Laura George presents poster at Red Butte Research Symposium

Laura George, a second-year student in the Environmental Humanities Program, presented her poster “Ecocentric Environmental Education: Using Plants to Connect & Engage Kids with Red Butte Creek” at the Red Butte Research Symposium on December 5, 2018, hosted by the Global Change and Sustainability Center.

Laura’s poster focused on using plants in environmental education curricula to connect kids to place. Her poster ties into her final M.S. Environmental Humanities Program project which refocuses traditional environmental education from an anthropocentric to an ecocentric approach, transcends STEM fields for an inclusive, interdisciplinary approach that integrates the humanities into the ecological sciences, proposes plants as an entry point that fosters empathetic attitudes toward non-animal species and encourages kids to form place attachments to landscapes.

The Research Symposium reviewed completed research regarding Red Butte Creek, addressed knowledge gaps and future opportunities for research, and asked how interdisciplinary studies could inform future research. For more information about Global Change and Sustainability Center and interdisciplinary research on campus, visit GCSC's website.