Since the release of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in the 1960’s, mankind has expanded its quest to come to grips with the competing virtues of human economic entropy and of maintaining the integrity and diversity of the natural environment. As awareness of environmental degradation has increased, so has the realization of the complexity of interconnected webs of relationships among organisms and the physical and chemical environment. With this awareness, we have also come to realize that environmental problems are not easily fixed by simply focusing on a single problem with no analysis of other issues.

This tendency to blindly solve environmental problems without understanding the full complexity of the problem was evident in the Environmental Protection Agency’ s (EPA) recent mandate that Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) be a required ingredient in gasoline formulas with the goal of increasing combustion efficiency. A fuel oxygenate, MTBE enhances the octane in gasoline and decreases carbon monoxide emission by increasing burning efficiencies. In its haste to declare MTBE as a required ingredient in gasoline, the EPA failed to consider a basic chemical property of MTBE and its long-term effects upon the environment.

Because MTBE is highly water-soluble, it dissolves in water, leading to higher concentrations of MTBE in many lakes in the California Sierra Nevada mountains and in many groundwater supplies. Hence, by addressing only one component of a system separately, the EPA failed to see the ramifications of our apparent solution. This myopic approach to environmental remediation commonly subverts our good intentions to solve environmental problems and demonstrates a lack of understanding of how inter-related systems work. It is my goal to aid in our understanding of environmental pollution on a global scale by not only researching the fate and transport of contaminants, but also by analyzing how our current philosophies and policies affect these problems. By applying an interdisciplinary approach to both the specific scientific and technical aspects of a problem and by thoroughly analyzing social and cultural factors, I believe I can more effectively in analyze the true extent of our pollution problem and help to determine an appropriate response.

In preparation for this work, my undergraduate degree in environmental studies has provided me with a solid foundation in both the sciences and state and federal environmental policy. My undergraduate emphasis in hazardous materials has given me a broad knowledge of the types of chemical releases common in both developed and undeveloped countries and their chemical and physical effects upon the environment. Through graduate and post-graduate research, I hope to further enhance this knowledge by studying the effects of chemicals commonly used in industry cycles on specific environmental compartments such as bay wetlands and partitioning to other compartments such as XXXX. In my graduate study, I would also like to expand my undergraduate study of environmental law by increasing my knowledge of the law to the area of land use and its relationship to contaminant fate and transport.

In addition to my academic background, I believe that my work experience will also play a key role in helping me find success in my graduate and post-graduate studies. For the last ten years I have held a number of management positions in business. While these positions have not specifically related to environmental work, the experience has provided me with invaluable insight into how both large and small companies operate. The perspective of business management is badly needed in the environmental field where time and again we discover that environmental compliance can best be achieved by understanding business practices and tailoring compliance measures so that companies can remain profitable and be environmentally responsible.

In addition to understanding the perspectives of business management, my work experience has provided me with other skills that will contribute to my success in the graduate program. In 1986,I founded a retail product/services company, Bay Area Audio, which specialized in commercial media center design and installation. As the company’ s president over a six-year period, I was responsible for managing all aspects of operations, including marketing and customer relations. This experience provided me with the opportunity to conduct market research to cultivate new customers, engage in media relations, grow profitability while maintaining budget accountability, and manage large groups of people. As a result of the marketing campaigns that I developed, revenues increased from $100,000 in 1986 to over $2 million in 1991. I believe the experience in market research and media relations will be particularly helpful in the environmental field since many environmental issues involve public participation.

In 1991,I sold my interest in Bay Area Audio to gain experience in the high-technology sector. Since 1991,I have held a number of management positions for computer hardware and software companies. This experience has been invaluable in providing me the opportunity to be involved in leading edge Internet software technology. As the main purpose of the Internet and internet-related software is to enhance communications, I have played a key role in developing products that provide people with one of today’ s most valuable resources - information. Working in this market has also given me the opportunity to manage large software projects involving dozens of people. Of particular relevance to my pursuit of post-graduate environmental studies, is my experience developing global scale corporate websites for companies such as Silicon Graphics, UltraTech Stepper, and Philips Semiconductors. These projects involved working closely with the particular company’ s environmental, health, and safety departments to effectively communicate health and safety information to thousands of employees. I believe that the Internet will be an invaluable tool in both the research and implementation of environmental solutions and that my experience in the computer field will prove invaluable towards this end.

