43 courses with the subject ENVS, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
ENVS 1101Understanding Environment and Sustainability3
This course examines two fundamental questions about biological, chemical and physical processes that influence the biosphere. First, how do humans obtain knowledge about these environmental processes? Second, how can we assess human influences upon these environmental processes? A key conceptual framework for the course is that environmental science provides tools for predicting future states of the earth's environment. Case studies, readings, discussions, writing assignments, and group exercises provide a foundation for understanding predictions about how the biosphere is influenced by human activities.
ENVS 1111Roadmap to Success in Environment and Sustainability1
This course is for first-year students entering or intending to enter the Environment & Sustainability (E&S) major. The multidisciplinarity of this major may make it seem complex. The purpose of this class is to position you for success with your goals in the major, at Cornell and beyond. Course content will facilitate your course planning, choice of concentration, and help you map out the resources and opportunities Cornell offers. Course activities will help you explore your personal identity and get to know your E&S student cohort.
This course will cultivate an interdisciplinary, solution-oriented perspective on water resource challenges from local to global scales. Water is central to all of life, yet its management represents a wicked challenge in sustainability science because tradeoffs and feedbacks among multiple objectives are commonplace. Readings and parallel mini-lectures from natural and social science instructors will embrace the diversity of perspectives involved in managing water resources, and students will engage in collaborative problem-solving during class to deepen their understanding of each weekly theme. Meetings with case study experts from around the world will ground this dialog in reality, and all students will participate in debate-style examination of major controversies in water sustainability. Reflective writing assignments will encourage students to assess their own role in achieving water sustainability.
This course introduces the fundamentals of data relevant in environment and sustainability, including natural sciences and social sciences. Students will gain skills to visualize, quantitatively interpret, communicate, and manage relevant data. The course begins with the basic question “what are data?” and culminates in a final team project developed around student interests to answer urgent questions in environmental science today. Projects may focus on threats to biodiversity, impacts of changes in soil moisture, public attitudes about data centers, etc. Students will present their projects at the end of the semester, using skills learned in the course for data analysis, visualization, and communication. This course is designed to be complementary to a lower-level statistics course, and to prepare students for upper-level classes in environmental science disciplines.
ENVS 1500An Introduction to the Economics of Environmental and Natural Resources3
This course provides an introduction to the economic foundations for public decision-making regarding environmental quality and natural resources. Emphasis is placed on how basic tools of economic analysis can be used to identify sources of environmental problems and solutions to these problems. Topics to be covered include individual hand concepts underlying market success, market failure with particular focus on public goods and externalities, benefit-cost analysis and non-market valuation, incentive-based policies for controlling pollution, and economic aspects of renewable and non-renewable resources.
ENVS 2000Environment and Sustainability Colloquium1
This colloquium presents students with diverse approaches at the art-science interface used to interest, educate and motivate people to consider, address and solve environmental and sustainability challenges. It consists of a series of lectures given by experts, people with different expertise and perspectives who are addressing a variety of environmental and sustainability problems with regard to humanistic concern.
ENVS 2001Perspectives on the Climate Change Challenge1.5-3
This university-wide seminar series provides critically important perspectives on the grand challenge of climate change. Speakers from Cornell University and other institutions and will cover a range of topics including the science of climate change, implications for ecosystems, oceans, forests, agriculture and communities, the important ethical, philosophical and legal insights on the issue, and provide thoughts on societal responses through international mechanisms, economic drivers and communication tools. This seminar series counts towards the requirements of the climate change minor and the ESS minor and major. The three credit version of this course provides an opportunity to explore the material introduced by the various speakers in depth through discussion and reading.
As our world faces growing environmental issues such as climate change, air pollution, and ecosystem degradation, society must diligently prioritize sustainable practices in all aspects of life. Athletes and sporting organizations are uniquely positioned to create a meaningful impact in working towards a more sustainable world. Engaging in weekly discussions with key guest speakers, this course will examine the causes and consequences of environmental issues at all levels of athletics, explore sustainability initiatives, and encourage students to critically consider their own advocacy strategies. “Sustainability in Athletics” welcomes all athletes, sports fans, and environmental activists seeking an academic dialogue that fosters a positive drive for a more sustainable future.
ENVS 2010Discussions of Environment and Sustainability3
This colloquium presents students with diverse approaches at the art-science interface used to interest, educate and motivate people to consider, address and solve environmental and sustainability challenges. It consists of a series of lectures by experts with different perspectives addressing a variety of environmental and sustainability problems with regard to humanistic concern. The small group discussion session allows in-depth engagement with the art-science interface. Building on the possibilities shared by our expert visitors, students in the discussion section will develop their own approach to addressing environmental issues. We will analyze how the ways in which information is shared is as significant as the information itself, and consider artistic and scientific perspectives as mutually beneficial tools for exploring and communicating our relationship to the environment.
