Professor George Buckley and Harvard Extension Set up a Big Tent for All Fledgling Environmentalists
by David Pierotti
By now everyone has heard of green jobs. Headlines with that phrase have been ubiquitous for months. President Obama has made them a key aspect of his economic recovery program and studies show they comprise one of the fastest growing economic sectors, even during the current recession.
But who will fill these jobs? And how will they develop the knowledge and skills to grapple with the challenges energy and environmental issues pose for every type of business?
This was not purely an academic question for me. Seeking a way to stimulate my career and my mind, I went looking for academic programs that might do both. I found a couple of gentlemen at the Harvard Extension School who have gradually been providing answers to those questions. Professor George Buckley and his fellow professor and longtime friend, John Spengler, pioneered a unique set of courses that has evolved into the Sustainability and Environmental Management degree program.
Over 30 years ago, Buckley and Spengler jointly taught a basic environmental management course at the Extension school. It proved popular, so they added another course. The same thing happened. And so on and so on. One course at a time, with student demand the driving force, a program was built. In 1994, they had enough courses to issue a certificate for successful completion. In 2004, the first graduate of the Masters program matriculated. Last year, 21 people received a Masters in Liberal Arts, Sustainability and Environmental Management. From the simple idea to teach a basic course in ecology, Buckley and Spengler wound up creating one of the first professional masters programs for environmental management in the country.
According to Professor Buckley, “the majority of students aren’t changing careers. Teachers, architects, lawyers, government, non-government: they are using this for professional development and professional enhancement. A smaller number are thinking of career changes and getting an entirely different degree or a second masters.”
As for myself, I was one of the minority embarking on a career change. With a B.A. in history and political science, I had wandered, somewhat aimlessly, from field to field always with an eye on environmental issues. At the ripe age of 35, I needed to find a niche and, more importantly, had to believe in that niche. I wasn’t looking for simply a career, but also a purpose: a paycheck with meaning. But, for me, environmentalism isn’t simply the noble, virtuous, and occasionally self-righteous battle against pollution and consumption. It is also an exciting, dynamic field where innovation and cutting-edge technology is slowly shifting the ground beneath our feet, or more precisely, the floors, walls, windows, and roofs. I didn’t want to simply be filled with apocalyptic foreboding, I wanted to be inspired by solutions. Baby steps, perhaps, but pragmatic, possible, common sense baby steps nevertheless.
Diversity is a common buzz word in higher education. In this case, however, it has a couple of different meanings. I was immediately struck by the diversity in the backgrounds of my fellow students. Some had PhDs in other sciences and were looking to either broaden or focus their education. Others were just starting out and simply pursuing an interest or curiosity. Buckley calls it a “hugely diverse student body. Diverse in terms of age, of educational background and types of interests. But the great commonality is that people all want to know more about the environment, environmental management, and human impacts on planet earth.”
There is also the diversity in course selection. Buckley says “there are now 25 courses with five new ones added this year and more in the planning stage.” This is a natural outgrowth of diversity in the faculty. The program grants professors and instructors great freedom to craft a course around their own passions. “Each of us comes from different backgrounds - air, water, culture, development, climate change, geology, and economics,” says Buckley. This flexibility permits new courses to be added that respond to timely issues or developments in the environmental field. The concept of sustainability is an example. This was not a term heard frequently too many years ago but is now a regular part of the environmental vocabulary. The program has adapted to this with several course featuring sustainability, including Spengler’s own “Sustainable Buildings: Design, Construction and Operations” This importance of the concept was emphasized and institutionalized by incorporating the word in the title of program.
Not having a background in science myself, this variety of material is part of what appealed to me. I chose as my first class “Critical Thinking in Environmental Issues,” taught by author and experienced reporter David Roepnik. The class was an eye-opening and thought-provoking primer on how the media interprets and, in some cases, distorts important environmental issues. Instead of science, this dealt with issues of manipulation, propaganda, paranoia, ethics, and policy. Instead of a microscope, this was a macroscop. Roepnik challenged us to pull back and detach from issues in order to eliminate bias and preconceptions, and discern truth beneath layers of hype and conflicting agendas. The critical thinking skills developed were not only applicable to any career, but also invaluable as citizens in a media-saturated society.
But the program doesn’t just serve those who are committed to a degree. According to Buckley, there are “roughly 225 students enrolled in the program. However, lots of others just take a few courses relevant to their profession.” This brings us back to the notion of green jobs. One of their goals is to “give people the knowledge they need to understand how vital environmental issues impact municipalities, communities, and businesses.” They then return to their businesses or institutions armed with this knowledge and ready to apply it to their particular circumstances. In this sense, it is probably more accurate to speak of the greening of jobs rather than green jobs. The Extension program is preparing people to incorporate green principles into existing businesses.
As Buckley says, “Businesses will probably have a green sustainability officer. Harvard has added one. A lot of people in the program are in industry and they need more knowledge about green issues. We see people leaving here and bringing their knowledge back to their companies or they have started new companies.” The program is proving timely and relevant in part because it has always been demand driven. “We are constantly talking about how to respond to our clientele, about how to supply them with what they need in their career.”
Harvard has done more than add a sustainability officer. There is the Harvard Office for Sustainability and the Harvard Green Building Services. Both departments are part of an institution-wide commitment to changing the infrastructure and the social practices of this enormous campus towards a more sustainable future.
The process of refining and adapting the program is ongoing. Buckley seemed particularly excited over plans to develop course content in association with the management school. “What we’re looking at is a joint program with the management department to develop the concepts of entrepreneurial management along with environmental management in order to better understand how industry and environment can mesh.”
Other features in the planning stage are Hazmat (hazardous materials) certification and energy audit training. A career development office is in place to assist students as well as a thriving sense of collaboration across disciplines. For instance, last year students were able to participate with Alexandra Cousteau as she continues her father’s work of exploring and promoting the endless biodiversity of the oceans.
Several other features highlight the student-centric focus of the program. Citations are offered for people who don’t want to commit to a full degree. But for people who are pursuing a degree like myself, we can choose either a traditional thesis track or a capstone project, which is more hands-on learning and less rigidly academic. More and more of the courses and videotaped and posted online. This is a considerate realization that adults with jobs and families sometimes have their schedules interrupted. If so, they can just watch the class afterward at their leisure.
Asked what he would say to someone considering the program, Buckley answered, “Come join us and learn about earth’s environments, the living and nonliving, how we interact with those environments, and how we can improve our relationship to the natural world.” And that, of course, is the real goal. Career development and personal enrichment are important to us as individuals, but collectively it is our relationship to the natural world that must be reevaluated, realigned and reinvigorated.
For more information visit www.extension.harvard.edu/envr/default.jsp
This is one of the best graduate programs offered. The teachers are remarkable and the institution has the credibility for the students to acquire the tools to succeed. Harvard Extension has a high quality Master's degree program.
Posted by: Jason D. | Sunday, April 10, 2011 at 05:12 PM