EnviroLab Asia has an experiential learning component known as the Clinic Trip. EnviroLab Asia held its first Clinic Trip in January 2016 to Singapore and Malaysian Borneo. Eight faculty members and 10 students from The Claremont Colleges joined six faculty members, eight students, and one staff member from Yale-NUS. The group embarked on a 10-day immersive learning experience seeing how development, sustainability, food systems, human rights, and sovereignty connect to environmental issues. The group visited an oil palm plantation and met with Dayak Tribes in Borneo to study the impact of dams and oil palm on their livelihood. The group also met with officials from Wilmar International — one of the largest producers of oil palm, and NGOs, such as Birdlife International and Save Rivers.

Schedule

The following is a schedule of upcoming Clinic Trips. Each of the trips and associated research will be conducted in close cooperation with partnering institution Yale-NUS, and local universities and organizations.

Year 1 (2018) Thailand

Themes: infrastructure & power, water quality, biodiversity, hydro-modification, aquaculture, agriculture, trans-boundaries & governance, agency & built environment, performance art & resilience

Watch: “In the Mangroves,” a video about EnviroLab Asia’s 2018 Thailand Clinic Trip, which utilized cross-disciplinary approaches to studying mangroves.

Year 2 (2019) Japan
Themes: intersection of nature, nuclear history and infrastructure, social movements and activism, conservation (rare seabird), artistic expression & activism

Year 3 (2020) Korea
Themes:  contested infrastructure & ecological development, human agency and social organization/transformation, specifically related to military demands (missile defense systems in Seongju, naval base in Cheju that threaten coral reef), rural and urban ecology (as related to farms near the DMZ, Nanji Park and Cheonggyecheon)

Year 4 (2021) China
Themes: agriculture, development, infrastructure, sustainability ( nature reserves), Rural/urban, Populations, Industrialized/De-industrialized