Thursday, August 25, 2016

Oakton Community College in Illinois adds ''environmental studies'' concentration

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/des-plaines/community/chi-ugc-article-oakton-adds-environmental-studies-concentrati-2016-08-25-story.html

關於「cli fi」的報導圖片 (來源:Chicago Tribune)

Oakton Community College in Illinois adds ''environmental studies'' concentration

Chicago Tribune

Many companies, agencies and organizations today are employing environmental experts to help them respond to calls for better environmental stewardship. Oakton Community College is helping to meet this challenge by announcing the addition of an environmental studies concentration for fall 2016. It will prepare students for transfer into a variety of majors concerning the environment, such as sustainability; environmental philosophy, law, and policy; environmental art and literature; environmental engineering and chemistry; conservation biology and natural resource management; and environmental journalism.

Oakton Associate Professor of Biology Paul Gulezian, co-coordinator of the concentration, said, "There are numerous current issues affecting the environment such as food scarcity, pollution and climate change. It's important for students to understand and care about these topics and to be able to communicate about them effectively."
The 19-semester-hour concentration provides students the opportunity to examine the connections between the environment and the community, both locally and globally. Through a combination of coursework and connected-learning experiences, the program prepares students to address the many environmental challenges being faced today, including matters of public policy, economics and ethics.
 
"Also, there's a growing genre of literature out there called cli-fi (climate fiction) that deals with severe changes in weather set in the present or ...

Professor of English Marian Staats, co-coordinator of the concentration, said having a humanities aspect to the program makes it unique.
"Narratives are an integral part of environmental study," she said. "Also, there's a growing genre of literature out there called cli-fi (climate fiction) that deals with severe changes in weather set in the present or near future."

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