Environmental Conversations

Environmental Conversations — or “ENCON” as it is known on campus — is an interdisciplinary learning community open to all St. Olaf students interested in an integrated exploration of environmental questions, challenges, and possibilities. As a first-year conversation program, students take three sequenced courses (one each semester and one during January term) that fulfill three OLE Core curriculum requirements. Students who go on to major or concentrate in Environmental Studies also receive credit for ENVST 137 Introduction to Environmental Studies. 

The Environmental Conversations curriculum is shaped by guiding questions and delivered in an integrated, collaborative fashion wherein teaching faculty work together to create and teach ENCON courses. Because the program’s faculty hail from a variety of academic disciplines, students can expect to encounter methods and material from the social sciences, arts and humanities, and natural sciences.

Intended Learning Outcomes for the Program

Upon completion of the Environmental Conversations Program, students are equipped to demonstrate:  

1. Knowledge of the integral nature of Earth’s relationships, including those within and among Earth’s systems and the mutual influences of Earth’s systems, flow of goods and services, cultures, and worldviews;

2. Employment of such knowledge in the interpretation of environmental challenges and in the analysis of particular cases;

3. Development of creative responses to local and global environmental challenges; and

4. Reflection upon one’s own ecological vocation and those of communities to which one belongs.

Admission to the Program

Admission to ENCON is open to all incoming first year students regardless of prospective major in accordance with the registration process for the First Year Seminar. No separate application is needed.  Each year about 40 first-year students are enrolled in the program. ENCON is open to students of all interests and provides an appropriate foundation for any major at the college. 

Coursework Overview

Fall: Life in the Anthropocene 

This fall, we begin our conversation with three basic questions: 1) Who am I and what is my relationship with the environment? 2) How can I express that relationship to others? and 3) What is my environmental role in my community? To answer these questions, we will explore our environmental selves through collaborative conversations, group activities, and critical thinking exercises. In alignment with this, the seminar will explore the different and unequal ways the Anthropocene impacts people and places. This will encompass various aspects, such as racial disparities in environmental risk and impact, the historical and ongoing impacts of colonization and slavery in perpetuating social inequalities, the endeavors of groups envisioning alternative social and environmental futures, and more.

January term: Ways of Knowing Our Environment

The field of Environmental Studies explores how different parts of the Earth system interact with each other, as well as the roles that humans can play in shaping and being shaped by our surroundings. In this course, we will draw upon a network of scientific, economic, political, cultural, and ethical concepts and assemble a toolkit for approaching environmental problems creatively and analytically, with a focus on working with data. We will finish by taking a deep look at climate change as a dominant environmental challenge of the Anthropocene. Completion of this course is equivalent to completion of ENVST 137.

Spring: Imagineering Earth's Future

Human beings appear hard-wired for story - telling them, creating them, and living within them. Building upon integral forms of knowledge, what are effective and creative ways to communicate environmental information? What motivates and inspires human beings to nurture existing relationships with their environment and/or to seek a change in those relationships? What are strategies and actions for solving environmental challenges? What role will I play in Earth’s future?

Course Equivalents for OLE Core Attributes

By successfully completing the Environmental Conversations program, students complete the following OLE Core curriculum requirements:

First-Year Seminar (FYS)

Writing & Rhetoric (WRR)