My global studies coursework revolved around the theme of sustainability and ecology. We are currently living in the Anthropocene, a geological age marked by humans’ influence on climate and the environment. Taking this into consideration, exploring sustainability and ecology through a global lens is of the utmost importance. Through my program of study, I have striven to establish an interdisciplinary understanding of environmental degradation as an international issue.
Alyssa Martinec
Political Science, International & Area Studies at the University of Pittsburgh
Global Studies Coursework
Coursework Descriptions
I began my global studies coursework with this introductory course, in which we covered a range of global issues, including, but not limited to, global health, politics, and climate. This course was taught by Dr. Belasco from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, and he emphasized the importance of viewing the world not as an amalgamation of autonomous cellular states, but through the lens of global processes. Since taking Intro to Global Studies, I have kept this invaluable lesson at the forefront of my studies and incorporated it into my senior thesis.
This course was integral to my understanding of sustainability. Students in this course form groups to complete projects that improve sustainability on campus and beyond. My group re-founded Pitt’s chapter of Take Back the Tap, a national campaign run by 501(c)(3) Food & Water Watch to eliminate the sale of bottled water on college campuses. Through this project, I acquired firsthand knowledge of what it means to organize around a sustainable initiative, be a leader, a team player, and overcome challenges along the way.
My time working with water issues through Take Back the Tap and Food & Water Watch really emphasized the human side of environmental work. I came into this project wanting to reduce plastic use and left with a strong conviction for human rights and economic justice. The fight for safe affordable municipal drinking water sits at the center of environmental and social justice.
I quickly learned that almost all major universities have a multi-million dollar contract with either Coke or Pepsi, which is separate from their dining contract with Sodexo, Aramark, etc.; this situation is referred to as pouring rights. Take Back the Tap is twofold in its goal to reduce plastic water bottle waste, as well as shift purchasing power away from the privatization of water. Pitt’s campaign has not succeeded in ending our contract with Pepsi, but we did accomplish some important work.
First, we successfully raised money to install a new drinking fountain in the Space Research Coordination Center, the building that houses our Department of Geology and Environmental Science. We found it ridiculous that students engaged in environmental coursework did not have an easily accessible water fountain to fill their reusable bottles. The more important work we did was with Pittsburgh’s Our Water Campaign, a coalition of local organizations fighting for safe municipal drinking water in the city. Pittsburgh has a serious lead contamination problem that came about after one of the world’s largest utility companies, Veolia, changed our anti-corrosion agent without notifying the public. This change was done to cut costs and resulted in old lead lines bleeding into the water that comes out of our taps at home. In addition to lobbying city council and the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Panel for publicly controlled municipal drinking water, we partnered with Design for America and Women for a Health Environment to provide lead testing and filters to our community.
This course explored the politics around food, land, and sustainability. We spent time combing through the nuances of the Farm Bill, the impact of global trade on domestic agriculture, the environmental implications of industrial agriculture versus family farming, and so on. This course tied together many areas with which I was already familiar and placed them in a political context. I learned how complicated legislation around these issues can become, as well as the global influence companies like Nestlé or Walmart have.
In Global Environmental Politics, we focused on environmental degradation as a collective action problem. Because the atmosphere, oceans, soil, and such get treated as public goods, their protection comes into conflict with economic incentives.
The two main projects of this course were a group project that required students to pitch a solution to an environmental problem and a final paper that outlined a global environmental problem and proposed a solution. I focused on fossil fuel divestment and deforestation in Madagascar respectively.
This course provided me with an introduction to the science underlying environmental issues. We engaged with issues including, but not limited to, ecosystems, biogeochemical cycles, evolution, invasive species, biodiversity, population growth, soil, the water cycle, atmosphere and ozone, urbanization, waste management, and climate change. Once a week, we completed Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning, which required working through problems in small groups to begin a new unit. We also kept observation journals, which required us to visit an outdoor site once a week to track any changes and apply our knowledge from class.
While studying abroad in Shanghai, I interned for a tech start-up called Energo Labs. They were working to incorporate blockchain into the energy sector to achieve a decentralized autonomous energy network. This internship challenged me to work outside of my comfort zone, not only because it was a STEM heavy field, but also because everyone in the office spoke Chinese and practiced Chinese work culture. By the end of the Summer, I overcame both of these obstacles and can confidently speak on issues I would have never considered pursuing.
This course explored environmentalism in Germany. I enrolled in this course because I considered Germany to be a global leader in environmental policy and innovation. During this course, I learned about nature motifs in romantic era poetry, the anti-nuclear movement, the fight to end deforestation resulting from lignite extraction, and more. I learned that environmental problems truly are a global phenomenon, and even a country like Germany has a ways to go in terms of environmental solutions.
This course worked to develop students’ writing skills while working under the theme of climate change. We read Naomi Klein’s book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate and Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver. Additionally, we conducted independent research to complete multiple writing assignments. I wrote about plastic vs. paper bag production and food purchasing at major universities. Through this and my internship with the Real Food Challenge, I gained a unique understanding of large catering companies like Sodexo and their role in food procurement, as well as how this intersects with issues like climate change, labor movements, and food insecurity.
Other Relevant Courses
While the credits for this course were not applied to my International & Area Studies major, the knowledge I gained was immensely helpful in completing my thesis on air pollution in China. Through this course, I gained a more nuanced understanding of the political intricacies behind authoritarian regimes. We also covered an entire unit that focused solely on environmental policy, which provided me with much of the secondary literature I ultimately ended up including in my thesis.
This is the methods course I took in preparation for my research abroad. While I ended up doing qualitative research instead of statistical analysis, I still learned many best practices in keeping research unbiased.
It would not make sense to list my global studies coursework without including my Chinese language studies. While at Pitt, I completed six Chinese language courses on campus and one in Shanghai. For more information on my language journey, please go to the Language Proficiency page listed under the main menu.