Some students feel an urgent need to do something to improve the dire state of our global environment. With staggering extinction rates, sprawling urban growth, diminishing natural resources, dwindling wilderness areas, increasing pollution, and pressing social justice issues, we obviously have environmental crises. A scholar's work reaches outside the academy through the powerful tools of writing and teaching. Our writing has consequences that can change policy, and our teaching influences citizens of the environment and future policy makers. Of course, not all students begin the study of literature and environment by being an activist.
Some students enter the field through the text itself.
As an undergraduate and graduate student of American literature, for example, I found myself examining characters' relationships with nature in books by Zora Neale Hurston, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Alice Walker, and Leslie Marmon Silko. Questions asked of texts may also be asked outside of texts. And when scholars ask questions about nature and culture, about humans and power and relationships, and teach and write in pursuit of these concerns, environmental issues are brought into the public forum. Public debate and dialogue are necessaryif we are to increase awareness and affect change in ourselves, our local communities, and our global community. Determining the amount of time and money you are willing to spend in school will help make your decision.