Frankly, my affections for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) have been lacking until recently. In school I was challenged by STEM subjects and opted to focus my efforts on the social sciences, arts, and languages classes that aligned with my interests. I got by in STEM classes but never engaged more than I had to. When I got to university, whether consciously or not, I expected to follow this same pattern. However, my degree in Development Studies and South Asian Studies at SOAS spurred an unexpected interest in science and math.
My development economics module demanded mathematical thinking that I was not used to. Studying, analyzing, and critiquing models of growth challenged me in a way that I loved. As university progressed, I increasingly valued the intersections within humanities, social sciences, and STEM and how they lent me a holistic understanding of the modules I studied. It became apparent that if I wanted to have a positive impact on the direction of international development in my career, I would have to engage with STEM more than I had ever before.
I oriented the remainder of my social sciences degree towards studying the intersections between science and development. Exploring subjects like political ecology and climate science that lay at the crossroads of STEM and social sciences became a passion project as much as it was a requisite for my degree. Keeping the importance of interdisciplinary approaches in mind, I applied to be an AIF Banyan Impact Fellow. I knew the fellowship would be a fantastic opportunity to work with a host organization that would value my social sciences and humanities background while fostering my interests environmental science, engineering climate resilient interventions, and the complexities of ecological economics.
As an AIF Banyan Impact Fellow placed with the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), my work embraces interdisciplinary approaches to climate change solutions via education and climate resilient interventions. Developing my own and others’ knowledge of climate change and environmental science as well as their socio-economic impacts is essential to producing quality deliverables during my time as an AIF Banyan Impact Fellow. For example, the project I am working on at the moment requires me to understand the ecological impacts of horticultural cropping patterns, farming practices, and the engineering behind desalination and water conservation.
In the short time that I have been a Fellow at CEE, I have been researching and using my new knowledge of STEM based topics like watershed management, earth systems such as hydrology, and agriscience. Without this scientific knowledge base I would be missing half of the story as to why climate change challenges actually occur. Learning about climate science helps me to grasp the possible ecological outcomes of climate change and the engineering needed to adapt to, mitigate, or change those outcomes as imagined by CEE and other stakeholders.
My understanding is that STEM approaches are useful in measuring and mitigating environmental change and should be informed by social sciences and humanities approaches that can account for and address human needs while translating vital traditional and indigenous land stewardship techniques. As climate emergency escalates globally, it is important that synergy is created between these approaches. To scale-up this idea, more people who are comfortable in the social sciences or humanities bubbles need to learn about the STEM approaches to mitigating climate change so that they can apply their expertise more appropriately to designing and implementing climate resilient interventions. STEM professionals and students must duly familiarize themselves with the social sector so that they can interpret and address the positive and negative impacts that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics have and could have on communities worldwide.
Ashok Sapara, the engineer at the CEE Jasdan field office is doing just this. Ashok ‘Bhai’ works intimately with community stakeholders to engineer the right watershed interventions in many villages in the Jasdan Taluka of Gujarat, India. His work requires technical engineering skills along with a great deal of sensitivity to and knowledge of the livelihoods, cultures, and socio-economic needs of the communities in which CEE works. It was inspiring to visit Jasdan during a field visit and learn all about how Ashok Bhai incorporates STEM and the social sector to solve climate-based issues.
I still am surprising myself by enthusiastically studying ‘hydraulic conductivity’ or the many ways to encourage percolation based on the climate and topography of a given watershed. I am far from being able to call myself a scientist, but I am excited to see how developing an understanding of climate science might support my aspirations to improve livelihoods affected by climate change and mitigate the impact of climate change on vulnerable communities.
