• Environmental Studies (BA)

    Environmental Studies Hero

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  • Admission Events

    Explore upcoming webinars and other events for prospective students.
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  • Contact Us

    Admission Contact
    Office of Undergraduate Admission
    72 Fifth Avenue, 1st floor
    New York, NY 10011
    [email protected]
    212.229.5150 or 800.292.3040

    Program Contact
    Christina McElderry
    64 West 11th St., Room 120
    New York, NY 10011
    [email protected]
    646.909.2260

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  • Earn a bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies in a program open to transfer students, adults, and other nontraditional undergraduates. This program takes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the defining ecological issues of our time and creating opportunities to tackle them in practical, direct ways. Students go beyond natural ecology and resource conservation to focus on urban ecosystems, sustainable design, and public policy issues like global warming.

    • Degree Bachelor of Arts
    • Credits 120 (up to 84 transfer credits)
    • Format Full-time or part-time, on campus or online
    • Start Term Fall or Spring

    Innovative Curriculum

    The Environmental Studies major is rooted in the understanding that complex environmental problems cannot be grasped through a single discipline. As a student in the program, you investigate the relationship between humans and their environment through social, ecological, and political dimensions. We emphasize three main areas:

    • A firm grounding in the natural sciences, particularly urban ecology and resilience
    • A sustained engagement with environmental policy and politics, particularly around aspects of inequality, race, and justice
    • Studio-based work on design and sustainability

    Our students are innovators and creative problem solvers passionate about facing the environmental challenges of this century, curious about the interaction between humans and their environments, and inspired to bring about social and ecological justice.

    Learn more about the curriculum

    Interdisciplinary Excellence

    The New School offers the BA in Environmental Studies as part of the university's suite of cross-college, interdisciplinary undergraduate programs, which includes Global Studies, Environmental Studies, and Urban Studies. These interdisciplinary programs are designed to prepare students for the new careers of the 21st century.   

    Career Paths

    Environmental Studies graduates pursue their passions in many areas such as sustainability consulting, public policy, urban design, urban planning, or continued graduate study, including in The New School's MS in Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management program.

  • Learn from and work with faculty mentors who are academic scholars and professional leaders in environmental and sustainability fields.

  • Featured Courses

    • UENV 2000

      Environment and Society

      This course is a broad, critical and introductory exploration of both the roots of the modern environmental crisis, and the environmental studies major at The New School. It is rooted in critical and intersectional approaches to environmental studies, with attention to histories of race, colonizati...

      More information
    • UENV 3750

      Green Roof Ecology

      This course links urban ecology and urban design through a civic engagement project with partners building, designing, and managing green roofs in NYC. Green roofs are examples of green infrastructure, often seen by policy makers and community members as a way to increase biodiversity in cities, mit...

      More information
    • UENV 4013

      Renewable Energy Systems

      This course will examine how renewable energy sources of all kinds, including increasing energy efficiency, will contribute to the transition to a sustainable economy. Social, political and technical issues will be considered. This course is restricted to Juniors and Seniors.

      More information

  • Environmental Studies students are tackling some of the most pressing challenges of our time, from urban sustainability and climate resilience to equity and justice.

    Timon McPhearson, Associate Professor of Urban Ecology

  • Take The Next Step

Submit your application

Undergraduates

To apply to any of our undergraduate programs (except the Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs) complete and submit the Common App online.

Undergraduate Adult Learners

To apply to any of our Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

Graduates

To apply to any of our Master's, Doctoral, Professional Studies Diploma, and Graduate Certificate programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.