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Hello,
I am new to this site and this is my first post. I am currently a 19 year old college sophmore and am trying to break through the grueling task of picking my degree. I am very passionate about the environment and would die happy knowing that i could/will someone day work in the environmental field. I'm terrible at math and i have no real interest in working in the science/lab area or in education. I see myself more with helping cities and urban areas to become more sustainable and lessen the impact on the environment. I also see myself working with people then just by myself. Traveling wouldn't be too much of an issue i think as well. I have looked into Environmental Planning, Consulting and Management related fields but of course i cant know for sure what i would enjoy/fit me best right now. I was hoping someone could tell me a good degree that would allow me to be able to match or qualify with a variety of careers as possible. I was thinking of Biology, Environmental Studies or maybe something like Business Management and getting more specific when i go for my masters. Please ask any questions if I was not clear enough, as this is a hard topic for me to fully explain
Thank you!
I know that Environmental Science is more science-based than Environmental Studies. I believe Environmental Studies is more of a policy degree. Environmental Science should be much like Biology in that it does not require as many math courses as Chemistry and Physics programs.
I would pick the career in the environmental field with the least likely chance of going overseas. In other words, to actually do the job, it would have to be done on site.
Example of safe: A plumber. No matter what changes in the world, plumbers' jobs are safe. Toilet and sink problems will always happen here. The job can't be done from overseas.
Examples of not safe: Manager, trainer, researcher, administrative, customer service related to solar panel operations. I would say installer jobs are safe in the solar panel industry but a college grad wouldn't be looking for that kind of job.
Frankly, I don't think any administrative job is safe these days.
I would pick the career in the environmental field with the least likely chance of going overseas. In other words, to actually do the job, it would have to be done on site.
Example of safe: A plumber. No matter what changes in the world, plumbers' jobs are safe. Toilet and sink problems will always happen here. The job can't be done from overseas.
They just import them into the US by way of not enforcing immigration laws.
I am going to be blunt. If you are terrible at math and don't have an interest in the science area, you will probably not succeed in the environmental sciences. You could look into an environmental planning degree, but you will have a tough time competing with people in the job market who work on the science side. The people I know who do environmental permitting/planning/consulting may never set foot in a lab or do scientific fieldwork in the present but they all have very strong backgrounds in science. That is true of the private and public sectors.
Hello,
I am new to this site and this is my first post. I am currently a 19 year old college sophmore and am trying to break through the grueling task of picking my degree. I am very passionate about the environment and would die happy knowing that i could/will someone day work in the environmental field. I'm terrible at math and i have no real interest in working in the science/lab area or in education. I see myself more with helping cities and urban areas to become more sustainable and lessen the impact on the environment. I also see myself working with people then just by myself. Traveling wouldn't be too much of an issue i think as well. I have looked into Environmental Planning, Consulting and Management related fields but of course i cant know for sure what i would enjoy/fit me best right now. I was hoping someone could tell me a good degree that would allow me to be able to match or qualify with a variety of careers as possible. I was thinking of Biology, Environmental Studies or maybe something like Business Management and getting more specific when i go for my masters. Please ask any questions if I was not clear enough, as this is a hard topic for me to fully explain
Thank you!
I will be even more blunt than the others though I doubt you will listen
so far your goals line up perfectly to be an occupy wall street protestor with a great deal of unpaid college debt and no job and especially no career prospects and not much else
you sound much better suited for a social services type degree and to be honest there is nothing sustainale about handing out welfare to people that refuse to help themselves
there are no career prospects for sitting around getting paid to tell others to live the way you dream they should live while not having the scientific knowledge to prove why they should live that way or to support your reasons for believing as you do.....algore has taken 100% of that job and he is doing quite well for himself doing it and he is not willing to share so you are SOL
the closest possible field you could go into with your statements so far is urban planning and that will generally require a strong knowledge of GIS and to successfully implement GIS and the underlying data in GIS you will generally need to understand some computer and database software and that will generally require some math
cities, states, and even the nation are currently broke from paying "people" type people to sit around and dream up expensive "sustainable" BS without any basic math or science knowledge to actually know what that will cost or what the full implications of those utopian ideals are for the long term future in the real world where the rest of us live.....so they have cut back on the "people" people positions starting with the ones that are bad at math and science and moving from there
19 is the perfect time to step into reality and set yourself up for an actual future instead of a future sitting around un-bathed and unwashed playing the bongos and littering up/trashing out some public park while getting in the way of regular work a day people while telling them you know best, but you can't support mathematically or scientifically why you know best
Well i have read all of your answers and some of them were helpful and some of them were less then helpful
I will ignore the overly judge mental statements that are claiming that i want a future of " sitting around un-bathed and unwashed playing the bongos and littering up/trashing out some public park while getting in the way of regular work a day people while telling them you know best, but you can't support mathematically or scientifically why you know best." when they should have been more direct to the question i was asking and not about my personal life. There was so much clutter in your reply that was not helpful but merely shoving there finger in my face and coming off as condescending.
I understand that degrees that have potential in the environmental field will most likely require some more math and science. And guess what? Im willing to do my best and try for it. The main idea of this thread i created was to gain insight about degrees, the plan i would have to get that degree i'd want the most and maybe learn a vague idea of where that will lead me in the enviro. field.
When i find the right degree for me and know that the work i will be doing in the future is what i want, i will ABSOLUTELY go for it regardless of the struggle's ill have to endure. This is something i believe i would be happy doing and i know that there is a place for people like me who can help and make quality differences in this field. Thank you to ALL that answered. Your words were heard loud and clear. I will have to do more research and write up more emails to those who are in the profession i suppose.
09-03-2012, 09:32 AM
i7pXFLbhE3gq
n/a posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by boxus
Engineering and science fields, everything else is just fluff regarding the environment.
This.
Environmental science, maybe a dual degree in sustainability (the university here offers it). Perhaps urban planning?
I guess it really comes down to what kind of job you want. If you want to work for some non-profit organization that makes you feel good while not actually accomplishing much of anything (except making developers hate you), then a non-science fluff degree is probably fine. If you want to actually be able to have an impact, go engineering/science.
Now, I know that sounds a bit harsh, but it's also reality. In the northwest we have a ton of environmentally active people. The people who have an actual impact are the engineers who know how to design buildings that are energy efficient and design cities that are friendly to non-car transportation. Then we have the fluff people, who do things like waste enormous sums of money on electric golf carts that sit around completely unused and show up to city council meetings demanding that we ban plastic bags and stop all development. Then there are the people who do things like pick up junk along the rivers, but I don't think that actually pays any money.
Last edited by i7pXFLbhE3gq; 09-03-2012 at 09:43 AM..
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