In conclusion, I believe that I have much to offer San Jose State’s graduate environmental studies program. To successfully come to grips with environmental contamination, we must understand how a specific problem fits within a larger framework from both an ecological and social perspective. I believe that the combination of my educational background with my work experience will provide me with the essential tools to substantially contribute to workable and successful solutions. Given the opportunity to pursue graduate work in environmental studies, I will contribute to effectively bringing new information to light on environmental problems and their solutions, accounting for all related cultural, industrial and environmental factors. Overall, I believe that San Jose State can help me achieve my goals by providing the advanced tools and knowledge necessary to focus on environmental problems utilizing an interdisciplinary approach so as to have an overall positive net impact on protecting the environment for generations to come.

點評：

本文是一篇環(huán)境研究的PS，文章的主題明確，論證翔實，對專業(yè)的理解角度特別但很有見地。巧妙得把畢業(yè)后不連續(xù)的專業(yè)經(jīng)歷變?yōu)樽约荷暾埖膬?yōu)勢，是一篇很不錯的PS。

文章從結構上可以分為四部分：

第一部分：用該領域著作引出自己對Environmental Study（ES）的理解

第二部分：用EPA在San Jose導致的反面案例批判對ES的錯誤理解

第三部分：自己的工作經(jīng)歷在ES研究中所具有的優(yōu)勢

第四部分：自己的特點和能力將對ES帶來的貢獻

整篇文章，作者都在強調一個觀點：ES研究中最重要的東西——對環(huán)境問題的宏觀態(tài)度。一方面，這一點在ES中的確非常重要，另一方面，這個特點能夠讓他將自己畢業(yè)后從事的非ES研究的劣勢巧妙的轉化為自己最大的優(yōu)勢。讓自己近10年的工作經(jīng)歷成為自己申請中一個亮點，整個構思非常巧妙。

除此之外，作者還通過第二段的專業(yè)性敘述，展現(xiàn)出了自己出色的專業(yè)能力。說明自己除了具備管理能力、對市場的了解和媒體關系這種Social intelligence，同時還有這個領域所需要的Engineering能力。作者在整個表述中表現(xiàn)得極為自信，在最后一段很好的結合自己的能力和特點將自己能夠給ES研究帶了貢獻做出了說明。表達了進入此領域研究的信心和誠心。

本篇PS的不足之處是作者在文中使用了過多的長句，而且文章總體長度偏長（1099個單詞），導致文章結尾有些倉促，不能對申請學校提出有針對性地申請原因。

譯文：

自從Rachel Carson的作品Silent Spring（《寧靜的春天》）于上世界60年代發(fā)表以來，人們已經(jīng)將它的內(nèi)涵擴展到探索到底是要高速發(fā)展當今的經(jīng)濟，還是要保持自然環(huán)境的完整和多樣性的問題上來。隨著對日益惡化的環(huán)境的關注，人們也認識到了有機體與物化環(huán)境之間那種相互聯(lián)系又錯綜復雜的關系。有了這樣的認識之后，我們也就明白了環(huán)境問題并不是僅僅單純地靠關注某一個問題而忽視對其他方面的分析就能確定的。

這種盲目解決環(huán)境問題而不去考慮問題全局復雜性的趨勢在EPA最近下達的的指令中顯而易見——EPA命令石油中必須添加甲基叔丁酯(MtBE)用來滿足氧化劑的要求提高氧化效率。燃料氧化時，甲基叔丁酯(MtBE)提高了汽油中的辛烷值，從而通過提高燃燒效率來減少了一氧化碳的泄露。由于匆忙宣布了甲基叔丁酯(MtBE)作為汽油的必須原料，EPA并沒有考慮到甲基叔丁酯的基本化學性能和它給環(huán)境帶來的長遠影響。

由于甲基叔丁酯是水溶性的物質，因此能在水中溶解，從而導致加利福尼亞內(nèi)華達山脈的很多湖泊中含有大量的甲基叔丁酯。由此，由于分離地滿足了整個系統(tǒng)中的某一個成分，EPA并沒有看到解決方案表面效用背后的負面影響。這種眼光短淺的解決環(huán)境單個問題的方法通常讓我們好心辦壞事，也顯示出他們對相互關聯(lián)的環(huán)境系統(tǒng)如何運作的理解的匱乏。我的目標就是不僅通過研究污染物的污染結果和傳輸過程，還要通過分析人們的觀念和政策對環(huán)境問題的影響，來讓人們真正理解全球性的環(huán)境污染。通過為一個問題的明確的科技環(huán)節(jié)提供多學科角度的解決方案，通過徹底分析社會文化因素，我相信我可以越來越有效地分析環(huán)境污染問題的真實程度，并幫助制定正確的應對措施。

