Confessions of An Environmental Student: A Little Opinions about The Future of Environmental Students

Morning view in UPM (there are too many trees in UPM that I forgot which place is this LOL)

It is the time of the year when people receive their offering letter to pursue their study in university! Congratulation to all who got the course that they want while for others who are not that lucky, it is just another window leading to a bright new world for you. Before you slam the window close, try looking out the window and feel it, at least for one semester. You will not know whether this is the thing you have been wanting for your future career or not because you have not seen it or heard about it. Yes I am going to focus on environmental studies again because the same thing always happen. It happened on me, and it happens to the following new batches of students coming into this faculty, the Faculty of Environmental Studies in University Putra Malaysia (for other universities, this course might be placed under the Faculty of Science)

I should take this picture from a lower angle.

Don't panic if you got this course out of nowhere. Students who chose this course as one out of the four priorities are RARE. It is not surprising if more than half of the students are offered this course because they can't get the one they actually wanted. The most concerning question regarding the course is: What we will be after we graduate? Those who study Medicine will become a doctor; those who study Law will become a lawyer; those who study Education will become a teacher. This is what generally people know. How about courses like Material Science, Wood Science, Forestry etc.? I don't know either since I have never investigated their backgrounds and not many people talk about it. Now we have university graduates everywhere who are looking for jobs. Some even ended up doing something unrelated to what they have studied for three or four years (which is kinda sad). So what am I going to do after I graduate with a title of Bachelor of Environmental Science and Technology?

One of the corner of my faculty. The place I like the most when the scorching sun is not high up there yet.

Here is a situation I have read somewhere else some time ago.
Company W wants to recruit a university graduate who holds a degree in Microbiology; Company X wants to recruit someone who studied Genetics; Company Y wants to recruit a person in Zoology field. So if you own a degree in Biology, you can apply for all the three companies because what you have studied covers Microbiology, Genetics and Zoology. Actually what matters is not the title you get after you graduate but the content of your course. Employers will see what you can give to the company instead of simply showing a piece of paper saying that you graduated from this course. This is the list I copied from our faculty's website (besides what have been listed down there, there are actually more which have not been updated here).

Course Offered

Environmental Health
Environmental Measurement Technique and Method 1
Principles of Environemental Biology
Hydrology and Water Resource
Meteorology
Water Pollution Control Technology
Toxic and Hazardous Waste
Coastal Processes
Professional Training
Project
Hydrogeology
Man and Environment
Chemical Principles In The Environment
Principles of Environmental Physics
Principles of Drinking Water Treatment
Air Pollution and Noise
Environmental Chemistry
Solid Waste Disposal Technology
Pollution Biology
Energy Systems
Environmental Seminar

Basically our course covers all three main sciences: Biology, Chemistry and Physics because when we study the environment, we cannot separate the air from the water, or the plants from the soil. Everything is interrelated. So according to the list above, we can be involved in various industries because many factories need to use water in some of their processes (cooling, rinsing, cooking etc.) and they will produce industrial wastes that need to be carefully disposed of. Precautions have to be made to minimise pollutions as well. If you like Nature more, you get involved in conservation and preservation of natural habitats or endangered species. Get into the jungle, dive into the ocean or skate through Antarctica (maybe?). Besides, you can be an environmental forensic officer who examine the samples taken to see whether they contain excessive amount of certain chemicals which should not exist (we call them pollutants) and identify who is responsible of the pollution. If you do not want to straight away hop into workforce after graduate, you can continue to do scientific researches in Master or PhD to prove the happening of global warming, to investigate the threats caused by persistent organic pollutants found in pesticides, to renovate better solar energy generator or to come out with a greener technology. Out of all the choices above, if you are not interested in anyone of them, you can be an educator to educate the public regarding importance of sustainability in our lives and spread the awareness. You can also just be a science teacher because you have the knowledge of all the sciences.

Me and my coursemates during our first fieldtrip.

The only three Chinese in my batch. Guess what, this course was our first or second choice when we apply for university. *proud*

What I have stated above is just my two-cent opinion which might not be 100% accurate. I am just a second year student-to-be and have yet to go through another three years in my university to graduate. If you ask me what I want to become in the future, I am still uncertain of which way to go. I chose this course as my first choice because I know this is what I want. At the end things do not turn out as simple as it is. There are so many paths that I can go that I innocently thought that I just want to be an 'environmental scientist'. Well I guess this is not the time for me to think about it before I study deeper into this course.

I hope I have answered this tricky question which I may not be able to answer orally because I don't know where to start. So I prefer to write it down. Spread the words and I wish you all the best in pursuing your new journey in the university. =)