Conclusions

Updates 11/24/2025

Where it started…

Book Learnins’

Think: different approaches to environment & sustainability (first half of RHM text):

  • concepts that focus and organize and enable action
    • Population & Scarcity
    • Markets & Commodities
    • Institutions & the Commons
    • Environmental Ethics
    • Risks & Hazards
    • Political Economy
    • Social Construction of Nature
    • Feminism & the Environment
    • Racialized Environments

Then apply those concepts to understanding stuff in the environment (second half of RHM text)

    • Carbon Dioxide
    • Trees
    • Wolves
    • Uranium
    • Tuna
    • Lawns
    • Bottled Water
    • French Fries
    • E-Waste

 

Then the research process…

Phase 1: Foundation & Ideas

  • Personal chapter review of environmental topic + values + topic ideas
  • Group presentation of chapter 
  • AI Support: Topic development and refinement

Phase 2: Research & Sources

  • Select your best topic idea
  • Learn library research skills with science librarian Holly Birk
  • Find and evaluate 6 scholarly sources in an annotated bibliography 
  • AI Support: Research strategy and source evaluation 

Phase 3: Proposal & Presentation

  • Write 3-page TPG proposal with budget based on annotated bibliography
  • Develop 12-minute presentation
  • AI Support: Proposal development and refinement 

Phase 4: Integration & Reflection

  • Combine and review all project components into Project Synthesis
  • Reflect on learning process and impact of AI and self-assess your work 

How to do something: Propose a fundable project developed as a research project

Statements for your Resume (upon completion of course)

Grant Proposal Development: Project development, scholarly research and development of an undergraduate research grant proposal (in ENVS 110: Introduction to Environment & Sustainability)

AI Literacy: Critical and ethical use of AI in an undergraduate research grant proposal, including topic development and refinement, research strategy, and assessment of personal draft of grant proposal. (in ENVS 110: Introduction to Environment & Sustainability)

Some pearls of wisdom:

Understand what theory-into-practice and the OWU Connection are about: the focus of the course is how to make this all work for you (whether you do it sooner or later).

    • undergrads at other colleges don’t have access to these kinds of opportunities.

Keep trying to understand your personal values (environmental and otherwise) and how they apply to all of this.

    • Use it to shape what you do – now and in the future.

Work to find something you are interested in and excited to do.

    • pay attention to brain wiggles
    • if you are not finding inspiration, look elsewhere

Read and learn and talk about concepts and ideas – like those we explored in the first part of the class text.

    • These are the big ideas that shape how you think about what you are doing.

Learning vs. creating knowledge: Many courses focus on learning what is already known; in this class, we also look at the steps towards creating your own knowledge or a real-world application (or at least proposing to do so).

Learn the process and the important aspects of each step, from idea generation to a draft TPG and presentation.

Agency and Engagement: It’s relatively easy to be passive in your education. TPG and the OWU Connection, and the process from this class give you agency to actively shape your education and future.

Don’t get bogged down: Do something: it need not be perfect; everything you ever dreamed of, your ultimate life’s goals.

    • Just do something. Then do something more.

Snag Opportunities: even if a project or collaborator, or internship may not be ideal or perfect (whatever that means) take advantage of the opportunity.

Collaboration: find and use the right collaborators: faculty, librarians, writing center, OWU Career Connection, experts elsewhere (places you want an internship), other students, etc.

Figure out what you need to know to do what you want: courses, but sometimes what you need to know is not in a course.

    • Alternatives: directed readings and independent studies, online courses and learning (use OWU Connection funds if there is a cost), read books, talk to people.
    • But also: find collaborators that fill in your gaps in knowledge and know-how.

It’s Going to take Time: a couple of semesters, years…

Make Time for this work

    • It is at least as important as taking classes
    • You will have a tough time making a TPG work if you don’t work it into your schedule
      • For credit work (all majors have these options)
        • ENVS 490: Independent Study
        • ENVS 491: Directed Readings
        • ENVS 495: Internship
    • If possible, work parts of your efforts into projects in other courses

AI Literacy is Vital

  • It’s not going away for 90% of professionals
    • it has a nasty impact on the environment (energy use)
    • it is wiping out swaths of jobs
    • it is generating a tsunami of slop

AI + Your Environmental Career: Key Strategies

1. Transform Ideas into Actionable Projects (extending Phase 1)

  • Use AI for brainstorming and project refinement, as you did with Worksheet 1
  • Combine AI-generated possibilities that take into account values and community needs
  • Position yourself as someone who can move from AI-assisted ideation to real-world implementation

2. Develop “Boots-on-the-Ground” Expertise

  • Prioritize field experience, local ecosystem knowledge, and hands-on sampling skills
  • These create irreplaceable value that AI cannot replicate remotely
  • Document and interpret site-specific conditions that require human judgment

3. Build Human-Centered & Community Interface Skills

  • Excel at stakeholder engagement, public presentations, and translating technical data
  • These skills become MORE valuable as AI handles routine analysis
  • Your 12-minute presentation practice prepares you for the human side of environmental work

4. Master AI-Enhanced Research (like you did in Phase 2)

  • Use AI for research strategy development and source evaluation—but verify everything
  • Let AI accelerate literature reviews while you focus on synthesizing findings for local contexts
  • Apply the critical evaluation skills from your annotated bibliography work to assess AI-generated environmental data

5. Excel at Proposal Writing with AI Support (building on Phase 3)

  • Use AI to draft grant proposals, reports, and impact assessments—then add your field expertise
  • Remember: funders want to see YOUR understanding of local conditions, not generic AI text
  • Leverage AI for budget calculations and formatting while you focus on compelling narratives

6. Document Your Integrated Thinking (like Phase 4)

  • Create portfolios showing how you use AI as a tool while maintaining critical thinking
  • Demonstrate judgment in when to use AI vs. when human insight is essential
  • Show reflection and synthesis skills—abilities that distinguish you from pure AI outputs

 

 

Take the Followup AI Survey

I’ll email it to you. Complete it before you depart.

Have a great Thursday!

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