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

News

Facing floods, non-white homeowners prepare, protect property

In flood-prone New York, non-white homeowners are more likely to take active measures – like protecting a furnace or installing a sump pump – to prepare for deluge, says Cornell research.

  • Department of Global Development
  • Behavior
  • Climate Change
 Under moderate levels of artificial light, predators have more opportunity to attack caterpillars.

News

Moderate levels of artificial light at night – like the fixture illuminating your backyard – bring more caterpillar predators and reduce the chance that these lepidoptera larvae grow up to become moths.

  • Lab of Ornithology
  • Animals
  • Entomology
Students in the Climate-adaptive Design studio, a class in the Department of Landscape Architecture, take a break from their research survey last fall at Tarrytown, New York in front of the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge – which spans the Hudson River.

News

As sea levels rise over the next decades for low-lying Hudson River towns, Cornell landscape architecture students offered ideas for coping with climate change and embracing the water.

  • New York State Water Resources Institute
  • Landscape Architecture
  • Climate Change
Gurpreet Kaur

Field Note

Gurpreet Kaur discovered a passion for soil microbiology while studying at Punjab Agricultural University in India. She followed that passion to Cornell CALS’ Nutrient Management Spear Program (NMSP) where her Ph.D. focuses on the role of soil...
  • Animal Science
  • Agriculture
  • Digital Agriculture
Debbie Cherney

Spotlight

A familiar face around Frank B. Morrison Hall, students are likely to know Debbie Cherney in one of the many courses she teaches in Cornell CALS Department of Animal Science. Cherney introduced the Animal Welfare course to the department and is...
  • Animal Science
  • Animals
  • Environment