One image stands out from my visit to Brazil’s Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland: not the majesty of the floodplains or the incredible variety of aquatic plants, but walking amid the charred, leafless trunks of trees burned before the planting season. Burning pristine forests destroys natural habitats and uproots countless species that depend on them. The few bare, scarred trees that remained silently conveyed the environmental cost of recklessly pursuing our economic interests. Some forests are preserved by government edicts issued in response to international pressure. But most of this preservation occurs along highways, not to protect the ecosystem, but to insulate ranches and farms. This clash between economic and environmental concerns draws me to Top School’s Environmental Studies Program, where I would like to study the factors that influence environmental policy formation.
As an undergraduate at College, I double-majored in environmental studies and economics. Two geography courses deepened my understanding of the contentious relationship between these subjects. In the first course, “Conservation of Underdeveloped Countries,” we studied the problems of natural resource management in developing countries. All too often, countries chose economic growth at the expense of environmental preservation. For example, Brazil’s Pantanal is drained to create a highly productive agricultural system, regardless of the destruction it causes. Today, only portions of the wetland are preserved for tourism.
In a second, interdisciplinary course called “Environmental Impact Analysis,” we created matrix and flow diagrams to discuss the effects of logging and preserving old growth forests. Logging increases employment in the timber industry and subsequently in related non-timber industries; it benefits local governments. But it also causes soil erosion, watershed destruction, and a decrease in species diversity due to habitat loss. The logging industry represents the classic clash between economic and environmental interests.
Meanwhile, economics courses like “Resource Management — Theories of Growth and Development” and “Policies for Economic Development” helped me see the financial perspective. Because they were taught by a professor who is chiefly concerned with economic growth, I learned standard economic rationalizations for development unrestrained by environmental concerns.
To complement my interest in resource management policies, I developed expertise in Geographical Information System (GIS), a powerful tool for natural resource management that analyzes and displays geographic data. After several GIS classes, I interned for the National Park Service (NPS), where I assisted in constructing projects. Some of my duties included spatial and non-spatial data analysis, digitizing themes such as fire locations, vegetation, and wildlife habitats, and the tabular and graphical presentation of results. I plan to use these skills in my ongoing study of the environment.
Within the School of Environmental Studies, I want to focus on the social and economic factors that contribute to policymaking. How can we better balance the needs of local governments with larger ecological concerns? For example, people worry more about pollution than endangered species, so environmental pollution regulations are often stricter and more numerous than biodiversity laws. What must be done to raise awareness about deforestation and habitat loss?
The School’s interdisciplinary approach matches that of my undergraduate department. This holistic view appeals to me because it combines the social science necessary to understand societies and policymaking with the natural sciences required to protect and preserve the environment.
The Economics, Policy, and Management emphasis in particular fits my research interests and strengths because it analyzes how economic factors can create negative externalities like pollution and need to be regulated. This emphasis also takes into account non-economic values like aesthetic pleasure and species diversity. Furthermore, it will enable me to apply the environmental management skills I’ve learned in GIS and system analysis.
After completing my master’s program, I would like to obtain a Ph.D. in natural resource management so I can teach college students and advise businesses and governments on natural resource management issues. I look forward to learning from my students’ questions as my professors have from mine. At the same time, I want to help our societies strike a better balance between economic and environmental concerns.
My undergraduate coursework introduced me to the pressures and complexities that influence environmental policy formation. In addition, my NPS internship gave me hands-on experience using the latest techniques in natural resource management. I would like to continue exploring the clash between economic growth and conservation at the School of Environmental Studies. Ultimately, I would like to find ways to promote green development while preventing the burning of beautiful and valuable ecosystems like the Pantanal.
Vivid, attention-grabbing opening: The writer immediately grabs your attention by placing you in the midst of Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands and vividly conveying what they saw using sensory details. You can almost smell the burnt trees and see the ranches and farms thriving behind their protective forests.
A clear theme that ties the essay together: The writer clearly states an interest in the clash between economic and environmental concerns throughout the essay. The writer also provides several real-world examples of this conflict from logging and the Pantanal. Each paragraph references or ties back to this essential conflict. As a result of thoroughly explaining these concerns, it makes sense why the writer wants to study environmental policymaking: it’s the place where economic and environmental pressures collide.
Solid structure: Thanks to the well-articulated theme of the clash between economic and environmental concerns, this is a very easy essay to read. The writer discusses the relevant coursework they’ve taken and the NPS internship that gave them hands-on experience in resource management. They want to pursue a master’s and PhD in Environmental Studies so that they can better balance these concerns.
Good use of transitions: Transitions help your reader move from one topic to the next as you connect the topic in the preceding paragraph to the topic in the next. They can consist of a few words or a phrase or simply the repetition of the topic by name as opposed to using a pronoun.
The writer used the terminology connecting economics and the environment at the end of the first paragraph, and uses the same words at the beginning of the second one. But also note how the writer uses different words and phrases so that they are not constantly repeating the exact words “environment” and “economics”.
Good handholding and explanations of subject jargon: The writer also does a good job of explaining places and jargon that may not be familiar to readers outside their field. In the opening paragraph, they introduce the Pantanal in a quick summary phrase “the world’s largest tropical wetland.” They also describe GIS as “a powerful tool for natural resource management that analyzes and displays geographic data.” Furthermore, when they plan to refer to a place or tool by acronym later in the essay, they write the acronym in parentheses after the first time they mention it. For example, “Geographical Information System (GIS)” or National Park Service (NPS).
More experience outside the classroom: If possible, I’d ask this writer if they could provide any other relevant environmental experience outside the classroom.
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