College campuses have always been places where students rally and argue and dissent. College-aged students are prime for self-experimentation and exploration, as they discover who they are and who they will be. Part of this is having opinions.
Professor Eric Pallant has long argued over his 37 year career at Allegheny that students can voice their opinion, but they have to back up why they agree or disagree with a certain thing. Against fracking? Fine. Why are you against it? Pallant says, “I think you can be an activist, but you cannot in our department, for the most part, be simply opposed to things.” This is especially true in the ESS department. So much of environmental science is exploratory, like the installation of solar panels on area buildings. Students who were involved in an energy audit for a local organization were excited to imagine the possibilities of solar panels as a renewable energy solution. But the audit resulted in a lesson in reality. The cost greatly outweighed the benefit, and the project did not move forward.
This preparation for the real world of work is useful. Students from Allegheny go out into the workforce prepared to back up their ideas with facts. Every graduate of the environmental science and sustainability program has published and presented at least 4 or 5 papers to various external entities by the time they graduate. This is particularly helpful in the area of environmental justice, which can be a tough sell. Students are taught that they might be coming to a problem that a lot of others before them tried to solve. If they want to build a better mousetrap, they better understand how to do it in a way that makes sense.
