Environmental Studies & Sustainability

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Environmental Studies is an inherently multidisciplinary area of inquiry that examines the natural environment, the human or built environment, and the interactions between them.  It encompasses the basic principles of environmental science and ecology while integrating a range of other subjects necessary to understanding how humans connect to nature, how environmental issues connect to social justice, and how practical solutions to environmental problems can be devised and implemented.

The Environmental Studies & Sustainability concentration within UI&U's Bachelor of Arts degree program encourages students to include experiential learning, using the natural world and local communities as their classroom. Students focus their studies on the biological and physical sciences, gaining an understanding of:

• Natural communities and processes
• Sociology, anthropology, and psychology, to address the connections between individuals, groups, and the environment
• Political science, economics, and planning, to understand environmental policy-making and environmental justice
• Technology studies, to understand and design concrete solutions or promote green alternatives
• Literature, art, and philosophy, to articulate and communicate ideas
• Management and community development, to move action forward in the private and public sectors

Our goal is to produce graduates with the academic background, intellectual skills, and practical abilities necessary to understand complex environmental problems and envision sustainable systems and practices at multiple scales.

Teacher Licensure
Union Institute & University’s Bachelor of Arts program is approved by the Vermont Department of Education to prepare teachers for licensure in early childhood education, elementary education, secondary English, secondary social studies, and K-12 art education. Adult students who have already met their math or science major may prepare for secondary math or science licensure. Learn more about Teacher Licensure.

Example projects created by UI&U's Bachelor of Arts students:

• Ecopsychology: The Healing Connection to the Earth
• No Child Left Inside: Reuniting Nature and Childhood
• Alternative Energy Resources: An Investigation into Inexhaustible Energy Sources
• Animals in Captivity: The Evolution of Care and Behavior
• Alternatives to Urban Sprawl
• Healing Gardens, Healthy Gardener: The Relationship Between Garden and Gardener
• Green Design: Theory and Practice
• Habitat Conservation: Wildlife Habitat Remediation and Conservation
• Intentional Green Communities: Solutions toward a Health Planet and Happy Beings
• Permaculture and Sustainability
• Collective Visionary Dialogue: Creating a Sustainable Visionary Dialogue Group