Welcome to Environmental Studies
Welcome to the Department of Environmental Studies at San Jose State University. Our Department is honored to provide a rigorous, systematic, and integrated approach to the study, management, and solution of environmental problems, in a learning environment that emphasizes community, creative problem-solving, and diversity. Find out more about our department
We look forward to seeing you in our general education classes, to welcoming you as a major to our vibrant and growing department, or to helping you with your environmental questions or concerns.
Working together to sustain our planet,
Lynne Trulio, Chair Department of Environmental Studies San Jose State University
Environmental Studies News
Veggielution Groundbreaking
Environmental Studies Grads Break Ground on Veggielution Community Garden
Robin Putney’s Master’s Thesis Chosen as 2009 SJSU Outstanding Thesis!
Robin Putney's Master's thesis, "Customary Marine Tenure and Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Palau," is one of two master’s theses chosen for the Outstanding Thesis of the Year Award at San Jose State University in 2009. This project documented the value of traditional systems of fisheries management to Palauans, and discussed how these systems can be incorporated into Western natural resource management policies. The research is exemplary in its detailed description of previously undocumented natural resource management techniques practiced by the indigenous people of Palau. Additionally, Robin's rigorous application of ethnographic methods to capture information that is rapidly being lost due to the influence of globalization paints a vivid picture of a small island nation’s struggle to preserve two of its most precious assets: its marine resources and its unique ethnic heritage.
[click here to read more]
Congratulations Fall 2008 and Spring 2009 ES Graduates!
The faculty of the Department of Environmental Studies commends you on your achievement! To honor you, we will hold our own Department Graduation Celebration on SJSU's Commencement Day, Saturday, May 23. If you are a graduate, please contact Dr. Trulio for more details on the Department Celebration. For information on SJSU's Commencement Ceremony, see http://www.sjsu.edu/commencement/ .
Anna Le wins Student Organization Presidents Award— Honorable Mention!
Anna Le, an ES undergraduate, was awarded Student Involvement’s Presidents Award—Honorable Mention at the April 29th Student Organization Recognition Banquet for her leadership of the Environmental Resource Center in 2008-2009. Anna has taken the ERC to new levels of activism and effectiveness on campus and we applaud her leadership. Anna also gave the Opening Remarks at the Banquet on Sustainability. Go Anna and congratulations!
It Starts with YOU! Join us for Sustainability Week, April 6-10, 2009
From April 6-10, SJSU will hold its 5th annual celebration of Sustainability Week. This year, the students of the Environmental Resource Center in the Department of Environmental Studies have planned a whole week of educational talks and activities on sustainability for students, faculty, and the local community. Our co-organizers included the Environmental Club, Associated Students, Transportation Solutions, SJSpirit, and the Center for Development of Recycling.
Each day of Sustainability Week has a different theme. Monday is Food and Agriculture, Tuesday is Energy and Transportation, Wednesday is Waste Management, and Thursday is Resource Conservation and Biodiversity. Friday, we will be hosting an E-Waste event at Lot 4 next to the business tower on 10th street. Sustainability Week is an opportunity for everyone to learn about our campus and our planet, and how we can improve the livelihood of all people.
(click the image to view the flyer in full size)
Join us for SJSU Earth Day 2009 on Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Celebrate Earth Day with a fabulous fair, entertainment, and fun events on April 22, 10am to 3pm, on the 7th Street Plaza. The Environmental Resource Center in the Department of Environmental Studies has organized a fair with over 40 vendors and participants, food, and entertainment. Join us for a celebration of our Mother Earth!
(click the image to view the flyer in full size)
ENVS Grad's Project Featured in SJ Mercury
Veggielution, an urban farming project headed by SJSU environmental studies grad Amie Frisch, was recently featured on the cover of the SJ Mercury's Home and Garden section:
Amie Frisch, a recent San Jose State grad who is the project director for Veggielution, calls it a "perfect storm."
"People are afraid of their food," says Frisch, 25, citing food safety issues fueled by tainted spinach and suspect tomatoes in the nation's food supply.
Health-conscious consumers are increasingly wary of commercially grown produce and weary of paying high prices for foods that are grown far away and trucked to market in gas-guzzling semi trucks. And the country's obesity epidemic is causing people to be more conscious of eating fresh, healthy foods.
For Frisch and Medeiros, the Veggielution project is about more than just the joy of harvesting fresh produce to consume and share with others.
Read "Young people cultivate a community through food" at mercurynews.com
ENVS Alumna's Research to be featured in "Environmental Science & Policy"
Congratulations to Davinna Ohlson (MS Graduate 2007) and her coauthors Katherine Cushing, Lynne Trulio, and Alan Levanthal (College of Social Sciences) for succeeding in their publication of Davinna's thesis research on the role of the Nez Perce Tribe in Idaho wolf recovery efforts. The paper, Advancing indigenous self-determination through endangered species protection: Idaho gray wolf recovery, will appear in the August 2008 volume of /Environmental Science & Policy/. Check it out to see the great work our students are doing!
ENVS Grad Student Dipti Vaghela, wins 2008 Switzer Environmental Fellowship
Please join me in congratulating Dipti Vaghela, Master of Science Candidate in the Department of Environmental Studies at San Jose State University, on winning the prestigious 2008 Switzer Environmental Fellowship for her work on grassroots sustainable energy development in India.
"The Fellowship provides a one-year $15,000 cash award for graduate study as well as networking and leadership support to awardees. Switzer Fellows are highly talented professionals who have the ability, determination and integrity to effect positive change as environmental leaders in the 21st century. Only the most active, committed and focused individuals will compete successfully to join the network of over 400 Fellows selected since 1986."
Ms. Vaghela is the second Master of Science student from the Department of Environmental Studies at SJSU to have been awarded this honor since this nationwide Environmental program was founded. Her research focus is on appropriate energy technology in India. For more informatiion vistit Dipti's blog.
For more information, please contact Dr. Katherine Cushing <kcushing@email.sjsu.edu>, Graduate Program Coordinator for the Department of Environmental Studies.
We are honored to have Dipti working among us.
Sincerely,
Rachel O'Malley,
Dpeartment ChairStudy focuses on visitor's impact on Natural Bridges' tide pools
If you visited Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz at low tide between September 2006 and March of this year, you might have seen a lone park volunteer, clad from head to toe in yellow Gore-tex, purposefully stamping up and down on the rocky flats at the edge of the beach.
Nicole Rucker, an environmental studies graduate student at San Jose State University and volunteer docent at Natural Bridges, tramples the area because she cares. The 65 acre park attracts nearly 1 million visitors yearly, many dedicated tide pool explorers. Rucker wanted to know how all those feet are affecting the tide pool plants and animals.
Read the full article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel
"Veggielution" project brings locally-grown produce to campus eateries
This article in the Spartan Daily details Environmental Studies students' ongoing campaign to bring organic, locally-grown produce to campus eateries. Find out more on the Veggielution web site,.
