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Show A5 WWW.NETXNEWS.NET MONDAY • JANUARY 22 • 2007 Environmental Studies New minor offers students a deeper look at the world One person's opinion David R. Keller Environmental Studies Program Chair Turning off I m the tube Justin Ritter I Opinions Editor ! One has to wonder if Philo T. : Farnsworth ever guessed what an • impact his little invention would have on society. But whether or not he '. understood the potential power of the television, it has made its permanent : mark on American culture. This is made obvious from the premieres of 24 and American Idol, both of which aired last week. Idol drew in a whopping 37.3 million viewers - its highest ratings ever while 24 pulled in 16.2 million. 26.8 million U.S. citizens tuned in to watch last weekend's NFL match-up between the Dallas Cowboys and the Seattle Seahawks - and all this within a fourday period. It goes without saying that Americans are glued to the tube. Of course, there is nothing wrong with a little entertainment, televised or otherwise. And in addition, many of today's shows go one step further than entertainment, commenting on current issues and events. For example, 24 confronts heavy topics such as the War on Terror, torture during interrogations, and presidential power. Another television heavyweight, Lost, explores psychology and personal motive. Even American Idol makes its own embarrassing social commentary, however unintentional. [•;•Lastly, watching TV offers a pleasant break from reality. For some unexplained reason, it's comforting for people to know that no matter how bad things get, they can always turn on the television and see that Jack Bauer is having a worse day than they are-. All of this is fine. It's when that break from reality begins to consume one's life that it becomes a problem - and far from consuming a life or two, television is swallowing our society whole. (*1 In its Statistical Abstract of the United States, the Census Bureau g;i revealed that average American adults and adolescents spend 64 days a year watching television. That's more time than they spend listening to the radio and using the Internet, combined. The consequences of such heavy TV consumerism are not pleasant. More time spent on the couch means less time spent on other, more important things; while some people plan their days around their favorite television ^ programs, others simply neglect their everyday responsibilities, such as work, schoolwork and family to feed a literal addiction to the TV Health also suffers when too much time is spent in front of the tube. Watching 64 days of television a year translates to spending 64 days in a sedentary state. Grossly understated, this is simply not healthy. Entire families live with the television always on, a practice that allows for bad viewing habits to be passed from one generation to the next. If the pattern is not broken, the problem will only get worse. Americans need to turn off the TV more often. There is certainly nothing wrong with watching a favorite show every evening, but it is important, hpwever, to keep television in perspective. Television heroes may save the day, but they can't save us. We have to help ourselves, and one of the simplest ways we can do that is by turning off the tube. s UVSC moves toward university status, mpre interdisciplinary minors are being developed by the Committee on Interdisciplinary Studies (COIS), chaired by philosophy professor Shannon Mussett. One of these new minors is Environmental Studies, a nationally popular program new to UVSC. The minor is based on the interlinkage of culture and nature. Culture is linked to nature, because nature provides the context within which humans create culture. Cultures persist or perish depending on whether customs and rituals conform and are sustainable within the particular natural environment of that culture. For example, Easter Island culture's ritual of erecting gigantic stone monuments was not consistent with the ecology of the island ecosystem, and led to the end of that civilization. Alternately, the flow of water through rice paddies in Bali is strictly regulated at the community level, else farmers on higher ground might hoard water and cause lower rice paddies to dry up, possibly causing food shortages. And, confronting starvation, the early Mormon pioneers pooled together scarce natural resources and devised a "fast offering" system to distribute goods to families in need, for the welfare of the community as a whole. Nature is linked to culture, because humans modify nature through the economic activity necessary for civilization. Agrarian cultures modify the land through farming, as we do here in the arid west, whereas nomadic herding and hunting cultures alter the land through animal husbandry, as Mongolians do in central Asia and Bedouins do on the Arabian Peninsula. , Manufacturing centers in industrialized countries require the diversion of water and the implementation of waste disposal systems, as well as complex transportation infrastructure. These activities affect the environment. The scope of Environmental Studies extends from the local to the global, because social and natural systems are connected at each of these levels and every level in between. Since humans are integral parts of ecological systems, an understanding of the structure and function of the biosphere is crucial, as well as an understanding of the ways humans see nature through culture. Due to its interdisciplinary character, a degree in Environmental Studies is not a straightforward science or technology degree. Rather, it is a liberal arts degree useful for students seeking academic or professional paths in public policy on the environment. Because environmental issues transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries, Environmental Studies encourages cross-disciplinary thinking. Classroom activities and field studies allow students to engage in real world issues such as land use planning, A natural resource management, biodiversity, global climate change, private property rights, transportation, and so on. The curriculum is designed to sharpen critical thinking and problem solving skills by encouraging students to translate theory and classroom learning into practice. Students are able to participate in excursions to Sleeping Rainbow Ranch in Capitol Reef National Park, a Held station which is unique not only within the Utah System of Higher Education but also within higher education as a whole. Sleeping Rainbow Ranch is an ideal place to study the overlay of human ancestry via Puebloan, European and natural history. Environmental Studies graduates have many educational and career opportunities. Environmental Studies is excellent preparation for graduate and professional school, such as law school, business school, and post-secondary school in government. Environmental Studies is also good for landing jobs dealing with environmental policy. Hundreds of thousands of environmental professionals work for local, state, and federal government agencies. Tens of thousands of jobs become available annually in both the public and private sectors in such areas as land-use planning and zoning, agriculture, parks and recreation, water resource management, public health, community and economic development, energy development, consulting, scientific, sociological and anthropological research, marketing, environmental non-governmental agencies (NGOs), humanitarian organizations, fisheries management, and many other areas. Environmental Studies graduates work for public agencies such as the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Environmental Protection Agency, and many private firms. The UVSC Environmental Studies Program has received high praise from outside consultants across the country for its faculty and curriculum. It includes instructors and courses from across campus, including biology, philosophy, history, geology, geography, literature, anthropology, environmental technology, economics, communication, psychology, and sociology. Environmental Studies is rich with possibilities, as it weaves together threads from the Humanities and Natural Sciences. This cross-fertilization is essential, as the goal of Environmental Studies is to discern complex relationships between nature and culture. >>•••; f i i § I Easter Island culture's ritual of erecting giganic stone monuments is one example of a cultural link to nature. Letters to the editor t/W * f#aft fa t4-r/tnti fftt fo fry } mttqn- fa itmttt /fum tttufu t/fcwMt . }JJAtfttWvt} //&//>#/ M/4/,/ft* //MI {fttfy, &//aw cd **"*£ wwi Got an opinion? Put a stamp on it! an d * E-Mail letters to uvscopinions@hotmail.com * The NetXNews room is located on campus in SC220. :| * All letters become property of NetXNews and may be edited for content, specifically clarity, length or other concerns at the discretion of the Opinions Editor. .. :.,...- . . , ..... . tttiltt t Hi * Letters between 50-250 words are encouraged and those letters marked by their succinctnes are more likely to be published. -Unit 7 * Letters must be accompanied by full name, address, and phone number for verification purposes (contact information will not be published). fit V I j * ? Jen** /#&-&] / f in litttna )P"" i/d |