Environmental Studies at Dartmouth College

The field of Environmental Studies views the earth, and humanity’s place in it, as a set of complex, interacting socio-ecological systems. Gaining an understanding of this complexity involves drawing on concepts and methods from the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities as complementary lenses through which to view these systems. Environmental Studies also seeks to overcome the limitations of any one of these perspectives by applying innovative approaches that integrate traditional disciplines in new and productive ways.

The faculty and curriculum of the Department of Environmental Studies (ENVS) at Dartmouth motivate and prepare students to rise to the challenges and opportunities associated with human-environment interactions. Environmental degradation is an escalating problem from local to global scales. Training students to understand and address these environmental problems is the core mission of ENVS, and it is the basis of the belief that environmental studies is an essential component of a modern liberal arts education.