Environmental and Sustainability Studies

Environmental and Sustainability Studies is a broad introduction to the complex challenges of sustainability as well as the tools needed to address problems that transcend social or environmental domains. This major offers the opportunity to develop skills in communication and creative expression, data collection and analysis, environmental science, and economics. Students may be interested in careers in areas such as environmental planning and coordination, environmental education and communications, sustainability coordination or consulting in the private or public sector, green design, environmental law or public affairs, or graduate study.

Students majoring in Environmental and Sustainability Studies choose one of the following concentration areas:

Biodiversity and Conservation integrates humanities, arts, and sciences to explore the role of biodiversity in sustaining symbiosis between humans and the environment.

Climate Change and Natural Resource Management builds an understanding of global and regional climate and environmental systems and the challenges associated with development and exploitation of energy and natural resources.

Enterprise, Governance, and Sustainability focuses on the overlap of business, government, and sustainability, including government regulations, consumer-driven programs, and corporate social responsibility.

Envrionmental Ethics and Humanities focuses on ethical arguments governing human interaction with the nonhuman environment and the moral status of nonhuman entities such as animals, plants, species, and ecosystems.

Food Systems and Sustainability examines the social dynamics of sustainable food systems both domestically and globally.

This degree is jointly awarded by the College of Arts and Sciences and the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs.