Shai Mohammed: Why are you studying environmental science?
Andy Morris: Well, I feel like I’m interested in it. I’m more interested in the outdoors. I’ve always liked the outdoors. I guess environmental science is more geology and the atmosphere – it’s more broad.
Mohammed: What aspect of it are you interested in?
Morris: Well, I guess just the way things work out in nature.
Mohammed: Do you hike or do nature trails?
Morris: Yeah, I do.
Mohammed: Cool. A friend of mine does long, like several-week long hikes. So do you do any of that activity around Houston, or where do you go for hiking?
Morris: Usually West Texas. And other activities, I like to hunt and fish, so we usually go to the Gulf of Mexico to do that. Salt water fishing in the bays, or sometimes in the surf – not recently.
Mohammed: I heard that there’s a big dead zone down there, but that hurricanes sometimes help turn those up and revive them. Is that accurate?
Morris: I believe the dead zones are caused by oxygen depleted water… I really don’t know that much about how the hurricane would affect it. I think the hurricane would stir up a lot. When a hurricane hits or a large storm hits a lot of the salt water will disturb the fish, there’s a lot of freshwater runoff… and a lot of pollution.
Mohammed: When did you start getting into this?
Morris: Well, I started off in mechanical engineering and at the time I was running track and it was a lot of stuff to do. I had to reevaluate my plan and so I stopped running track and changed my major to environmental science. It’s a relatively small major. You get to know people a lot better, and you get to know your professors. We had a class last year with three people in it.
Mohammed: What do you do when you’re not here?
Morris: It’s hard to think of a time when I’m not here. I work for an engineering company and I do a little bit of landscaping on the side… like flower beds and things like that, tree trimming.
Mohammed: You must have been busy lately.
Morris: Well, immediately after the hurricane just around my house we cut trees for five days, three of us.
Mohammed: Which (presidential) candidate do you think would have more respect for your field in the future?
Morris: There is one issue that is more important to me than any other issue, and that is the issue of abortion. I am always going to lean toward pro-life. And in who I’m going to vote for, that’s going to play a big role. That has the most weight.
