Earth & Environmental Science Journalism Dual Master's

As I'm sitting here in the backyard of my mother's house and thinking, "What is the next step?" I sometimes consider going back to school to learn how to deal with all of the things I learned in Peru. Here is a program at Columbia. The Earth & Environmental Science Journalism Dual Master's Degree Program sounds like something close to what I could really use right about now. I'm overwhelmed by the task I've set myself—getting to know and then portraying people, farming techniques, and the issues facing them. I've never tried to do anything like this before, at least not on such a large scale and definitely not without some guidance (where are my teachers?).

Another program that sounds pretty awesome and on-target is the UC Berkeley Journalism school's program on Science and Environmental Reporting. I have good intentions and I really do believe that farming in the Incan way has potential to show us something about farming in the US, but what evidence do I have? I am but a humble photographer who is trying to figure out some way that photographs can do more than just observe. I need an agronomist, and an ecologist, and someone who knows about public policy.

Then again, there's the problem of how to organize what we already have into something powerful and compelling, and worth all the time and money that's been invested thus far.

What I feel right now is that I can (and have) read the studies and now I am trying to make some sort of cohesive idea about it myself, but I want someone to check it when I'm done to make sure I understood everything correctly. And that doesn't happen when you're not in school, except when the critics get ahold of you and tear you up. Eeee. That's how I feel. Squeamish.