BA in Environmental and Sustainability Studies (CHSS)

This degree provides students with theoretical and practical knowledge of three aspects of environmental and sustainability studies: people, prosperity, and planet.

Zoe Vozick, 2024

Zoe Vozick

Zoe is from Basalt, Colorado and is majoring in Environmental and Sustainability Studies with a concentration in Equity and Environmental Justice, with a minor in Spanish.  
 
What has been your favorite BIS or INTS course, and why?

My favorite course that I have taken at Mason was Honors 360 - Grand Challenges. This course, taught by President Washington, Honors College Dean Zofia Burr, and Assistant Dean Anthony Hoefer, connected us students with faculty experts from across the university to consider specific grand challenges that the world face. I enjoyed this course because I was able to broaden my understanding of pressing issues, while creating worthwhile connections with different students and professors. My favorite environmental related course was EVPP 480 - Sustainability in Action. As the Environmental and Sustainability Studies major capstone, this course allows students to take their knowledge from previous courses and turn it into practical solutions for the university and Northern Virginia community. I thoroughly enjoyed this project because it provided the resources necessary for me to tackle an interest area of mine, food insecurity and food waste on the Mason campus. My favorite course labeled INTS is INTS 304: Social Movements and Community Activism. I thoroughly enjoyed this course because it incorporated experiential learning as a team, and I was able to create my own social movement based on a social injustice we were passionate about. My social movement was called REFOCUS—the Ecowar, which stands for the Revolution of Fashion and Consumerism Until Slowed. We aimed to address the fast fashion industry to better protect the environment by hosting a protest rave and picketing events outside of the EPA. Additionally, we aimed to produce a randomized Likert scale survey to present to legislatures such as Michael Regan, Richard Neal, Kevin Brady, and others in the Environmental Investigation Agency and US Customs and Border Control.