In this course, students are introduced to field identification, natural history, and study of plants, animals, and natural systems. This course emphasizes hands-on interaction with nature, recording of ecological phenomena, and awareness and understanding of the natural environment, including ecological concepts (e.g., ecosystem, community, habitat, and niches). Students will 1) work cooperatively in hands-on field lab exercises to build skills in the identification and classification of native biota and their natural history 2) conduct a field research project in which they formulate research questions from field observations, develop a research design, collect field data, and interpret those data for a research report and presentation, and 3) maintain a detailed field journal of natural history observations from field labs and independent observations
The course introduces students to the practice of natural history through readings, discussion, and field excursions in local winter landscapes. Drawing inspiration from classic naturalist writings, students will learn to observe, record, and interpret ecological communities with attention to detail and context. Weekly discussions explore topics such as wilderness preparation, historical landscapes, wildlife and plant identification, and seasonal ecological events. Field labs emphasize practical skills, including outdoor safety, tracking wildlife, and identifying plants in dormancy, as well as documenting environmental change through written and illustrated observations. Two weekend field trips provides an immersive opportunity to explore Cornell’s Arnot Forest and the Biological Field Station at Oneida Lake during the winter season. The course concludes with reflective evaluation, encouraging students to revisit their early observations.
Flip a rock over on the shores of Beebe Lake in fall, and you will uncover a hidden ecosystem. How would you describe what you observe? Would it be limited to the scale of a snail, or zoomed out to encompass the wider system of the lake, its history, and role in campus life? This field course will focus on observing and writing about the environment at multiple spatial and temporal scales, with the campus natural areas as the primary field site. Students will read natural history texts, such as Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac, and practice the art and science of phenology in areas such as the Cornell Botanic Gardens. Weekend trips to Cornell Biological Field Station on Oneida Lake and Sapsucker Woods.
The actions of people are crucial to environmental well-being. This course addresses the interrelationships between social phenomena and the natural (i.e., biophysical) environment. It is intended to (1) increase student awareness of these interconnections in their everyday lives; (2) introduce students to a variety of social science perspectives, including sociology, economics, psychology, and political science, that help us make sense of these connections; (3) identify the contributions of each of these perspectives to our understanding of environmental problems; and (4) discuss how natural resource management and environmental policy reflect these perspectives.
This course offers an introduction to global environmental justice as a field of scholarship, a social movement, and a set of demands for transformative change. Beginning with the origins of the US environmental justice movement, we rapidly expand our frame to examine how environmental injustices unfold across scales and continents — from the toxic burden carried by specific communities to global commodity chains, international governance frameworks, and planetary-scale crises. Students will develop a shared conceptual toolkit based on theories of justice and use it to analyze case studies drawn from around the world. We examine struggles over land sovereignty and Indigenous rights, the justice dimensions of climate transitions and conservation, the emergence of the rights of nature, and competing visions of just transformative change.
Students will learn and practice a variety of methodologies used for studying wild birds including banding, census methods (point counts, transects, spot mapping), and behavioral observations. In a 50-minute classroom session each week, students will discuss relevant scientific literature and prepare for the lab session. The weekly field session will be held at various locations and students should be prepared to handle variable weather conditions. Students seeking to conduct independent research in avian ecology are encouraged to enroll. Note that one weekend field trip is required.
This course uses microeconomics to understand the causes and how to devise solutions to environmental and natural resource problems. Subjects include valuation, benefit-cost analysis, policy design and property rights. The course relies on these concepts to explore major current policy issues such as economic incentives in environmental policy, air and water pollution, depletion of renewable and nonrenewable resources, and global warming. Students are evaluated based on problems sets, short essays, 3 quizzes and 3 prelims.
Taught by an artist and scientist, this experiential, project-oriented field course emphasizes methodologies used by ecological artists and scientists who conduct expeditionary and place-based field work. The beginning of the class presents a conceptual and historical foundation in the ecological arts through lectures, readings, and artist talks. Techniques in the sciences as well as conventional and unconventional methodologies in the arts and humanities will be employed to research sites to collect, analyze, and interpret data, objects, natural phenomena, and sensorial experiences in the field through five projects: a site-specific research presentation, bioacoustics, video, sculpture and the final. Work is submitted and graded through a student-built website resulting in a solid portfolio.
Covers molecular, Mendelian and population genetic principles as they relate to population biology and biodiversity. A laboratory section is devoted to problem solving, computer exercises and discussions. We will focus on mechanisms generating and shaping genetic variation within and among populations, examine the relation of gene expression, and consider conservation relevance of variation at multiple levels. Recommended as a preliminary to upper-level ecology, evolution, and natural resources management courses.
Taught by an artist and scientist, in this experiential, place-based field course, students will engage in a range of interdisciplinary practices to understand and interpret ecological systems and land use issues using artistic and scientific approaches. The core of this course will be based on weekend field trips to diverse sites in the Finger Lakes Region of New York with varied cultural and ecological significance. Sites include Cornell's Biological field station at Shackelton Point on Oneida Lake, Arnot Forest, and several art museums. Immersive stays will allow students to gain a deep understanding of place along with uninterrupted time to work on creative projects independently, in groups, and as a class. Students will gain an understanding of the history of creative interventions and performance in the landscape, as well as scientific approaches to engage with and conceptualize Earth's topography and natural phenomena. Students will have the opportunity to interact with various visiting scientists and artists who are leaders in their fields. Lectures, readings, fireside chats, critique, and interdisciplinary experiences will contribute to students' development. The final product of this class will be an art exhibition at the Soil Factory, an interdisciplinary art space in downtown Ithaca.
How might understandings of "the environment" change depending on who is included or excluded from projects to define, identify, and study the environment, biodiversity, ecological systems, natural resources, or more-than-human life? This course is an introduction to the critical concept of “intersectionality” and an exploration of its potential to transform understandings of “the environment”. In this course, students are exposed to the concept as an intervention in the foundational assumptions of mainstream environmental studies and science. Through engagement with a wide variety of scholarship, students will explore how an Intersectional Ecologies approach can help scholars and practitioners across the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences ethically account for a plurality of environments within shifting planetary arrangements of bodies, beings, places, processes, practices, and technologies.
A surprisingly diverse, beautiful, and intriguing set of species live in our backyard. This class will meet outdoors for 4 hours per week, rain or shine, with extensive walking in natural areas (forests, fields, streams, agricultural lands). Field lectures will be on the specific plants and animals we encounter, discussing their ecology and exploring the evolutionary relationships between species. The class is hands-on, students can expect to get dirty and must be comfortable in the field. Connections will be drawn between theory learned in the classroom and real world biology and biodiversity out of doors. We will experience habitats and species, take notes, and write about biodiversity. Discussions and assignments will support oral and written communication about how to study biodiversity.
An interactive-field and lab course designed to provide direct experience with some of the most important field methods and analytical techniques used to examine species, ecosystem and community-level function, structure, and value, especially within the context of contemporary conservation ecology and evolutionary theory. Tools include field sampling techniques, resource and conservation mapping, spatial referencing, GIS, measures of biodiversity, and manual and automated techniques for studying soil, stream, forest, terrestrial, and marine biota and related physical factors. The class is designed to provide a strong background in field research methods and theory related to ecological conservation.
Vladimir Nabokov's legacy at Cornell is not limited to the world-famous literary works he produced here. The university's natural and built environments also provided powerful material for his lifelong pursuit of butterflies within their geo- and biodiverse ecosystems. In this project-oriented course on the writer-lepidopterist, we will read his words, look at his drawings, study his collections of insects and plants, and develop our own modes of engaging with place and planet through a lively science-art practice.
Ecosystem restoration has been identified by the United Nations as a critically needed focus for the coming decades. This course introduces the basic steps and processes of ecosystem restoration, using guidelines and resources developed by the Society of Ecosystem Restoration. Case studies demonstrate application across different ecosystem types and geographic regions. Particular attention is given to agricultural grassland restoration, as agricultural lands cover about 40% of the Earth’s land surface and have been largely degraded, affecting food and water security, biodiversity, and carbon sequestration. Students engage with projects, data sets, and stakeholder networks connected to the Professor’s research and outreach program. Each student develops a small project that includes writing a research proposal and delivering a final presentation.
