Hong Kong and Tempe: How I’ve Gained the Most Out Of My Study Abroad Trip
As I reflect on my overall experiences abroad, I have found that sustainability is slowly, but surely, becoming a prominent subject within my school and extracurricular activities. More and more it seems as though conservation scientists and biologists are being connected with sustainability. When there is a comparison, we tend to find that each tends to compliment each other in areas that are lacking. For example, conservation, at least in the context I am learning through my ASU classes, is primarily wildlife biology and ecology. How can we protect and preserve the environment and its natural cycles, and what mechanisms can we use to do this?
New conservation is incorporating social sciences and anthropocentrism views; how can we do great things for conservation while learning to incorporate people, human activity, poverty relief, etc. This is where sustainability and the sustainability sciences compliment conservation. A lot of what I am learning is how conservation can be a more interdisciplinary science. This involves incorporating more than just a collective of natural scientists and biologists, and really getting hands on with policy, law, social sciences, and even public services sectors. All these really factor in and take on a huge role in developing conservation. As a fairly new topic, sustainability is doing well as it has ever-expanding roots in multiple fields including conservation, business, policy, and more.
In addition, as I go about my classes and delve even more so into this passion of mine, I am finding that sustainability is becoming a huge topic. Currently, I am the Vice President of a conservation club on campus called ‘The Central Arizona Chapter For the Society of Conservation Biology’ (CACSCB). As I help plan and coordinate activities with the other board members and our faculty advisors, we are beginning to incorporate all sectors of environmentalism into our conservation website, including sustainability. We are meeting with all different sectors including student run sustainability organizations. With this, we hope to give all students majoring in conservation, sustainability, and other similar (or not) majors an outlet to connect with other like-minded individuals and find out what else is going on in the world and/or on campus. We have made a partnership with a similar organization that was started by sustainability students called ‘Sun Devils for Wildlife Conservation’, and have connected with a few other sustainability organizations so far.
So, as I move towards graduation and more towards real world applications of my major, I am finding that conservation and sustainability is already being woven together. This is not just happening here on campus, but as I explore graduate schools across the United States, a lot of the environmental programs seem to be incorporating sustainability principles as well. As I hope the following photos demonstrate, conservation and sustainability are quite interdisciplinary. It takes a diverse set of people to help contribute to the health and well-being of planet earth.
All in all, I feel that Hong Kong had an important impact on not only my growth as an individual, but it’s made me even more aware of sustainability. I am applying these core principles and I am starting my mission of helping to connect the fields for the better. Lastly, as I continue to go about my life, I am more than over joyed to find that many communities are adopting sustainability principles, which extends further than just recycling. I am pleased with the outcomes of my experience as I have found that my major and minor naturally fit together. It is the impact of these two communities that can make influential impacts in our world to change for the better!