and Solutions was a key stepping stone in helping me make these connections whether that was listening to other group's research presentations, doing forum postings, working on GIS, doing statistics, or discussing panarchy.


Guiding Questions

1. How can different spatial and temporal scales (i.e. local, regional, national, global, historic, present, and future) be integrated in an academically rich manner in environmental studies while avoiding both over generalization and getting too caught up in minute details?

2. What are the similarities and differences of environmental problems and solutions found in research sites located in urban, suburban, and rural settings?

3.  How does the way data is gathered for an environmental problem inform its solution?

4. Oftentimes academics get cooped up in their ivory tower researching all day.  How can getting out into fresh air and experiencing the physical place of an environment help situate and solve environmental problems there?