Environmental Studies
Academic Department Introduction
Environmental studies examines the interdependent relationships between humans and the environment. Our department helps students cultivate the expertise, confidence, and empathy needed to tackle pressing environmental issues as scholars, scientists, activists, policy-makers, planners, artists, storytellers, and more.
Learning goals
Our goals are built upon values, skills, and experiences that recognize the complex, systemic inequities of environmental issues and actively empower people whose voices and perspectives have been marginalized. These include:
- Gaining an understanding of how racism, colonialism, and power shape environmental problems; appreciating the complexity of environmental challenges; and engaging in complicated dilemmas in a spirit of collaboration.
- Using data, argument, and case studies to understand social, physical, and biological processes.
- Participating in a transdisciplinary and collaborative learning community where fellow students, faculty, staff, alums, and the public are all valued sources of expertise.
Programs of study
Environmental studies major and minor
Students gain skills, experiences, and values necessary to tackle pressing environmental challenges.
Course highlights
Environmental Justice: A Community-Centric Approach
ES202
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International Environmental Law
ES325
For international environmental problems, widespread international cooperation is both important and quite difficult. Under what conditions have states been able to cooperate to solve international environmental problems? Most international efforts to address environmental problems involve international law-how does such law function? What types of issues can international environmental law address and what types can it not? This course addresses aspects of international environmental politics as a whole, with particular attention to the international legal structures used to deal with these environmental problems. Each student will additionally become an expert on one international environmental treaty to be researched throughout the course. (ES 325 and POL3 325 are cross-listed courses.) -
Reading & Writing Science
CPLT248
This class addresses the means of imagination and artistic expression that fiction writers use to capture scientific knowledge as well as the literary modes which some scientists employ to give expression to their findings. The “ecological turn” in the life sciences promoted new forms of conceptualizing nature and of sharing scientific insights with the public. Genres like ‘literary biology’ emerged as experimental forms of scientific discourse, borrowing from the narrative toolbox that we appreciate in fictional literature. At the same time, fiction writing has turned to ecological concerns and explores the relationship between the natural sciences and environmental destruction. Readings will include novels and various examples of literary non-fiction. (CPLT 248 and ES 248 are cross-listed courses.)
Places and spaces
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The Frost Center for the Environment, home of the Environmental Studies Department, offers access to the Science Complex, greenhouses, and laboratory equipment. Thoroughly interdisciplinary, the Frost Center supports programming and initiatives that engage the whole community, such as talks on topics ranging from eco-poetics to environmental justice.
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A stunning greenhouse that embodies architectural sustainability and interdisciplinary education, Global Flora houses the College’s preeminent collection of plants in dry and tropical biomes.
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The Environmental Science Research Laboratory is a shared space in which faculty and students engage in research in the natural sciences that informs—and is motivated by—interdisciplinary environmental questions and issues. They analyze environmental samples ranging from plant material to ocean water and use the resulting data to better understand scientific processes and feedback. Photo: Dave Burk © SOM
Research highlights
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Students working with Professor Jay Turner have tracked investments in clean energy manufacturing since the Inflation Reduction Act became law. In March 2023, they were invited to brief the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy on what they had learned.
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The MetroWest Energy Justice Collaborative, an independent study course in our department, worked with Niri Kumar, the energy advocate for Wellesley’s neighboring towns of Natick and Framingham, in fall 2023. Students studied energy justice in class and worked on these issues through community-based projects.
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How can we make global shipping greener? One place to start is the world’s ports. Students working with Professor Beth DeSombre have researched sustainability measures at the busiest ports around the world with the help of a multiyear grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
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Sometimes a plant species can dominate one landscape yet be hard to find in a similar place nearby. Students in Professor Alden Griffith’s lab research the mechanisms of plant population dynamics, with a particular focus on invasive species and the influence of local environmental conditions. This work integrates measurements from the field and laboratory, the development of quantitative models, and greenhouse experiments.
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Students working with Professor Dan Brabander explore the intersection of geosciences and public health with a focus on legacy metal (e.g. lead and arsenic) mobility in the environment. Environmental justice communities are often disproportionately affected by these toxic elements in soil and dust. Professor Brabander’s lab works with community partners to co-discover research questions that lead to sustainable and transformative interventions for impacted communities.
Opportunities
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Study abroad
Through our partner institutions, students can enroll in environmentally focused programs in Panama, Costa Rica, Kenya, New Zealand, and elsewhere.
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Study off campus
Students can cross-register for environmental studies classes at MIT, Olin College of Engineering, Babson College, and the Marine Studies Consortium.
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Student organizations
Several student-run organizations focus on climate change, food justice, sustainability, and outdoor activities.
Beyond Wellesley
Beyond Wellesley
Many of our graduates become scholars, scientists, activists, health care workers, policy-makers, and artists. They work in the nonprofit sector, conduct research, and teach. Recent employers include the National Parks Conservation Association, U.S. Department of Energy, Smithsonian, and Conservation Corps. Students have continued their studies at graduate programs including the Yale School of the Environment, the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke, the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, and Stanford Law School.
Recent Employers
106 Central Street
Wellesley, MA 02481