So what am I doing in Zurich?
Not literally building brains, but getting the muscle working on a Master’s degree in Environmental Science and specifically in the field of Human-Environment Systems (HES), at the Federal Technical School in Zurich (ETH Zurich).
At first, I could barely explain what HES meant, but a nice way to sum it up is as follows: If you are in another environmental science program studying tress, I am doing the same things, but just studying humans. Make sense? 
Well a couple more clues: we study human behaviour with respect to the environment. This focuses on what it takes to make effective environmental policy, how people respond to environmental problems and what drives people to address problems and what it means to create a human-made solution for the complementary environmental system.
Translation: why we, crazy humans, like the Prius, bottled water, organic food, panda bears and holidays in Bali.
So far I’ve taken more classes then I can count on all my fingers and toes (almost!) but the biggest and most important is the case study which my department runs each year. From Feb- June we are dropped directly into a real world problem- meaning no text book answers, no articles to read for background information, no perfect solution- just the people living in the context to give us the information we need to develop future- looking strategies. Scary.
In 2010, the focus was on a Canton in Eastern Switzerland (the red one in the map below) and what their future energy system may look like.
The canton has a small population and highly dispersed residents- mostly in communities of around 3000 people, each with their own energy supplier.
We had the opportunity to interview along the whole line of energy use from the head of the Energy Department in the Canton, to the CEOs of the major electricity producers and suppliers, down to the local consumers in the communities. The complexity arises in how each community manages electricty ownership, whether they are working towards higher levels of efficiency or renewable energy production, and what changes may occur under new government regulation and the electricity market liberalization.
Plenty of contradictory statements, conservative and innovative ideas, and many many possible solutions.
We developed potential outlooks for the local energy suppliers through an extensive survey and some specific case study methods which resulted in 2 future scenarios where either the small guys go green, or the big guys expand. Both realistic and plausible, the stakeholders took it all into consideration as the Swiss electricity market is liberalized in the coming years.
Small communities sprinkled throughout the countryside
My group at location
Some very important (back of) heads at a midway check-in presentation
Next up is the Master’s thesis. Ideally on my fave topic- water. Details still to be determined. Wish me luck!
