#enviro studies

Very early to think about but the classes I'm taking are making me wonder the value of doing research on/writing about the intersection of folklore and relationships to the land and then -> folklore + views of the environment and the onset of environmental degradation.

Loose thoughts I jotted down; tl;dr: does colonial American folklore + cultural ideas (and a lack of ‘modern’ consolidated American folklore) encourage a land v people view of the world? Does that encourage a view of preserving land as entirely nonhuman (see: displacement of ppl to make way for Yellowstone and other national parks) where the natural world is completely dissociated from humanity? Does this encourage a land v people attitude where we then resent ALL humans for the degradation of the environment, leading to a view of humanity as invaders and infestations upon the earth, which imo leads to eco-nationalism and a hate of humanity (which just encourages the destruction of the environment imo since we, humans, are led to see ourselves are dissociated from nature and not a very real part of it)?

These are extremely young thoughts but I really do think one of the most present factors in the degradation of the earth and onset of climate change is this constant, ever-present idea of humanity as separate from the land— a wholly white, colonialist idea. We don’t see ourselves as part of the land therefore we can destroy it. And then white supremacy is fully not absent from ecological activist spheres. Humans are NOT enemies of nature, climate change affects everyone, when you pose humans as enemies you will never ever achieve anything in your activism except hate, the allowance of full bred white supremacy, and a scapegoating of all people instead of corporations, capitalists, and imperialists.

Hi <3 Thank you for your ask! Glad to hear you’re interested in environmental sciences. Someone close to me is a nurse so I discussed this ask with them to ask for their point of view from the nursing side. They said looking for a job with a nursing degree isn’t hard but is secure income. They said they do not make salary income, though.

Based on what I know, many environmental based jobs are salaried unless it’s something like a temporary or internship type position. I don’t have experience with a career type job, I’ve only just begun to start looking for jobs because I’m graduating in a few months.

I think that compared to nursing, it may be a little bit more difficult to find a job. Because with nursing, I *think* you may have the skills already from the degree, or know everything or most of what you should know to do the job. What I’ve heard from many professors in my school is that most environmental science based jobs, the work that you will be doing will mostly be learned on the job. Having background knowledge about stuff will help, though. I think jobs related to environmental sciences usually want to see that you have a bachelors degree in a related field, plus they want to see that you have experience/know how to use programs such as R, Excel, or GIS.

That being said, once you actually have a job in the field, there’s no reason why it wouldn’t be secure income. Environmental science is a growing field due to climate change so it’s likely that organizations will get more funding to be able to support more employers.

In conclusion, I think environmental science jobs are probably just as secure income as a nursing job, but it may be a little more difficult to find a job at the start. Hope this helps!