Environmental Humanities

Studying Environmental Humanities at Sterling gives you the opportunity to:

• Customize your degree by choosing major electives in Applied & Visual Arts, Ecological & Cultural Studies, and Writing & Literature.
• Take classes in environmental philosophy, literary studies, creative writing, woodworking, fiber arts, pottery, arts electives, such as Eco-Art, Basketmaking, or Animation.
• Study ancestral lifeways in the Southwest U. S.,  the rich folk music culture of Cape Breton Island, or the Hudson River School of landscape painting through Sterling’s Global Field Studies program (included as part of your tuition).
• Gain hands-on career experience through the Sterling College Work Program by serving as a mentor in Sterling’s  Learning Center, helping others conduct research in Sterling’s library, assisting as a public school reading tutor, shooting imagery for Sterling’s social media channels, or working in other jobs.
• Complete an internship with an organization related to your major, like the Peabody Essex Museum’s Art & Nature Center (Salem, MA), Old Sturbridge Village (Sturbridge, MA), or the Maine Forest & Logging Museum (Bradley, ME).
• Create independent studies in specialized topics like: Meditative Creativity, Leporidae in Folklore, Norse Mythology, Medieval Literature, Screenwriting, Craftivism, Literature of the Great North Woods, Social Justice ‘Zines, Literature of the Fiber Experience, Equine Photography, Grasping Spoken Word Poetry, Poetry & Faith, French language, Gender in Folk Tales, Native American History, and Satire. 
• Spend a semester studying at Yestermorrow Design/Build School or a college in Vermont that is part of the AVIC exchange program.
• Pursue a Senior Year Research Project (SYRP) working with a faculty advisor on a focused topic of your design.
• Gain first-hand exposure to nationally known speakers, like writers John Elder, Janisse Ray, Camille Dungy, Rick Bass, and Gary Nabhan, performers Keith Murphy & Becky Tracy and Pete Sutherland, and artists like Judy Dow.
• Participate in conferences and other special events like the 2013 Cultural Sustainability Symposium and the 2010 Rural Heritage Institute.

Meet Some Environmental Humanities Alumni

Sterling College students who graduate with degrees in Environmental Humanities go on to pursue careers in education, research, writing, art, and other ecology and agriculture work.

“Sterling College provided me with experiences that allowed me to dig deep into myself and to find work that is meaningful to me. I would say Sterling College has taught me the significance of loving the work that you do. And also doing work that is about more than yourself, giving back to the community, to the earth, and to future generations.” —Mike Tessler ’09

Michael Tessler, B.A. 2009 Natural History, is a Ph.D. student and research fellow at the Robert Gilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History.

Schirin Oeding ’12 is pursuing coursework for her M.Sc. in organic agriculture and food systems at the University of Hohenheim in Germany. The focus of her recent research has been the socioeconomic aspects of small-scale farming. She recently spent half a year working on a project about Swiss dairy farmers in the high Alps and the challenges they face as they reach retirement age and have no successors willing to keep farming their land. When not doing school work, she helps with chores and harvesting on the 8-cow biodynamic dairy and CSA farm where she lives. She also writes regularly for Taproot Magazine, on topics related to farming, ecology, and place.

Ethan Higgins ’14 has found steady and rewarding work in historic barn restoration and custom home building. Working as a timber framer gives him the opportunity to both integrate forest products into a functioning and practical part of everyday life, and to create a space in which the utilization of these products can be appreciated for both their material and the inherent value of the craft required to construct it. Ethan writes, “It’s preserving the heritage of craftsmanship so vital to human infrastructure and survival in the Northern Hemisphere, as well as cultivating and sharing a full and robust appreciation of where our building materials come from, the intrinsic value that its use carries, and the immense culture that springs from our close proximity to it. Using wood has always been part of the human experience, and I’m fortunate enough to have found a profession that allows me to daily celebrate this part of who we are, as well as to make a concrete change in my community by using sustainable materials to create spaces that will both honor vital cultural traditions, and facilitate meaningful human experiences long after I’m gone. I believe that it’s the best thing that I can be doing to actively change the world (that, and picking up trash).”

Erin Honeycutt ’11 is pursuing a M.A. degree in Art Theory at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik. Her thesis research focuses on the video art pioneers, Steina and Woody Vasulka, media archaeology, and how they expanded aesthetic notions of electronic images by inventing video processing tools. Erin writes, “I was attracted to [these artists] really because of their focus on landscape imagery… a continuation there from my interests at Sterling.”

Read about the work of some of our alumni

Jordan Charbonneau ’15, Rabbit Ridge Farm (blog): http://rabbitridgefarm.blogspot.com/

Melissa Eckstrom ’15, Willow Bend Environmental Education Center; her personal blog: https://mxdrum.wordpress.com/

Jessica Parker Foley (2016), https://www.jessicaparkerfoley.com/

Nelly Detra (2017), weaver and proprietor of Black Cat Judaica

Erin Honeycutt (2011), artist and scholar based in Iceland

Weylin Garnett (2017) on making ‘zines