Humboldt State University’s Environmental Studies Club is intended for, but not limited to, students who major in environmental studies at HSU. The purpose of the club is to unite interdisciplinary perspectives in order to brainstorm and create solutions for environmental issues. As a major, environmental studies focuses on how social constructs tend to prevent us from joining forces to tackle the growing problem of climate change that will negatively impact us all, sooner or later. Therefore, the Environmental Studies Club aims to build a community for incoming environmental studies students as well as others who hope to create positive change in this world, so that together we can march toward a brighter future.
The club has presented events including the screening of “Chasing Coral” and an event called Conversations Matter. The screening of “Chasing Coral,” which included a discussion afterward, was intended to open up dialogue to the public about the environmental issue of coral bleaching. The film shows why interdisciplinary work is necessary to solve environmental issues.
Conversations Matter was created shortly after Donald Trump was elected President. The motivation for Conversations Matter was to teach community members conflict management for turbulent talks. For this event, the club invited trained mediators from Humboldt Mediation Services to teach tips and tricks to transform arguments into problem- solving communication and methods of practice for bringing conflict to consensus.
The club is currently fundraising to send 10 environmental studies students to the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) at the University of Oregon School of Law in early March. For these students, having the opportunity to attend PIELC will give them the chance to network with others passionate about sparking social and environmental change. Attending this conference will also equip these students with the information on the brink of the environmental movement to share with our local community here in Humboldt County.
If you have any questions about the Environmental Studies Club, would like to get involved, or are interested in donating to help send students to PIELC, please contact enst.club@ humboldt.edu.