Why Environmental Studies?
Commitment to Environmental Justice
The Jairam Miguel Rodrigues Rao Prize is awarded annually for the best student work that addresses environmental racism and justice.
- The 2024 Rao Prize Winners were Christina Marciano, Eliza Koorbusch, and Esme Garcia for their project 鈥淐reating a Heat Sensitivity-Exposure Index for Worcester,鈥 which they did as part of their ENVS Capstone Seminar (ENVS 404).
The Department collaborates with community groups that work on equal access to a healthy environment. These include:
- (UGROW)
Student Research & Conference Presentations
Students in the Environmental Studies Department have the opportunity to work in faculty labs, engage in summer research projects, and attend professional conferences. Check out the exciting work ENVS students are doing!
Students Publish Academic Papers with Faculty
- Raphaella, Mascia, and Daina Cheyenne Harvey. 2024. 鈥淢apping Malus in Massachusetts: Creating a System for Apple Foraging.鈥 Pp. 254-263 in Urban Food Mapping: Making Visible the Edible City, edited by Katrin Bohn and Mikey Tomkins. New York, NY: Routledge.
As climate change has a more significant effect on local orchards, Ross Comcowich '25 and Matthew Rigione '25 worked with Daina Harvey, associate professor of sociology and anthropology, to document how orchardists and cider-makers are preparing for the changes to apples throughout New England.
As needs increase, advocates say higher education institutions must play a role in rethinking how to support students and partner with community organizations.
"Meal time will never be the same again!" That's how Christopher Staysniak, visiting lecturer of history at the 海角社区, started the six-week summer course titled "Food and Power" back in June.
Course Work with the Local Community
While the Department includes traditional classroom and lab-based courses, many of our courses are designed around Community-based Learning.
- ENVS Seniors work with local elementary school to develop a 鈥渃ompost game鈥
- Students partner with local activists to address Urban Gentrification and Environmental Justice in Worcester鈥檚 Green Island neighborhood - Welcome to Green Island! Proud Home to Immigrants Since 1858
Learning Outside the Classroom
Geologist Sara Mitchell and Architectural Historian David Karmon team up to lead a study trip on Rocks and Empire in Rome.
ENVS Seniors study solar panels on a nearby landfill project.
Students developed the Journey of Microplastics Game for elementary school students in Worcester Public Schools.
Students partnered with Worcester Public Schools to develop lesson plans around food waste and the benefits of composting.
Engaged Faculty Research
Environmental Studies faculty study real-world problems and engage in research that makes a difference. Recent faculty work includes:
- New York Times Bestseller: Philip, Leila (2024). Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America (Paperback edition) Twelve.
- McAlister, Justin: 鈥淐oral in New England? Yes, and Its Rugged鈥
- Rinklin, Cristi. 鈥淓cologies of Perception鈥 Solo exhibition at Ellen Miller Gallery, Boston. May 10-June 15th, 2024.
- DuBois, B. & Graham, L. (2024). Resilience in the Rockaways: Coastal Imaginaries and Racial Coastal Formation. In, Low, S., Beach Politics: Social (and Environmental) Injustice on Unsettled Shores. NYU Press.
- Amante, C.J.; Love, M.; Carignan, K.; Sutherland, M.G.; MacFerrin, M.; Lim, E. (2023). Continuously Updated Digital Elevation Models (CUDEMs) to Support Coastal Inundation Modeling. Remote Sensing, 15, 1702.
- Lewis, Todd. "Towards a Transcultural Historiography of Buddhism鈥檚 Asian Expansion: Environment and Economy and its Importance in Understanding Modern Buddhism."
- Linzer, Joanna. (July 2023), "Upstream, Downstream: Iron Mining in Early Modern Japan and the Uneven Spread of Environmental Protection," Environmental History 28(3): 495-521.
- Luria, Sarah, Thomas Doughton, Colin Novick, and Ian Kaloyanides, (2022). (Film on the Native American and Environmental History of the area around 海角社区)
Environmental Studies Statement on Environmental Racism and Justice
Research shows that Black and Latinx Americans are 鈥渕ost likely to be concerned about global warming.鈥 This should not be surprising, since these communities are more likely to experience the environmental racism that has long configured our landscape. (1)
Environmental inequality leads to starkly different experiences in this country. For example, the best predictor of living near a superfund site, dump, or polluted area is race. Recently, we鈥檝e also seen that vulnerability to the Covid-19 pandemic increases in lower-income communities of color. As a program and faculty, we are committed to joining climate activists of color in their demands for environmental justice by advancing racial equality at and beyond 海角社区.
As two steps toward this aim, the Environmental Studies Program has created an Annual Lecture on Environmental Racism/Justice and the Jairam Miguel Rodrigues Rao Prize for work that addresses environmental racism and justice. Directions on how to submit work to be considered for the prize will be posted soon. Together we can take constructive steps to address the great pain and loss incurred by racist violence and environmental inequality.
(1) and .