February's Green Superstars: Learning Clusters

Green Superstars

February 2014

Learning Clusters with Sustainability Themes

You might have seen these hard-working students at Learning Cluster fair. However, if you haven't, you still have a chance to get a taste of what they learned here. This year, there were quite a few Learning Clusters with a focus on the environment or sustainability. Students from 6 of them were willing to share their experience.

Nick Peck
Class of 2015

"My learning cluster was about Marine Protected Areas. We spent several days going to the MPAs in Southern California and learned a lot about the organisms that live there and the negative impacts humans are causing to their environment. I loved learning about the effectiveness of MPAs and the amount of people that want to protect the ocean as a resource."

Scott Bower
Class of 2015

"In Sustainable Housing and Urban Development, we learned about the housing sector in relation to economics, societal impacts, and health implications while getting a hands-on experience constructing an adobe home on the rural periphery of Buenos Aires, Argentina. I really liked visiting different neighborhoods in Buenos Aires with Tomas because our long walks through suburb and rural areas highlighted the social stratification of the city, revealing the stark physical and social divisions between the affluent areas and the neighboring slums. "

La Boca, Argentina (photo from Google)

Ali Houghton
Class of 2015

"Our learning cluster studied the effects of two non-native species (gourami and guppies) on the native Amazonian fish populations. We learned that most of these introductions are due to human development. I loved fishing in the Amazon, and it was really cool to catch, cook, and eat pirahnas!!"

"This is our LC playing soccer with some local Peruvian kids...they whooped us, but it was a blast!!!"

Guangda Tang

Class of 2017

"Our LC (Natural History of Southern California) was about local geology, plants, animals, ecology, and marine biology. Southern California is characterized by a very unique environment that is only found in very few places around the globe. For me, I really enjoyed the field trips. They all were so awesome! We went to the beach to study about rocks and to the zoo to meet with most common local animals, and we saw sea lions."

Poster about racoons by Guanda

Yuta Maeda

Class of 2017

"Through our Learning Cluster, China and Africa, I learned that sometimes governments are not willing to publish Environment Impact Assessment of infrastructure projects prior to the commencement of their construction, which might indicate that government attempted to hide serious impacts on environment around the local community. In addition, due to lack of governmental environmental regulation, Chinese companies (and most likely local companies) do not care about the environment, so actions from the government seems necessary to protect the environment."

Chinese dam in Africa (photo from Google)

Sage Dunham
Class of 2016

"Campus Sustainability focused on the ways in which our campus and others like ours can become more environmentally, socially, and economically friendly. We spent our first week trying to understand what SUA does and does not do to make itself more sustainable while comparing SUA to other educational institutions. The last week I took on a project to better understand our campus energy use and what we can do to reduce it."

-

Here's hoping that this semester is as interesting and productive as winter block!

***

 If you know someone who deserves recognition as a GREEN SUPERSTAR in the coming months, please message us below, on facebook, or at SSU_EnvironmentalDepartment@soka.edu .

Learning Cluster Highlight: Campus Sustainability with Dr. Robert Hamersley

It's learning cluster season once again! Obviously, this time can provide opportunity to do and see a lot of things abroad... but it could also be an opportunity to look at our home from a new perspective...

"Sustainability means more than a 'green' environmental consciousness. A healthy society and planet has the capability to endure economically, socially, and environmentally. 

What does sustainability mean for universities?

In this learning cluster, we will study campus sustainability on both theoretical and practical levels.

Universities have special roles in promoting sustainability both as educational institutions and as examples for the wider community. Sustainability on campus plays out in academics, operations (the physical impact of the university), 

and in the administration. 

How have other universities worked to become more sustainable? What actions is SUA taking to be more sustainable? What direction should SUA take in the future?

Activities will include meeting with the main players in SUA's sustainability drive, and (if possible) making some field trips to understand how nearby universities have tackled the challenge.

The course will be academically challenging and will encourage students to develop their academic abilities in thinking, learning, and writing about campus sustainability."

(based on my experience in his previous LC)

You will learn a ton, and it will be super rewarding!

Please contact Dr. Robert ( rhamersley@soka.edu ) if you are interested or want to find out more.