ENVS 295: Environmental Engagement
Lewis & Clark College | Spring 2020
Katie Krueger
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Course Summary
So far in my Environmental Studies major, I have learned about the foundations of environmental scholarship and began developing my research skills. In ENVS 295 I am now taking my background knowledge and skills and actively partaking in engagement. The purpose of this course is to give students real life experiences of communicating and building a relationship with an organization that has their own unique version of engagement that we can learn from. I have taken a deep dive into the Center for Diversity and Environment, an organization that focuses on elevating the voices of racially and ethnically diverse people to shape leaders and make a more inclusive environmental movement. Our classroom is full of, generally, like minded people and we have learned that we will be faced with many different perspectives. Engagement teaches us to seek a higher truth, not to dig deeper into our differences. We focus on a dialogic approach that seeks to accomplish just that.Engagement Partnership
One important part of ENVS 295 is an environmental engagement partnership with a Portland-area organization. The page linked above offers information and resources I helped compile for my organizational partner this semester.Engagement Project
Building on the engagement partnership above, our team developed a related engagement project in collaboration with the partner. The page linked above offers details on our engagement project.My Course Posts
I've done a series of posts throughout the semester related to readings, our partnership, our project, and my thoughts on environmental engagement. See below for all posts I've published, in reverse order by date.
This post is a continuation of our thought process behind the proposal of an engagement project between Lewis & Clark students and the Center for Diversity and the Environment. We have proposed to culminate CDE’s E42 Leadership Program into a community project in the Albina neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. Albina […]
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Racial inequity has a long and tumultuous history in Portland, Oregon. Particularly in Albina, a neighborhood in Northeast Portland. Since the 20th century, a large percentage of Portland’s African American community has lived in this neighborhood. Albina was close to the railroad and docks that a majority of the residents […]
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Center for Diversity and the Environment advocates for reframing and greater representation of the environmental movement. They achieve this through various programs and training programs that impact the public, institutions, and individuals. The CDE’s programs aim to instill a dialogic approach to issues, action based solutions, relationship building, as well […]
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In my time as an Environmental Studies major we are constantly made aware of the different perspectives, voices, and faces involved in environmental issues. While we can read and listen, there is nothing like meeting the people behind the words. Our course, Environmental Engagement, has taken us on an enriching […]
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Deficit & Framing Model Models of Environmental Communication is an article that defines the three models of environmental communication; the classical (deficit) model, the framing model, and the contemporary (dialogic) model. The classical (deficit) model communicates in a very “apocalyptic” tone and utilizes shocking statistics to inspire action within the […]
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Divided Who, Who are we? When learning about the different “who’s” of Environmental Studies we took a more personal approach by first learning about our own identities. Our class began by taking two surveys and unsurprisingly, our peers had very similar results. We started with the Hidden Tribes quiz which […]
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Understanding “Post Truth” We are living in a time like never before. Trump’s inauguration has polarized our nation in such a way that most would deem depressing and in some cases even apocalyptic. Thomas B. Edsall’s article “Trump Is Waiting and He Is Ready” is not only relevant but very […]
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Effective altruism is a type of research that applies logically sound evidence and careful reasoning to help generate the most desired solution that benefits the most people. In order to properly uphold effective altruism, we must utilize reliable and credible sources as a means of being able to approach any […]
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Our Environmental Engagement class went on a trip to pursue different perspectives of past and current Oregon history as well as stances of environmental issues. We were given a presentation about the history of the Willamette Valley from Liza Schade, who is pursuing her masters in history at Portland State […]
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