As a community of college-educated citizens, we are doing ourselves a disservice if we are not informed in the field of environmental sustainability. The environment provides us with all of the base resources we need to survive. Humans will never be able to synthetically produce all the goods and services that the environment gives us, and yet we are destroying it as though we are losing nothing; in fact, we are losing everything.
We are losing the fish in the seas, the trees on the mountains, the deer in the woods, the birds in the sky, the grass in the plains, the flowers in the rainforests, the bears in the tundra and once they are gone, they will not come back. Our inability as a consumer-based, global community to recognize our individual contributions to the destruction of this planet is exactly why we as students need our education to focus on this issue.
UW-Madison should implement a sustainable education course requirement to keep students informed about the world around them and to make them competitive on a professional stage.
Honestly, having a sustainable education course requirement is not asking for much. As students we are required to take a certain number of general credits in a variety of fields including, but not limited to, humanities, ethnic studies and natural sciences. I’m a member of the Associated Students of Madison’s Sustainability Committee, which is asking that at least three credits, already required of students, be allocated to courses that have curriculums that meet a sustainability standard. It is imperative that students understand the aforementioned point: we are not asking for more credit requirements, but simply a different distribution of already-required credits.
If you are still unconvinced that a sustainable education requirement is a good thing, consider this: UW-Madison is considered one of the most prestigious public schools in the nation and we pride ourselves on being able to outperform schools of similar stature in many different fields.
Well, my friends, this is one field we are seriously lagging behind in. The University of Minnesota has had a sustainability course requirement since 1994. That was more than 20 years ago. If we want to continue to excel as a university nationally and internationally, these are the types of advancements we need to be on the forefront of, not lagging over two decades behind in.
UW-Madison is an outstanding school in nearly every aspect, but there are a few areas we can advance in. Sustainable education is one of them. It is an issue that is not only relevant now, but as time passes will only continue to become more important. The students and faculty here are all working together to cultivate the next generation of brilliant leaders. It is time to recognize that an awareness of the natural world surrounding us is part of what will make our new leaders great.
Leah a sophomore majoring in biochemistry and environmental studies. She currently serves on the Associated Students of Madison’s Sustainability Committee. Please send all comments, questions and complaints to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
