By Becca Robb | Echo
The Taylor Environmental Science Department plans to add a new sustainable development major in fall 2015.
The new major will focus on sustainable practices in four areas-food, health, water and economics. It will reflect the department's motto, "Science for stewardship and service."
According to Becky Taylor, program assistant for the Environmental Science Department, sustainability is specifically about treating the earth and its resources well.
"Stewardship is caring for our environment, our neighbors, our personal lives," Taylor said. "We're all connected."
Taylor hopes this step forward will teach students about their roles on earth and with the environment.
Due to the addition of professor Nicholas Babin, the department now has the manpower to handle this new major. Hired in August 2014, Babin specializes in sustainable development and agroecology, the study of processes in agriculture and the environment. "I would kind of be the faculty 'go-to' and adviser for the major," Babin said.
Spencer Starke, senior environmental science major, is supportive of this new addition.
"(Babin) is awesome," Starke said. "He's really encouraging. And he is kind of the transitional professor into (the new major)."
Freshmen and upperclassmen enrolling in the sustainable development major will have the choice between four different concentrations, according to Babin. One concentration is food systems sustainability, which will teach students about global hunger and agriculture. Another option is public and environmental health, which will explain how society and the environment affect people. The third alternative is water resources sustainability, which will focus on water conservation efforts. Finally, students may choose economic development, which is about policy-making in communities.
"We're focusing on meeting the needs of the current generation without forgoing the needs of the future generations," Babin said. "If you look at the future, a hundred years out- food, water, disease-those are all really important factors."
With the addition of the new major, environmental science students can help make the world a little greener, one class at a time.
