Sustainability Studies

Gabriel Arboleda, Environmental Design
Ethan D. Clotfelter, Biology and Neuroscience
Rachel A. Levin, Biology & Environmental Studies
Rick A. Lopez, History, and Latina/o Studies
Anna M. Martini, Geology
Jill S. Miller, Biology
Joseph G. Moore, Philosophy
Ashwin J. Ravikumar, Environmental Studies
Katherine Sims, Economics
Ethan J. Temeles, Biology

Dula Amarasiriwardena, Chemistry (Emeritus)
Christina Cianfrani, Hydrology
Donna Cohn, Applied Design
Omar Dahi, Economics
Susan Darlington, Anthropology and Asian Studies
Peter Kallok, Theatre Design
Karen Koehler, Architectural History
Thom Long, Architectural Studies and Design
Rayane Moreira, Organic Chemistry
Robert Rakoff, Politics and Environmental Studies (Emeritus)
Steve Roof, Earth and Environmental Science
Brian Schultz, Entomology and Ecology
Lawrence Winship, Botany (Emeritus)
Frederick H. Wirth, Physics (Emeritus)

Alexi Arango, Physics
Catherine Corson, Environmental Studies
M. Naomi Darling, Sustainable Architecture
Timothy Farnham, Environmental Studies
Martha Hoopes, Biological Sciences
Lauret Savoy, Environmental Studies

Joanne Benkley, Environmental Science and Policy Program and CEEDS
Andrew Guswa, Engineering
Amy Rhodes, Geosciences
L. David Smith, Biological Sciences and Environmental Science and Policy Program

Jack Ahern, Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning (Emeritus)
Lee Badgett, Public Policy and Administration
Sarah Berquist, Sustainable Food & Farming
John Gerber, Sustainable Food & Farming
Dan Gordon, History
David Kastor, Physics
Mark Leckie, Geosciences
Craig Nicolson, Environmental Conservation
Robert Ryan, Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning
Steve Schreiber, Architecture
Eve Vogel, Geosciences

By its very nature, food is central to society, culture, and basic survival. However, our current, predominantly industrial agricultural system takes a reductionist approach to growing food, with minimal concern for the resulting environmental, economic and societal impacts. In order to maintain our agricultural and food systems into the future, an integrated approach which takes environment, economy, and equity into account is critical. In this concentration, students will integrate the science, technology, policies, and ethics of agriculture and food systems, and will examine the relationships among agriculture, food choices, nutrition, and economic and social well-being.

More than ever before, society is coming to appreciate the complex inter-relationships between energy use, climate change, and global water availability. The production and consumption of fossil fuels is the leading source of greenhouse gases promoting climate change, which affects not only temperature but also precipitation patterns. Any effort to slow or reverse the process of global warming requires a fundamental shift to cleaner energy technology; likewise, any effort to adjust to global warming requires improved water management in order to ensure adequate water supplies. This concentration explores the changing nature of global climate and the solutions required for sustainable energy and water management in the 21st century.

Nature was once autonomous but at least for the past fifty thousand years, humans have dramatically affected nature. We cannot understand and promote sustainability without understanding the ways humans have constructed nature, both symbolically and materially. Indeed, the social construction of both nature and sustainability has given rise to conflicts over meaning and policy in the wake of growing environmental awareness and activism. This history has often been portrayed as elegy--what we have lost. But we also have to acknowledge what we have gained. This concentration invites students to explore the tension between notions of progress and loss, a tension which itself promotes the desire for sustainability. It challenges the student to consider the constitutive role of culture in defining nature and sustainability across a range of public discourses and practices.

In many parts of today's world, people and environments suffer from ecological degradation, resource scarcity, economic decline and social exploitation -- none of which promotes sustainability. Transitioning to sustainability will require societal and political action at local, regional, national, international and global levels. In some cases, new norms, laws, treaties and institutions will need to be crafted and enforced in order to improve environmental and other standards. In other cases, people whose livelihood practices sustain and depend on human and ecological communities may challenge policies and political systems that favor environmental and social exploitation. The politics of sustainability will be full of contest and conflict, but it carries the transformative potential to build a far better world. This concentration will examine the role of governments, businesses, non-governmental organizations, community groups and others in devising, supporting, fighting over, negotiating and enacting sustainable policies and practices.

For the first time in history, more than half the world’s population now lives in cities. A sustainable future for 7 billion people therefore requires sustainable urban systems, buildings and infrastructure. The aim of this concentration is to provide a broad understanding of the challenges, strategies and opportunities that face modern society as we seek to move toward more sustainable built environments. The concentration includes the study and practice of design, as well as planning policy. The course selections and project work in this concentration will examine the interrelationships between urban design and planning, ecosystem processes, green building technologies, policy-making and social equity.