Environmental Justice is a relatively recent term, coined in the United States in the 1980s. It usually refers to a social movement fighting against the unfair concentration of toxic sites within impoverished communities of color. As a broader set of ideas, though, environmental justice has a much longer history, going back at least to the 17th century in England, when poor farmers banded together to prevent common land from being enclosed for the exclusive use of the aristocracy. This course explores that deep history, examining various overlaps between environmental thought and theories of social justice over the past 400 years in the western world. It concludes with an examination of the current climate justice movement and a consideration of how environmental justice concerns are being played out in recent works of speculative fiction. What do we owe to the climate refugees of our present day? What do we owe to future generations? (HIST-HNA)
Environmental law deals with some of today's most pressing challenges. In the fifty years since 1972, when the first World Conference on the Environment was held in Stockholm, and the US Clean Water Act was amended, the field of environmental law and policy has become increasingly sophisticated and complex. Regulation of environmental harms has long been a focus of governmental effort. Over the past half century, however, societies have come to recognize that they must adopt controls on pollution to protect the air, ground, water, atmosphere, and the natural world. Environmental law also increasingly touches on energy, agriculture, and land use law, and has expanded to include a focus on corporate law, international trade, environmental governance, environmental justice, sustainable growth and development, and climate change. In this course, we will look at the major statutes and policies used, at both the federal and state levels, to protect humans and the environment against exposure to harmful substances, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, CERLCA (Superfund), Resource Conservation & Recovery Act, Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), and approaches to protecting endangered species and ecosystems. We will also examine the challenges of global atmospheric pollution, including ozone depletion and climate change. The class will look not only at the substance of these laws and policies, but also review common-law litigation, enforcement challenges, and the role of market mechanisms in addressing environmental issues. Students will become familiar with the history of environmental law and will analyze important landmark cases, as well as the hierarchy of laws, and jurisdictions that shape environmental law and policy. Students will apply their knowledge to real examples, with the goal of developing innovative legal solutions for the critical environmental challenges facing our world today.
The risks and costs associated with climate change, and the uneven distribution of the risks and costs, produce hot politics. In the past 20 years, ‘Natural Climate Solutions’ (NCS) has emerged as an important environmental policy and management response. NCS encompasses a range of strategies focused on managing agriculture, forests, grasslands, and aquatic environments to store carbon in order to meet GHG reduction goals. Planning, implementation, finance, governance and assessment raise multiple questions, and NCS represents a research and policy frontier for scientists, policy makers, practitioners, and activists. Through interdisciplinary active learning strategies, students in the course will engage critical questions as part of an effort to assess and to develop NCS.
Interested in working toward solutions to the climate crisis? In this course, you will choose and implement a climate action from Project Drawdown's (www.drawdown.org) list of 82 climate solutions. You will also apply social sciences research to influence your friends or family to implement your climate action alongside you. For the capstone team project, you will work with other students and a community partner (Cornell Cooperative Extension or Climate Action Now) to support education related to plant-rich diet, low-emissions agriculture, forest regeneration, or other climate solutions. Interested students should have a general understanding of climate change science.
ENVS 4600Planning for Environmental Conservation and Sustainability3
An interactive course designed to provide students with experience applying some of the most important techniques that are used to develop plans to protect and sustain valuable environmental resources, such as species, ecosystems, land, and water. The class focuses on highly charged controversies over conservation, and students learn how planning can help them to identify and address the full range of ecological and social factors that lead to conservation success in these contexts. Students adopt the roles of stakeholders and work on intensive case studies of conservation issues, learning how ecological and social insight are integrated for effective conservation planning. Topics covered in the course include: rational planning, adaptive management, stakeholder engagement, and conflict resolution.
ENVS 4700Art and Science of the Mohawk River Watershed3
This experiential, community-engaged interdisciplinary course will introduce students to a range of artistic and ecological practices to understand, interpret, and communicate past and present environmental issues of the Mohawk River Basin. We will dive deep into current topics related to the river basin using the New York Water Resource Institute's Action Agenda items including A) Understanding inequitable distribution of flood, drought, and water scarcity vulnerability in New York State. B) Exploring traditional ecological knowledge and people's history of the river to help to communicate those knowledge systems. C) Learn about water quality, restoration, and riparian systems.
Students will build on coursework in Communicating Climate Change to design, create and launch climate communications projects focused on reducing Cornell's emissions. This will involve research into Cornell's operations, creativity in developing effective communications, a focus on climate justice, and engagement with Cornell students, faculty, and staff. Projects may include reducing air travel, fume hood energy waste, and meat consumption, and addressing misconceptions about tap water, lighting, and food waste. (ENGL-PST)
Ecological connectivity conservation focuses on protecting wildlife corridors that link protected areas and other biodiverse regions. These corridors counter habitat fragmentation and form “ecological networks,” which strengthen conservation efforts and improve resilience to climate change. A major driver of fragmentation is linear infrastructure such as roads, railways, pipelines, canals, and transmission lines. Over the next 25 years, global road and rail networks are expected to double, often expanding into remote, biodiverse areas. The ecological impacts of this development remain poorly understood but contribute significantly to biodiversity loss. This course explores Wildlife Corridor and Road Ecology, including landscape architecture, wildlife movement, socio-ecological connectivity, transportation design, economics, environmental policy, Indigenous engagement, and the implementation of mitigation strategies.
