Intro to Environmental Studies Spring 2026

  The Chesapeake Isn’t as Far Away as It Feels I’ll be honest, when I hear about the Chesapeake Bay, I don’t immediately think it has much to do with me. It feels like one of those big environmental issues that’s kind of “over there.” But after reading this, it’s harder to see it that way. What really stuck with me is how everything flows together, literally. Pollution doesn’t just stay where it starts. Runoff from farms, roads, and neighborhoods moves through streams and rivers until it eventually ends up in the bay. So even if I’m not anywhere near it, I’m still connected to it in some way. That made me think differently about the smaller places I’m used to like local rivers and creeks. They’re not just random spots to fish or hang out; they’re part of something bigger. What happens there doesn’t just stay there. I also liked that the article didn’t make it seem hopeless. It showed that people are actually doing something about it, whether it’s changing farming practices or worki...

  Fish, Flow, and Paying Attention to the River As someone who fishes a lot, I’ve always focused on spots, like where the fish are biting, what bait works, all that. But this reading made me think more about what’s actually going on underneath all of that. The idea of “fish dynamics” is basically that fish populations aren’t random, they’re constantly changing based on things like water flow, movement, and survival rates. Fish are always moving, especially downriver, and that movement plays a huge role in whether they actually survive or not.  That hit me because I’ve definitely noticed how fish act differently depending on the river conditions, but I never really thought about it as part of a bigger system. Stuff like current, temperature, or even dams can completely change how fish move and where they end up, which affects the whole population.  It kind of made me realize that when I’m out fishing, I’m only seeing a small part of what’s actually happening. There’s a who...

  Rethinking Hunting and Sustainability As a college student who hunts pretty regularly, I’ve always seen it as part of my lifestyle, not really something I connected to bigger ideas like sustainability. But this reading actually made me think about it in a different way. One thing that stood out is how every way we get food has some kind of impact. It’s easy for people to judge hunting, but the article points out that agriculture can damage habitats too. That hit me, because when I’m hunting, I’m way more aware of the land and the animal than I ever am buying food at a store. I also liked how it talked about conservation. A lot of people don’t realize hunters are a big part of funding wildlife protection. From my experience, most hunters actually care a lot about keeping populations healthy, it’s not just about taking. Overall, it didn’t totally change how I see hunting, but it made me realize there’s more to it than people think. It’s not just tradition or sport, it can actually ...