Amherst College - Environmental Psychology - PHIL-225 and ENST-228
Amherst College - Unequal Footprints on the Earth: Understanding the Social Drivers of Ecological Crises and Environmental Inequality - SOCI-226
Amherst College - Ecology, Justice, and the Struggle for Socio-Ecological Change:  Environmental Movements and Ideas - SOCI-341
Amherst College - Global Environmental History of the Twentieth Century - HIST-105
Amherst College - Environmental History of Latin America - HIST-265
Hampshire College - Sustainable Living - NATSCI 01
Hampshire College - Readings in Environmental History - SOCSCI 07
Hampshire College - Environmental Social Justice - SOCSCI 28
Mount Holyoke College - Old is New Again? - ARCH 280
Mount Holyoke College - Political Ecology - ENVST 210
Mount Holyoke College - The Value of Nature - ENVST 240
Mount Holyoke College - Reading and Writing in the World - ENVST 267
Mount Holyoke College - Environmental Ethics: Nature/Culture/Values - PHIL 240
Mount Holyoke College - Nature and Gender: A Landscape of One's Own - ENGL 373
Mount Holyoke College - Landscape and Narrative - ENVST 333
Mount Holyoke College - History, Ecology, and Landscape - HIST 284
Mount Holyoke College - Interpreting Nature: Environmental - HIST 256
Smith College - Environment & Society - SOC 216
Smith College - Environmental Ethics - PHIL 238
Smith College - Colloquium in Applied Ethics: Sustainability - PHIL 304
Smith College - Art and Ecology - LDSTUD 255
UMass Amherst - Communication for Sustainable Social Change - COMM 297SS
UMass Amherst - New Media Technologies and Social Change - COMM 397M
UMass Amherst - Communication, Ecology, and Sustainability - COMM 497K

Amherst College - Energy - PHYS 109
Amherst College - Introduction to Oceanography - GEOL 105
Amherst College - Biodiversity and Ecology of Marine Environment - GEOL 107
Amherst College - Climate Change, Global Warming, and Energy Resources - GEOL 109
Amherst College - Surface Earth Dynamics - GEOL 121
Amherst College - Hydrogeology - GEOL 301
Hampshire College - Earth Resources - NS 0106
Hampshire College - Sustainable Living - NS 0107
Hampshire College - Sustainable Water Resources - NS 0157/0357
Hampshire College - Sustainable Technologies - NS 0181
Hampshire College - Pollution and Our Environment - NS 0195
Hampshire College - Elements of Sustainability - NS 0276
Mount Holyoke College - Environmental Geology - GEOLOGY 101
Smith College - Solar Energy and Sustainability - PHYSICS 100
UMass Amherst - Intro to Energy Engineering - CHMENG 290A
UMass Amherst - Climatology - GEOSCI 354
UMass Amherst - Climatic Change - GEOSCI 458

Amherst College -  Anthropology of Foods - ANTH-339
Amherst College -  Food, Fiver and Pharmaceuticals - BIOL-213
Amherst College -  The Politics of Food - ENST-160
Amherst College -  Seminar on Sustainable Agriculture and Human Population - ENST-420
Hampshire College - Agriculture, Ecology, Society - NS 0150
Hampshire College - Soil Science - NS 0256
Hampshire College - Agriculture, Food, and Health - NS 0239
Hampshire College - Food and Water - NS 0374
Hampshire College - Food/Health/Law - SS 0154
Hampshire College - Sustainable Agriculture - NS 0294
Hampshire College - Local Food Systems - SS 0336
Mount Holyoke College - Agroecosystems - ENVST 321
Mount Holyoke College - Gender, Food, Agriculture - ANTH 316
Mount Holyoke College - Food, Eating and the Sacred - REL 260
Mount Holyoke College - Political Economy of Food - ECON 207
Mount Holyoke College - Food and Famine in African History - HIS 321
Smith College - The World Food System - ECON 213
Smith College - The Anthropology of Food - ANTH 342
UMass Amherst - Soils - PLSOILIN 105
UMass Amherst - Plant, Soils, and the Environment - PLSOILIN 115
UMass Amherst - Plagues: The Ecology of Disease - PLSOILIN 140
UMass Amherst - Healthy Food: Disease, Agriculture and Ecology - PLSOILIN 197
UMass Amherst - Sustainable Agriculture - PLSOILIN 265
UMass Amherst - Pesticides, Public Policy and the Environment - PLSOILIN 342
UMass Amherst - Soil and Water Conservation - PLSOILIN 375
UMass Amherst - Community Food Systems - PLSOILIN 397C
UMass Amherst - Management and Ecology of Plant Diseases - PLSOILIN 510
UMass Amherst - Project Development in Sustainable Food and Farming - PLSOILIN 590B

