F(earth)er Magazine: An Interdisciplinary Approach Towards Environmental Education.

Throughout my childhood, climate change was the issue that stood out the most to me. Constantly, I felt so worried about what was happening to the planet, and that it seemed like there was nothing I could do about it. 

However, as time went on, my immense focus on the environment in a way died down, not because I stopped caring, but because I did not know what my role in such a crisis would be. I thought that climate change was only correlated with science, and since science was not my specialty, I honestly had no idea how I could contribute. This all changed when I read The Uninhabitable Earth, a phenomenal book that incorporates the social science aspects of climate change’s effects. While I read this, not only did I become more aware of how bad climate change actually is, but I actually felt motivated instead of stressed, and I wanted to take action immediately. 

The education system as a whole is unfortunately not providing the next generations with the adequate environmental knowledge they need to tackle climate change. As a result, many students are not able to discover their role within the climate crisis, because many people like my former self believe that only science endeavors can help the environment. While science definitely plays a significant role, it is important to note that there are several other academic subjects that connect to the environment, and are essential for climate action. 

And so, I decided to create a magazine called F(earth)er. By putting an eco spin on the word further, my magazine strives to empower individuals in discovering that becoming a climate advocate is not a one size fits all approach, it is about identifying one's unique abilities and discovering how they can contribute to the greater cause of combating climate change by highlighting their personal strengths. Not everyone's favorite subject is science, but they can still utilize their academic interests in psychology, ethnic studies, economics, and more, in order to create meaningful change!

As the editor-in-chief, I have recruited 20 students ranging from freshman year of high school to sophomore year of college. Each month, I work one-on-one with each contributing writer in crafting a magazine article that allows them to f(earth)er learn about the various implications within environmentalism. Working with diversified students passionate about various topics, F(earth)er strives to connect students’ multiple interests to environmental applications.

In less than 3 months since our first issue launched, the magazine has over 5000 website views in over 20 countries! I am so glad that not only my team can provide such insightful articles to the world, but that I can also help my writers learn more about how their personal interests can easily have environmental applications. And on top of that, I was able to build a strong virtual community that allows me to keep in touch with many of my friends during the pandemic while also creating meaningful work! 

Visit our website here.