為了準備這份事業(yè)，我在環(huán)境研究方面的學士學位讓我無論在自然科學方面還是國家當局在環(huán)境方面的政策的學習上都打好了堅實的基礎。我的大學側重學習危險物質，這給了我關于發(fā)展中國家和發(fā)達國家排放的化學物質以及它們對環(huán)境造成的物化影響方面特別開闊的知識。在研究生以及研究生畢業(yè)之后的研究里，我希望進一步加強這方面的知識，通過研究在特定環(huán)境下如港灣濕地環(huán)境中一些工業(yè)常用化學物產(chǎn)生的影響并與其他間隔環(huán)境如xxxx相區(qū)分。在我的研究生學習中，我還想通過增加區(qū)域土地使用和污染物方面的知識來繼續(xù)拓展我環(huán)境法律的大學學業(yè)。

除了我的學業(yè)背景之外，我相信我的社會工作經(jīng)歷對我學業(yè)的成功也是舉足輕重的。在最近的十年中我曾經(jīng)在數(shù)家公司擔任職務。這些工作與我的環(huán)境專業(yè)并沒有多大聯(lián)系，但是它給了我寶貴的見識，讓我知道了大小的公司是如何經(jīng)營的。環(huán)境領域非常需要商業(yè)經(jīng)營理念，我們會一次又一次地發(fā)現(xiàn)只有懂得商業(yè)實踐和能夠衡量適應尺度才能最好地實現(xiàn)環(huán)境的適應性，并讓公司一直保持盈利并具備很好的環(huán)境適應能力。

除了懂得商業(yè)經(jīng)營理念之外，我的工作經(jīng)驗還讓我具備了其他技能，從而讓我在碩士項目中成功。1986年，我開辦了零售公司Bay Area Audio，是關于商業(yè)媒體中心設計安裝方面的。由于公司的董事長已經(jīng)過了六年期，因此由我掌控公司一切事務，包括市場和顧客關系業(yè)務。這個經(jīng)理讓我有機會研究市場拓展客戶群、融入到媒體中并在實現(xiàn)利潤增長的同時擔負維持支出的責任，并管理著一個團隊。我發(fā)展的市場運動是公司的收入從1986年的100,000美元增加到1991年的二百萬美元。由于環(huán)境關系到公眾的參與，所以我相信我在市場調研和媒體關系方面的經(jīng)驗將對我在環(huán)境領域的深造十分有益。

1991年，我賣掉了自己在Bay Area Audio的股份，只為在高科技領域進行深造。1991年以來，我在計算機硬件公司擔任管理職務。這種經(jīng)歷給我提供了寶貴的機會去投身先進的因特網(wǎng)軟件科技。因特網(wǎng)以及與之相關的軟件的主要目的就是加強交流，因此我在為人們提供當今重要的信息資源方面也起到了重要的作用。在這樣的市場中工作也讓我能夠管理到大型軟件項目的團隊。我為幾個公司如Silicon Graphics, UltraTech Stepper, 和Philips Semiconductors發(fā)展全球范圍內(nèi)的合作型網(wǎng)站。這些項目的工作需要與特別的公司的環(huán)境、健康、安全部門到與公司上千員工有效地交流健康和安全信息緊密相連。我相信無論在研究方面還是環(huán)境解決方案實施方面，因特網(wǎng)都會是一種非常重要的工具，并且我相信我在計算機領域的經(jīng)驗最終證明它的彌足珍貴。

最后，我相信我可以為San Jose State研究生環(huán)境研究項目做很多事情。為了成功地理解環(huán)境污染，我們必須明白一個特定的問題是如何與一個大框架從社會生態(tài)學和社會前景相適應的。我堅信我的學歷背景和社會經(jīng)驗將為我找出行之有效的成功解決方案提供必需的工具。如果給我這次機會，我將會全身心投入，為環(huán)境問題和項目的研究方案帶來新的信息，同時關照相關的文化、工業(yè)和環(huán)境方面的因素?？傊蚁嘈臩an Jose State能為我提供先進的工具，提供利用合理的方法解決環(huán)境問題的必要知識，幫助我實現(xiàn)自己的目標，這樣就能產(chǎn)生全面的網(wǎng)絡效應，從而為了下一代的生存保護我們的環(huán)境。