Amherst College - Global Environmental History in the 20th Century -HIST-105
Amherst College - The Resilient (?) Earth: An Introduction to Environmental Studies - ENST 120
Amherst College - Unequal Footprints on the Earth: Understanding the Social Drivers of Ecological Crises and Environmental Inequality - ENST-226
Amherst College - Environmental Politics and Policies - ENST-250 
Amherst College - U. S. Environmental Policy - ENST-252
Amherst College - Global Environmental Politics - ENST-260
Amherst College - Knowledge, Politics and the Environment - ENST-320
Amherst College - Environmental Justice - ENST-330
Hampshire College - Saving the Planet - SS 0129
Hampshire College - Earth Science Frontiers - NS 0155
Hampshire College - This Land is YOur land - SS 0125
Hampshire College - Framing Climate Change - SS 0256
Hampshire College - Environment and Social Justice - SS 0285
Hampshire College - Environment and Community - SS 0314
Mount Holyoke College - Environmental Issues - ENVST 241
Mount Holyoke College - Environmental Economics - ECON 203
Mount Holyoke College - Environmental Politics - POLIT 366
Mount Holyoke College - History, Ecology, and the Landscape - HIST 284
Mount Holyoke College - Environmental Ethics: Nature/Culture/Values - PHIL 240
Mount Holyoke College - Perspectives on American Env History - ENVST 317
Mount Holyoke College - Political Economy of Intl Conservation - ENVST 340
Mount Holyoke College - Regional and Town Planning - GEOG 304
Mount Holyoke College - Seminar: Geographies and Globalization - GEOG 311
Mount Holyoke College - Seminar: Third World Development - GEOG 313
Mount Holyoke College - Memories of Overdevelopment - POLIT 345
Smith College - Colloquium: U.S. Environmental History and Policy - PP 222-01
Smith College - Environmental Politics - ECON 284
Smith College - Environmental Policy: Economic Perspectives - EVS 205
Smith College - Colloquium: Politics of the Global Environment - GOV 254
Smith College - US Environmental History and Policy - PPL 222
Smith College - Seminar in Politics and the Environment - GOV 306
UMass Amherst - Natural Resource Economics - RESECON 263
UMass Amherst - Globalization & Governance - POLISCI 252
UMass Amherst - Environmental Policy - POLISCI 382
UMass Amherst - International Environmental Politics and Policy - POLISCI 253
UMass Amherst - Political Economy of the Environment - ECON 308
UMass Amherst - Environmental Justice - LEGAL 497
UMass Amherst - US Environmental Policy - PUBADM 197B

Hampshire College - Sustainability Seminar - NS 0385
Hampshire College - Elements of Sustainability - NS 0276
Hampshire College - Sustainable Water Resources Design - NS 0157
Hampshire College - Topics in Renewable Energy - NS 0184
Hampshire College - Architecture & Design - HACU 0289
Hampshire College - Biotechnology for Beginners - NS 0143
Mount Holyoke College - Sustainable Practice - ARCH 280
Mount Holyoke College - Introduction to the Physical Environment - GEO 107
Mount Holyoke College - Mapping and Spatial Analysis - GEO 205
Mount Holyoke College - Reading and Writing in the World - ENVST 267
Smith College - Architecture and the Built Environment - ARH 150
Smith College - Introduction to Landscape Studies - LSS 105
Smith College - Studio: Landscape and Narrative - LSS 250
Smith College - Rethinking Landscape - LSS 300
UMass Amherst - Environmental Engineering Principles - CE-ENGIN 370
UMass Amherst - Practicum - ENVIRDES 398
UMass Amherst - Environmental Health Practices - PUBHLTH 565
UMass Amherst - City Planning - ENVIRDES 574
UMass Amherst - Environment & Water Resource Eng Design - CE-ENGIN 770
UMass Amherst - The Built Environment - BCT 191A
UMass Amherst - Sustainable Aspects of CE-ENG - CE-ENGIN 490
UMass Amherst - Environmental Remote Sensing - CE-ENGIN 690
UMass Amherst - Open Space and Parks Planning - LARP 397
UMass Amherst - Landscape Planning - LARP 497
UMass Amherst - Urban Design - LARP 497
UMass Amherst - Energy Efficient Housing - ENG 211
UMass Amherst - Environmental Problem Solving in the Community - ENVIRSCI 445
UMass Amherst - Applied Marketing: Green Industry - PLSCI 397M
UMass Amherst - Marketing for Sustainability - SCH-MGMT 797

