About

Environmental Studies is an interdisciplinary inquiry into the relationship between humans and the environment. Both a major and a minor are available to students with an interest in the rigorous study of these issues. The major requires students to develop a specific environmental focus as a concentration in addition to the environmental core and distribution courses. The minor in ENVS allows students to integrate an environmental perspective with their major field of study.

As a holistic interdisciplinary area, Environmental Studies draws on work in the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, and the arts. It endeavors to bridge these many intellectual approaches and perspectives in the hope that students will gain a deeper understanding both of the environmental concerns facing the world and of proactive opportunities for change. Among issues of concern and investigation are resource utilization, the impact of technology on ecosystems, relationships between the environment and sociocultural systems, ecosystem management, geographic analysis, sustainable design, environmental economics and policy, conservation of biological diversity, nature writing, alternative dispute resolution, political ecology, environmental photography, sustainable agriculture and environmental ethics, among many others.