Interdisciplinary approaches are needed to sustainably resolve environmental problems. Our visionary faculty and passionate students make this possible at Cornell.

We explore the past, consider the present and plan the future.

We contrast modern and ancient cities, as in this distant view of St. Louis from Monks Mound, central structure of the largest city of the Mississippian culture that prevailed across the eastern U.S. for centuries, prior to European colonization.

We span boundaries between humans and sensitive environments.

We work to understand the capacity for humans to share the earth with the vast diversity of all living things. This sign at the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Complex in coastal California alerts beachgoers to nesting California least terns and Western snowy plovers.

We get our feet wet.

We aim to experience all kinds of environments in all kinds of weather. We are ready to look at what thrives, whether the weather is hot, cold, wet or dry.

We go where decisions are made.

Each year our students meet and work with decision-makers in New York City, Washington D.C., Bonn and throughout the world. Here we meet with Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley.

We explore food security across the globe. 

Food sold in this Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia outdoor market reflects the multiple contrasts of food availability throughout the world.

We examine how cultural practices develop.

This advertisement in Beijing, China was part of a campaign to stop the illegal trade of ivory.

We evaluate restored habitats. 

We examine altered biophysical processes in disturbed landscapes, such as this clear-cut forest in coastal Oregon, along with the economic impact of boom-and-bust natural resource extraction on nearby communities.

We compare inequities associated with environmental degradation.

This sewer outfall in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol highlights the issue of environmental justice and communities that disproportionately experience environmental degradation.

We engage the arts to understand people and their environments.

We use literature, art, music and forms of human expression that impact knowledge and action to reflect upon divergent visions grounded in human imagination, narration, reflection, and persuasion. “Water Dreaming at Kalipinypa” (copyright The Estate of Johnny Warangkula, courtesy of The Aboriginal Artist's Agency) was created by Australian aboriginal artist Johnny Warangkula. This and many other works by Warangkula focused on Kalipinypa, a location where water – a scarce resource in the central Australian desert – gathers after infrequent storms.

Distant view of St. Louis from Monks Mound
Warning sign on beach dune that reads "Do Not Enter"
Students seining river
A group of students in a conference room with Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley.
A woman stands in front of a container of fish at a Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia outdoor market.
Man crosses his arms in an "X" pattern in an advertisement in Beijing against the illegal trade of ivory.
A small hillside covered in harvested timber and protected tree plantings
Warning sign near sewer overflow area in Washington DC
Art by Johnny Warangkula

Environment & Sustainability news

Steven Mana'oakamai Johnson wearing a yellow and white shirt standing with arms folded.

Spotlight

Meet our faculty: Steven Mana'oakamai Johnson
Academic focus: Ocean conservation and social-ecological systems. Research summary: I study the relationship between people and the ocean, ranging from Indigenous Pacific Islander communities traditionally managing coral reefs to geopolitical...
  • American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program
  • Natural Resources and the Environment
  • Development Sociology
Dan Katz stands in front of a background of green trees.

Spotlight

Academic focus: Plant ecology and environmental health. Research summary: My goal is to generate the ecological knowledge necessary to address plant-related public health problems. Much of my research centers on allergenic pollen, from creating...
  • Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
  • Natural Resources and the Environment
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
Sea turle swims in the ocean.

News

A new study led by Colleen Miller, Ph.D. ’23, suggests light pollution’s effects on coastal marine ecosystems are negatively impacting everything from whales and fish to coral and plankton.

  • Lab of Ornithology
  • Ecosystems
Historical marker for the Carriage House at the Michigan State University W.K. Kellogg Biological Station.

News

Lars Rudstam and Taylor Brown recently participated in the 2023 Great Lakes Cisco and Lake Whitefish Early Life History Workshop, jointly organized by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission . The workshop was held from...
  • Biological Field Station
  • Natural Resources
  • Fish
young woman sits on bench

Field Note

Meet Taryn Chung '26 , a New York City native, immersing herself in the realm of food systems research with Cornell's Food Systems & Global Change research group within the Department of Global Development. Taryn is a Laidlaw Scholar majoring in...
  • Department of Global Development
  • Agriculture
  • Climate Change