SMITH COLLEGE

Environmental Integration II: Collecting and Analyzing Information – ENV 201
Environmental Integration II: Collecting and Analyzing Information Laboratory – ENV 202
Environmental Integration IV: Sustainable Solutions – ENV 312
Special Studies – ENV 400
Honors Project – ENV 430D
Introduction to Physics I – PHY 117
Introduction to Physics II – PHY 118
World Population – SOC 232
Introduction to the Study of Women and Gender – SWG 150
Introduction to Archaeology – ANT(ARC) 135
Ancient Cities and Sanctuaries – ARH 212
Anthropology of Development – ANT 241
Biodiversity, Ecology, and Conservation – BIO 154 (Discussion, Lab BIO 155)
Environmental Analytical Chem – CHM 346
Environmental Capstone: Sustainable Food – ENV 301
Environment/Sustainability: Notes from the Field – ENV 100
Environmental Integration I: Perspectives – ENV 101
Modeling Our World: Introduction to GIS – ENV(GEO) 150
Introduction to Earth Process and History – GEO 101
Natural Disasters – GEO 105
Activism by Design – LSS 220
Introduction to Architecture: Site and Space – ARS 283
Broad-Scale Design and Planning – ARS/LSS 389
Talking Trash – PRS 303
Environment and Society – SOC 233
Seminar: Social Justice, Environment and Corporation – SOC 333

MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE

Introduction to Environmental Studies – ENVST 100
Research Methods in History, Environmental Change, and Public Health – ENVST 257
Restoration Ecology – ENVST 316
Wetlands Ecology and Management – ENVST 335
Evolution – BIO 226
Topics in Invasion Ecology – BIO 321
Theory and Application of Conservation Biology – BIO 331
Political Geography – GEOG 206
The Political Economy of the Middle East and North Africa – GEOG 215       
Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology – GEO 322
Research Methods in History, Environmental Change, and Public Health – HIS 257
Renewable Energy – PHY 104
Science & Power in Environmental Governance – ENVST 341
Environmental Science – ENVST 200
Research, Ethics and Policy in Environmental Studies – ENVST 315
Senior Seminar/Environmental Studies – ENVST 390
Ecology – BIOL 223
Environmental Economics Seminar – ECON 349
Intro to the Physical Environment w/o lab – GEOG 108
Planning and the Environment – GEOG 304
Getting Ahead in Geology/Geography – GEOG 399
Rocks and Minerals – GEO 201
Surface Processes – GEO 203
Getting Ahead in Geology/Geography – GEO 399
The Columbian Exchange: Global Perspectives on History, Culture, and Nature – HIS 256
History of Energy – HIS 301(ENVST 310)
Anthropology and Human Rights – ANTHR 216
Building the Modern Environment: Architecture 1890-1990 – ARTH 243
Genetics and Molecular Biology – BIOL 210
Plant Diversity and Evolution – BIOL 325
General Chemistry II – CHEM 201
Organic Chemistry I – CHEM 202
Introduction to Econometrics – ECON 220
Introduction to Journalism – ENGL 202
Qualitative Research Methods in Environment and Society – ENVST 315World Regional Geography – GEOG 105
Urban and Regional Planning – GEOG 304
History of Life – GEOL 102
Oceanography – GEOL 103
African Cities: Dreams and Nightmares in the 20^th Century – HIST 206
History of Global Inequality – HIST 214
Calculus II – MATH 202
Calculus III – MATH 203
Linear Algebra – MATH 211
Introduction to the Ideas and Applications of Statistics – STAT 140
Elementary Data Analysis and Experimental Design – STAT 240
Applied Regression Methods – STAT 340
Intro to Environmental Studies – ENVST 100

HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE

Innovations for Change: Problem Solving for the Future – NS/CS/IA 0142
The Political Economy of Food – CSI 0122
Introduction to Buddhism and Society in Asia – CSI 0143
Hot War: The Impact of Climate Change on International Peace & Security – CSI 0149
Introduction to Economics – CSI 0210
Competing Urban Visions: Reflections on the Shaping of City Life and City Space – CSI 0241
Media Studies / Environment – CSI 0244
The Contested American Countryside – CSI 0271
The Business of Change: Social Action Through Entrepreneur – IA 0181
Appropriate Technology in the World – IA 0237
Creative Reuse: Tinkering Meets Repurposing – IA 0262
Agriculture, Food and Health – NS 0109
Sustainable Landscaping Practicum – NS 0122/0322
Ecology of New England Old Growth Forests – NS 0125
Water in a Changing Climate – NS 0126/0326
Chemistry I – NS 0202
Physics I – NS 0204
Ecology – NS 0207
Field Naturalist – NS 0223
Watershed Hydrology – NS 0255
Natural Products of Farm and Forest – NS 0115
Stream Ecology – NS 0292
Sustainable Hampshire – NS 0188/0318
Terrestrial Ecology – NS 0318
Econ for People/Planet/Future – CSI 0146
Panacea or Pipe-Dream: Microfinance in International Development – CSI 0160
China Rising – CSI 0187
Law and Society – CSI 0192
Economics and the Environment – CSI 0267
Economic Development – CSI 0216/0241
Rivers of Life & Death – CSI 0232
Geographies of Exclusion – CSI 0256
Women’s Design and Fabrication – IA 0148
Design Fundamentals – IA 0180
Think Globally, Design Locally – IA 0220
Design Investigations – HACU 0105
Utopia – HACU 0218
Culturally Appropriate Design – HACU 0259
Earth and Life through Time – NS 0145
Tree Rings and Climate Change – NS 0151/0351
Vernal Pools: Ecology, Evolution and Conservation – NS 0222
Sustainability in Practice – NS 0226
Life and Water in the American Southwest – NS 0232
Applied Statistical Methods and Climate Change – NS 0279/0379
Green Chemistry and Catalysis – NS 0291
Political Culture – CS 0221
Rethinking the Population Problem – CSI 0222
Controversies in US Economic and Social History – CSI/HACU 0230
State and Citizen: The Politics of Social Welfare Policy – CSI 0244
War, Resources, and Sustainability – CSI 0254
US Foreign Policy, Human Rights and Democracy – CSI 0280
Advanced Architectural Design Studio: Narrative and Journey, in Designed Space – HACU 0261
Reinventing the Toilet – HACU 0267
Advanced Design + Media Lab: Art, Architecture and Environment – HACU 0309
Design and Entrepreneurship for Social Impact – IA 0256
Writing the Urban Experience – CSI 0139
Gender in the Changing Global Economy – CSI 0142
Artivism – CSI 0240
Buddhist Economics – CSI 0242
Critical Ethnography: Following the Food – CSI 0249
From Farm to Fork – NS 0210
Sustainable Agriculture and Organic Farming – NS 0294
Politics of Popular Culture – HACU 0154
The Culture of Capitalism – HACU 0234
Climate Change – NS 0211
Agroecology – NS 0230
Theater & Performance of Social Change – IA 0169
Arts, Social Justice & Social Change – IA 0350
Gender, Economic Development – CSI 0165
Anthropology of Food and Nutrition – NS 0233

AMHERST COLLEGE

Intro to Environmental Studies – ENST 120
Introduction to Statistics – ENST 240
Conservation Social Science – ENST 310
The Social Construction of Wildlife – ENST 440
Anthropology of Natural Wealth – ANTH 251
Food, Fiber, and Pharmaceuticals – BIOL 104
Environmental and Natural Resources Economics – ECON 210
Environmental Risks/Environmental Choices – ENST 432
Climate Change, Global Warming & Energy Resources – GEOL 109
Commodities, Nature, and Humans – HIST 411
Law & Nature: Humans, the Environment and the Law – LJST 235
Energy – PHYS 109
Footprints on the Earth – SOCI 266
Making Peace with the Planet – SOCI 341
Environmental Movements – SOCI 341

No. At this time, the certificate is available only to Amherst College, Hampshire College and Mount Holyoke College students.

Yes. Elective concentration areas are:

1. Agriculture and Food Systems
2. Energy, Climate and Water
3. Culture, History and Representation
4. Politics and Policy
5. Green Infrastructure, Design and Technology.

No. Students must also complete an internship or independent research project that addresses a real world problem related to sustainability.

Yes. Students will give their campus program advisor a Declaration of Intent, outlining a potential course of study, by the second semester of their sophomore year. The actual application for the certificate will be submitted later; students should work with their campus advisors to decide when that would be.

Possibly. Students must work with their campus advisors on this. It will be important to explain how each individual unlisted course meets the requirement.

As with many of the other Five College certificates, a committee composed of Five College faculty makes this decision.

Having the certificate may well help you obtain a job or internship after you graduate. In addition, the certificate is designed to guide students who are trying to develop a course of studies in sustainability.