This course is a project-based course, meaning you will work in teams with a community or campus partner on a sustainability project with multiple outcomes or goals. A project will be outlined with an assigned community partner working towards sustainability and you will work to produce deliverables that meets the needs of the partner. The project will require you and your peers to utilize the skills you have learned during your time at Cornell. During this process you will learn about sustainability in action, project planning and management, and practicing the ‘soft skills’ that will help you navigate life after graduation. Most importantly you will gain experience working in teams to deliver real-world project results to partners– this can be research, practice, or a combination.
ENVS 4940Capstone Special Topics Course in Environment and Sustainability1-4
E&S faculty will offer trial capstone courses under this number. Offerings vary by semester and are advertised to the major before the beginning of the semester.
ENVS 4941Special Topics in Environment & Sustainability1.5
E&S faculty will offer "trial" courses under this number. Offerings vary by semester and are advertised to the major before the beginning of the semester.
This course engages students in real-world, community-based sustainability projects through Cornell GreenClub. Structured as a student-led, engaged-learning experience, students work in interdisciplinary teams to design and implement stakeholder-focused projects that address community needs. Teams collaborate with campus or community partners to define goals, analyze constraints, gather and interpret data, and develop actionable recommendations. Class sessions function as collaborative workshops where students share progress, troubleshoot challenges, and receive feedback from peers and the instructor. The course emphasizes project management, stakeholder engagement, communication strategies, and translating research into practical solutions.
ENVS 4960Internship in Environment and Sustainability1-3
In this course, students participate in an experiential learning opportunity relevant to the student's focus of study or career goals in environment and sustainability. An E&S faculty member must serve as supervisor and complete the term grade report. Specific learning goals for the experience are arranged by the student with their internship faculty supervisor and the internship host prior to the start of the internship. All 4960 internship courses must adhere to the CALS Internship Guidelines. Students from any major or college may enroll in ENVS 4960 using the CALS Internship form.
ENVS 4970Individual Study in Environment and Sustainability1-6
Individual studies are arranged under the supervision of one or several E&S faculty members. They provide opportunity to design a course that fills the need of an individual student and addresses pertinent issues in the environmental sciences. Students from any major or college may enroll in ENVS 4970 using the CALS Special Studies form.
ENVS 4980Teaching Experience in Environment and Sustainability1-4
Designed to give qualified undergraduate students teaching experience through actual involvement in planning and assisting in courses in the Environment & Sustainability curriculum. This experience may include facilitating discussion groups and assisting in field or laboratory classes. Undergraduate teaching assistants will regularly discuss course objectives and teaching techniques with the faculty member in charge of the course.
This independent study course offers international students in the Environment & Sustainability major an opportunity to reflect on professional and personal growth, challenges, and opportunities resulting from a recent internship or training experience (Curricular Practical Training, CPT). Typically, these internships/experiences take place in the summer and students, in the semester they return to campus, write a paper describing their work experience and how it connects to their personal educational and career goals as well as the learning objectives of the Environment & Sustainability major. The value of the course is in the deep reflection on expectations, successes, challenges and skills and knowledge gained during the internship.
Ecological connectivity conservation focuses on protecting wildlife corridors that link protected areas and other biodiverse regions. These corridors counter habitat fragmentation and form “ecological networks,” which strengthen conservation efforts and improve resilience to climate change. A major driver of fragmentation is linear infrastructure such as roads, railways, pipelines, canals, and transmission lines. Over the next 25 years, global road and rail networks are expected to double, often expanding into remote, biodiverse areas. The ecological impacts of this development remain poorly understood but contribute significantly to biodiversity loss. This course explores Wildlife Corridor and Road Ecology, including landscape architecture, wildlife movement, socio-ecological connectivity, transportation design, economics, environmental policy, Indigenous engagement, and the implementation of mitigation strategies.
How might understandings of "the environment" change depending on who is included or excluded from projects to define, identify, and study the environment, biodiversity, ecological systems, natural resources, or more-than-human life? This course is an introduction to the critical concept of “intersectionality” and an exploration of its potential to transform understandings of “the environment”. In this course, students are exposed to the concept as an intervention in the foundational assumptions of mainstream environmental studies and science. Through engagement with a wide variety of scholarship, students will explore how an Intersectional Ecologies approach can help scholars and practitioners across the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences ethically account for a plurality of environments within shifting planetary arrangements of bodies, beings, places, processes, practices, and technologies.
