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

2024 Interdisciplinary Studies Major Graduation

News

Celebrating the CALS class of 2025
Join us in recognizing the CALS class of 2025.
  • Landscape Architecture
  • Nutritional Sciences
  • Agriculture
Black-capped chickadee sitting on a twig

News

North American bird populations are declining most severely in areas where they should be thriving, according to new Cornell research.

  • Lab of Ornithology
  • Animals
  • Environment
A mayfly sitting on the surface of water

News

Researchers found that at low levels of mercury, selenium additions did seem to help mayfly larva from accumulating mercury. But at high mercury levels – the condition in which environmental remediation is most needed – selenium actually made...

  • Biological and Environmental Engineering
  • Water
  • Ecosystems
A wild bee drinking nectar from a flower

News

A new publicly available tool uses data from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird program to track and estimate the diversity of wild bees across the eastern and central U.S. - with implications for conservation and agriculture.

  • Cornell Atkinson
  • Lab of Ornithology
  • Entomology
American Academy of Arts and Sciences logo

News

Provost Kavita Bala and professors Anurag Agrawal and Dr. M. Virginia Pascual have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the academy announced on April 23.

  • Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
  • Biodiversity
  • Environment