VANCOUVER — Environmental advocates these days come in many shades of green, and cross all political and social boundaries.
Leah Bendell-Young, acting director of the environmental science program at Simon Fraser University, oversees a group of statisticians in the program’s environmetrics stream. Here, Dr. Bendell-Young checks in on the science lab and research associate Jeff Christie.
Leah Bendell-Young, acting director of the environmental science program at Simon Fraser University, oversees a group of statisticians in the program’s environmetrics stream. Here, Dr. Bendell-Young checks in on the science lab and research associate Jeff Christie.
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Increasingly, they need to concern themselves with a global list of issues and problems that require credible data collection, research and historical understanding.
Many environmental studies programs in Canada have caught on to the need for this depth of knowledge from students and employers alike.
Colleges and universities are increasingly creating hybrid degree programs to satisfy various niche requirements across all types of industries, businesses and government and non-governmental agencies alike.
At Simon Fraser University, in Burnaby, B.C., for example, acting director of the environmental science program Leah Bendell-Young oversees a small group of statisticians in the program's environmetrics stream.
She views the specialty area, which has been offered for 12 years, as one of the forerunners of niche degree programs that now populate Canadian campuses.
About eight students are in the Simon Fraser program, which looks at environmental issues within a statistical context, while also placing an emphasis on studying the environment at home or abroad.
Dr. Bendell-Young says those students can walk right into careers in environmental analysis in government or industry with both a knowledge of statistics and a sense of how it can be applied environmentally, because they have a grounding in both.
"We developed the undergraduate environmental science program in 1996. The core of the program was to provide an interdisciplinary program that cut across traditional boundaries. We brought in someone from physics, chemistry, from statistics, from biology, and, later, earth science," Dr. Bendall-Young says.
"It was unique at that point to offer environmetrics, but it was very successful and we've had some really good students come through the program."
She says that with rising demand for the program, it has been restructured into a new Faculty of the Environment that will take into account this level of interest and allow students to specialize in their niche areas as they gain broader perspectives, including learning how to respond to the inevitable political and societal responses to their data and discoveries.
Dr. Bendell-Young says it is important for graduates to have an understanding that however statistically sound their work may be, it may not always be welcomed. She cites the example of the hard truths behind Canada's dwindling cod fisheries and their public reception.
"Environmental science students have to be prepared for a total lack of acceptance of the science," she says. "It doesn't matter what the science is saying, you have this other huge pressure that will keep pushing you. … [Students] have to see the human instinct. The cod fishermen can say, 'I have the God-given right to fish,' and that is juxtaposed against the science saying, 'You are fishing out these stocks.'"
One of Dr. Bendell-Young's students, Britt Rogers, welcomes the many different streams of environmental science. She is working on a project on habitat fragmentation by highway projects, and hopes to get into conservation programs overseas.
"Some students are quite specific in what they want to do. Some want to get into consulting, others want to get into urban planning or conservation," says Ms. Rogers. "It allows me to combine the sciences I like with the greater idealism of environmentalism."
Another example of hybrid education is one offered at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont., which has a new school that combines environmental studies with tourism, and has 80 students enrolled.
Anthony Ward, head of the new school, says the program goes far beyond the traditional hospitality industry. Because tourism is the largest industry in many countries, he says, students need to be fully educated about what draws travellers to various countries. For example, his students learn about everything from eco-conservation techniques to how visitors' breathing can damage medieval buildings.
"Most tourism is environmental tourism in one way or the other. Either we go to the beautiful beaches of the Caribbean or we go to Rome, and we see that the future of the tourism industry has to consider this environmental impact," Dr. Ward says.
"Beaches and reefs are despoiled, forests are cut down. In the cities of Europe there was a tremendous problem of acid rain etching away all those beautiful cathedrals."
Environmental issues also have an impact on investors who have developed these parts of the world.
"Too many investors don't get a return after many years and this is a mammoth cost of hotels, roads, infrastructure. So we're thinking about this from the macrocosm — the whole tourism program of a country — down to the microcosm —looking at little communities that develop without ruining the eco-environment as well as social environment," Dr. Ward says.
"It's not a lightweight program," he adds. "We ask a lot of our students, but we think we give them a lot as well. It is not solely for environmental people, and it has an interesting, productive job at the end of it."
Degrees that cross boundaries
Canadian schools offer dozens of hybrid and specialty environmental degrees. Here is a snapshot of some of the programs across the country:
Royal Roads University, Victoria: Master of arts degree in environmental education and communication. Develops the skills of educators and communicators.
University of Alberta, Edmonton: BSc in environmental and conservation sciences with BA in native studies (mixed degree). Focuses on human dimensions of environmental management.
University of Winnipeg: Applied environmental studies BA or BSc, offered jointly by University of Winnipeg and Red River College. Theoretical and applied knowledge in environmental analysis.
University of Toronto, St. Michael's College: Certificate in theology and ecology. Integrative methods for contributing to the healing of the Earth in all its life systems.
York University, Toronto: Bachelor in environmental studies, offering four majors: environmental management, urban and regional environments, environmental politics, or environment and culture.
McGill University, Montreal: BSc in agriculture and environmental sciences. Program brings together health, environment, nutrition, biotechnology and agriculture sectors.
Cape Breton University, Sydney, N.S.: Bachelor of engineering technology (environmental studies). Explores biological, chemical, geological and engineering principles and the environment.
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