Environmental Studies Blog

On March 27, Latin American and Latino Studies, Environmental Studies, and Fine Arts UDRs hosted a documentary screening of Waste Land. Students came together from all disciplines to watch the film while eating South American food.

The film is about Vik Muniz, a famous Brazilian artist who currently lives in the United States. Muniz traveled to the world’s largest landfill near Rio de Janeiro to speak with catadores, or people who pick up recyclable material from the landfill for work.

Muniz took photographs of the catadores, then worked with the catadores to make artwork in the shape of the portraits with recyclable materials. After selling photographs of the artwork, all of the money went to the catadores. With the money, they bought equipment and a truck and built a learning center and a library so that people could learn about recycling.

The movie focused on the lives of the catadores and how they were moved by the experiences of creating art from recyclable materials then seeing their portraits become famous.

The screening was followed by a discussion about the lives of the catadores, recycling, and artwork. Overall, it was a meaningful film that brought students of many different disciplines together.

Accepted Students Day, the main recruitment day for the upcoming Class of 2018, was held this past Sunday, April 6th. By the time the Academic Fair opened, students flocked to the Environmental Studies booth that the UDRs, Esther Mann and Adam Krebs, stood at. There was a line of eager students and parents in front of the booth for the two hours that the fair was held. The parents’  most common question was, “Tell me about the major” while the students asked, “Can I double major?” Most people were most interested in the experiential learning opportunities, the ratio of science and social science courses, and internships, yet they also asked about faculty, research opportunities, specific focuses in the major, study abroad opportunities, clubs and ways to get evolved, and future job options. Overall, the students were all extremely excited to start learning Environmental Studies at Brandeis this upcoming fall.

Students in the Environmental Health and Justice Program, taught by Professor Laura Goldin as a part of the Justice Brandeis Semester program, went out to the field to study Volatile Organic Compound Levels (VOCs) in nail salons. They found that many out of the 15 salons they visited had higher than acceptable levels, and gave advice on measures that could be used to lower these levels. You can read more about the study here.