About the Program

Environmental Studies is an interdisciplinary concentration that examines the interdependence of human societies and the physical environment, including both natural systems and the built environment. Environmental Studies must be combined with a disciplinary program, usually in the social or biological sciences.

Historians consider the Hudson Valley to be the cradle of the modern environmental movement. The Hudson River, its estuaries and wetlands, the Catskill Mountains, the valley communities, and other historical and natural resources provide a laboratory for empirical research in environmental studies. Bard is home to Hudsonia and the Bard College Field Station. The Environmental Studies program has links to the Bard Globalization and International Affairs Program in New York and to a rich variety of internship and junior-year abroad programs. Students can also draw on the resources of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, Cary Arboretum, the Institute for Ecosystem Studies, and the laboratories of The Rockefeller University.

Senior Projects have addressed questions pertaining to a wide variety of topics, including: Environment and population growth; sustainable development; international efforts to protect the environment; environmental racism; alternative energy; land-use planning; watershed protection; agricultural subsidies; ecotourism; and environmental politics, art, and education.

Environmental Studies students with a strong foundation in science and/or economics may apply to the 3-2 program with the Bard Center for Environmental Policy, earning both the BA and the Masters of Environmental Policy degree in five years.