Student in yellow rain jacket walking along a shore at the Shoals Marine Laboratory.

About the Environment & Sustainability Major

Cornell’s interdisciplinary major that confronts environment and sustainability challenges

We provide opportunities for students.

Our students learn from and work with people and partners on campus and throughout the world. Together, we confront environment and sustainability challenges head-on and with confidence. We aim to be bold. We take heart in working together to sustain and restore healthy conditions that sustain people and the diverse wonders of our planet.

We span the resources of Cornell.

As a cross-college major, we are available to students in the College of Arts & Sciences and the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences. Five Cornell colleges are represented by faculty and courses associated with the major. Cornell programs and facilities throughout the U.S. and other countries further extend our reach beyond the Ithaca campus.

We work across the globe.

Our network of faculty, staff and alumni support our undergraduate students throughout their time on campus and beyond. Faculty and alumni provide connections with a broad range of local, regional, national and international off-campus organizations and institutions working together with common purpose.

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In this section

Field programs

Students can pursue field experiences outdoors and in the offices of policy-makers.

Senator Gillibrand with a group of students and faculty.
A single solar panel in the foreground and McGraw Tower in the background at dusk.
Campus partners
Three students working in a group near Beebe Lake
Learning goals

People

Making a positive impact

Student experiences, alumni pathways, news and other environment and sustainability stories.

A student reads off a poster with three other students gathered around listening.

News

CALS, Einhorn Center launch new E3 milestone celebrating student impact
More than 60 students from the Department of Global Development, the Lund Fellows Program for Regenerative Agriculture and the CALS Global Fellows Program presented on their engaged learning experiences at the second CALS Engaged and Experiential Learning Symposium.
  • CALS Global Fellows Program
  • Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management
  • Applied Economics
headshot of ashley randle

Field Note

From dairy to trailblazing career in public service: Ashley Randle ’11
This year, Ashley E. Randle ’11, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, led the effort to launch the first “Year of Youth in Agriculture” in Massachusetts, with the goal to engage youth in farming. The initiative...
  • Animal Science
  • Agriculture
  • Animals
landscape picture with a mountain and a building

News

Organization of Biological Field Stations Annual Meeting
In September, Michelle Holeck (Administrative Assistant at CBFS) had the opportunity to attend the 60th Annual Meeting of the Organization of Biological Field Stations (OBFS) in Gothic, Colorado. This gathering brought together members from...
  • Biological Field Station
  • Natural Resources and the Environment
Sabine Paz-Le Draoulec headshot

Field Note

USDA intern Sabine Paz-Le Draoulec ’26 supports tribal ag initiatives
Sabine Paz-Le Draoulec ’26, an environment and sustainability major from Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, spent her summer in Washington, D.C., with the United States Department of Agriculture through its Future Leaders in Public Service Internship...
  • Agriculture
  • Environment
ice sheets

News

To prevent rapid sea-level rise, reduce emissions now

The timing of emissions reductions, even more so than the rate of reduction, will be key to avoiding catastrophic thresholds for ice-melt and sea-level rise, according to a new Cornell study.

  • Biological and Environmental Engineering
  • Climate Change
  • Environment

Ready to take the next step?

Come and visit us in 117 Kennedy Hall. Schedule a meeting with an E&S staff member on Chatter or come to our drop-ins. Please email environment [at] cornell.edu or call 607-255-8055 if you are having difficulties scheduling a meeting.

Weekly In-Person Drop-Ins (virtual by request)

Mondays: 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm

Tuesdays: 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Wednesdays: 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Thursdays: 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Fridays: 11:00 am - 12:00 pm 

 

The E&S major can be found in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S). Prospective students may apply through either CALS or A&S admissions.