Filed under: Career, Career Education, College, Graduate School, Saving the Planet, University
Do you remember, back in the day, when it was crazy talk that the world might be round? And how cranky the Catholic Church became when Galileo started spouting off about the freakishly scientific Copernican theory that the Earth revolves around the Sun and not the other way around (as God intended because Man is the center of the universe)? And how weird those solar power-hungry hippies were when they were conserving energy and doing all of that bizarre recycling and yelling about the end of life as we know it if humans continue to burn through resources? And Al Gore backing them up with his totally off-the-wall slide show about “global warming.” Who would believe that mankind could roast an entire planet into oblivion? Freak.
Yep, I like to sit around sometimes (after I’ve done some voting for the always right Right Wing) and think about all the weirdos who have tried to steer us humans wrong in the past, and how the supremely conservative men and women have always pointed out the crazies for us. Good times. Thank god those Earth-is-round folks were proved wrong. We’ve been up in space and the photos of the Earth are clearly flat. It’s like a squished box. And Galileo, that guy sure got what he deserved. A gazillion years of purgatory; that’ll teach him to be good at math and do all that thinking. Pope John Paul II was just being nice when he publicly stated (in 1992) that Galileo was right. And as for Mr. Gore, sure his theories can all be proved with basic math and elementary scientific observation, but George Bush and his people have been doing lots of vehement denying, so I believe the President (who hasn’t been wrong yet).
Oh, if only I were simple-minded, then life would be simple, too. Too bad I’m strapped to this round planet with a bunch of closed-minded conservative yahoos who are happy to watch the planet go the way of the buffalo. I tend towards crankiness, yes, and some might say my personality, um, rhymes with ‘itchy’. But, I’m also an optimist. A sarcastic, cranky, ‘itchy’ optimist, that’s me. So thank gawd there’s a green light at the end of this tunnel of global-warming doom: there are degrees to be had in the field of sustainability.
Arizona State University now offers bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. degrees in sustainability.
The School of Sustainability, together with the Global Institute of Sustainability, provides innovative, interdisciplinary education and research opportunities for undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, to better prepare them to identify and solve sustainability challenges.The degree programs are flexible, interdisciplinary, problem-oriented programs where students explore the sustainability of human societies and the natural environment on which they depend.
And more and more colleges and universities are heading in a green direction with the energy consumption on campus as well as building green (environmentally sound) structures. Changes showing up at universities is a positive sign (like a possible drowning victim spewing sea water). Humanity may still be screwed, but we might be able to fix our flat planet.
Posted by Alexa Harrington
Colleges and Universities | Admissions |Environment
WOW! THIS IS THE COOLEST DEGREE I’VE EVER SEEN! IM SO HAPPY TO SEE SOME PEOPLE STILL CARE ABOUT OUR EARTH! I AM SUPER INTERESTED IN THIS FIELD AND CARE FOR OUR MOTHER EARTH! I CANT WAIT TO EXPLORE MORE INTO THE FUTURE! GO GREEN!!!
THX ALEXA,
TEDDY ODENDAHL
@Teddy–YOU’RE WELCOME! I’M EXCITED THAT YOU’RE EXCITED! Being a little more serious, I was so happy when I read about this program. It helps me to maintain some semblance of an optimistic view of the future.
Comment by alexa 07.07.08 @ 2:16 pmThis is the degree I’ve been looking for. I am a 22 year veteran of business, and at 50 have sold my business and decided to return to school for a degree. I have enrolled at a university in my state (ME), and in fact my entrance essay was titled ‘Sustainability in Business and Corporate Social Responsibility’. I have done much reading on the subject, and would love to pursue a degree, but it isn’t offered as such in my area. Do you have any ideas for me?
Peter
[...] I’ve posted before about the forward-thinking greenness of Arizona State University and their sustainability degree programs (here and here). Now, according to Mr.Bradford at Geek Stew, they’re doing great (and not at all scary) things with toilets in the new Santan Hall building at ASU Polytechnic. I’m enjoying vicarious feelings of deep, settling calm just knowing there are safe and shiny toilets out there. [...]
Pingback by Educated Nation--Gren Toilets at ASU Polytechnic | Educated Nation | Higher Education Blog 09.02.08 @ 5:01 pm[...] Sustainability Degree Offered at Arizona State University Saving the Planet is a Solid Career Choice Green Toilets at ASU Polytechnic [...]
Pingback by International Educational Directory > It’s Not Easy Being Green 03.08.09 @ 5:34 am[...] Sustainability Degree Offered at Arizona State University Saving the Planet is a Solid Career Choice Green Toilets at ASU Polytechnic [...]
Pingback by It’s Not Easy Being Green « Education Must be Free 03.15.09 @ 5:15 amPlease note this resource with a comprehensive listing of various undergraduate, graduate and certificate degrees in sustainability.
http://www.ulsf.org/resources_sust_degrees_us.htm#MI
Comment by Cindy Knoebel 07.01.09 @ 12:05 pm[...] Sustainability Degree Offered at Arizona State University Saving the Planet is a Solid Career Choice Textbook Rental Saves Money and Trees Green Toilets at ASU Polytechnic Penguin Games It’s Not Easy Being Green Free Money For Textbooks No More Tray Sledding For You! [...]
Pingback by It’s Blog Action Day! | Educated Nation | Higher Education Blog 10.15.09 @ 6:12 pmI was interested in your sustainable degree until I visited your web site. Just reading the text on the first page turned my stomach and I found it totally offensive that one of the first things I read was a slam toward MY Catholic church. Your very liberal spouting off will do no good in the long run. I am a very level headed person and can be conservative in some of my ideas, but I know that as a christian I am placed here to take care of what God gave us and that includes the environment. So, maybe you want to rethink your idea that anyone who is not a flaming liberal is bad.
Comment by Vicky 01.29.10 @ 8:06 pm@Vicky–I apologize for taking so long to reply to your comment. For the record, I have nothing against people who are conservative in their politics, nor do I have anything against people who go the Catholicism route. The people are fine. It’s the Catholic Church and the Conservative politicians I have issues with. I also have issues with screaming liberals who beat their children and don’t do what they can to save/preserve the planet. The Catholic Church was responsible for offing many a forward thinker back in the day, and I wasn’t kidding about the Pope admitting, hundreds of years later and DECADES after humans made it to space, that the Catholic Church wasn’t letting Galileo out of Hell for trying to tell people that the Earth goes around the Sun, but they were admitting that his math may have been correct so they were going to officially let him out of purgatory. I don’t care which group did that to Galileo, it’s so stupid and backwards I can’t breathe right now. Do you not see that offing someone for thinking bigger and speaking the truth is like me getting the electric chair for walking up to the new Pope and saying that I’m pretty sure gravity is what makes us all not fly off this spinning planet of ours.
As far as the conservative political types go, I’m hoping you were paying attention when George W. Bush repeatedly denied claims that the planet was headed for certain screwed-ness. He not only said the environmentalists and the research scientists were lying and wrong and full of crap, he also did nothing to begin to fix the problem. Also, it could have been anyone. It wasn’t his voters, so I have no problem with conservative-minded humans in general. But I have a huge f-ing problem with world leaders who are that f-ing stupid. Sorry.
–Alexa
Comment by alexa 02.23.10 @ 8:29 pm