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Katie DuBoff Casandra Antzoulatos ’22 says she has always been a curious person. So, when she saw the listing for a new course this past fall, Healing Earth, her inquisitiveness got the best of her, and she registered. “I really enjoy learning,” said Antzoulatos, a sociology major and aspiring anthropologist. “I have always been an academic person and let curiosity lead me everywhere. My interests in learning about different cultures and worldviews prompted me to explore the Healing Earth course. I have never taken a truer and more honest course. We spoke openly, every class, about the hard truth that is the state of our world and the direction it is going.” The course is team taught across three disciplines by professors Joanne Campbell, Assistant Professor and Discipline Coordinator of the Sociology Department; Jeanette Dumas, Associate Professor of Biology and Coordinator of Environmental Science & Studies; and Christine Hagedorn, Assistant Professor and Discipline Coordinator of the Business Department. “This course is truly something special and it is mission critical,” said Hagedorn. “If we want to live in a sustainable society, we must train our future leaders to think as integral ecologists in all their decisions.
17 | ROS EM O N T C O L L EGE
So, when we say mission critical, that applies not only to course content that directly aligns with our College mission but also for the survival of our planet. Care for the Earth is a part of our College’s mission. To live that truth, we engage students across disciplines to practice working together as a coalition to identify and solve our social and environmental problems that degrade our planet and society. We view each kind of problem through several disciplinary lenses.” “I chose to take this course because I have never taken an environmental course before, and I wanted to see what it was going to be about,” said Phylicia Branch ‘22, who is also studying sociology. “My favorite part of the course was working with my classmates to find solutions to combat climate change and how we can personally learn not to be wasteful with our natural resources.” Every two weeks the students discussed one issue and examined it through five different lenses: Science, Ethics, Economics, Action, and Spiritual Practice (SEEAS) to get varied perspectives. The students explored the problems facing biodiversity declining, natural resources extraction, industrial agriculture, food scarcity, water pollution, global climate change, and transition to renewable energy sources.
“From the very first class, Healing Earth showed us that, as humans, we are all the same in one particular way — we call the Earth our home and it’s dying,” said Antzoulatos. “Most people know about this topic, but they do not realize the severity and the specifics of the problem. We analyzed this every week, and as a response, we worked to fix it. We pondered solutions. I felt like I made a difference every time I stepped into that classroom, and this wouldn’t be possible without the professors.” In addition to overarching themes, the students also examined current events. “The students explored the role of indigenous people in preserving biodiversity and studied land acknowledgments,” said Campbell. “Last fall, the city of Philadelphia marked its official observance of Indigenous People’s Day. We discussed the land acknowledgment of the city of Philadelphia and continued to discuss projects that include indigenous voices such as the Lenapehoking Watershed Project.”
From Club to Course
Rosegrow, the student environmental action team, was founded in 2016 by Joseph Wilson, an environmental studies major. “Rosegrow is not just for science students,” said Dumas, the original faculty mentor for the team. “Saying ‘yes’ to mentoring the club when Joseph asked me is one of the best decisions I
