Minor in Environment and Sustainability
Open to all MIT undergraduates in any major, the Environment and Sustainability Minor (E&S Minor) offers students the opportunity to apply their STEM and major-course knowledge to some of the most critical and challenging problems facing humanity. The minor equips students with interdisciplinary knowledge and real-world experience needed to understand, diagnose, and develop solutions to complex problems faced by society as it strives for social and environmental sustainability. Students tailor their MIT education to their professional goals, preparing to apply the principles of sustainability in diverse workplace contexts, including business/industry, government, civil society, and academia.
The E&S Minor combines a wide range of fields of inquiry to directly engage environmental and climate challenges facing ecosystems and populations around the globe. Fundamentally, these challenges affect both human systems and the earth systems on which we depend. Planetary challenges include climate change, risks to oceans and forests, degradation to both biodiversity and material resources, and fundamental transformations of biogeochemical cycles. Challenges facing society include widespread and intransigent environmental injustice, expanding urban and agricultural pollution, technological and economic lock-in of infrastructure and all manner of production and consumption systems, and a global dependence on carbon intensive energy.
The minor prioritizes integrative, interdisciplinary learning that is critical for effectively understanding and addressing the complexities of environmental issues today and in the future, and is structured on four pillars: Earth Systems and Climate Science, Environmental Governance, Environmental Histories and Cultures, and Engineering for Sustainability. Upon completion of the minor, students will have achieved learning outcomes in seven categories: Systems Thinking; Sustainable Design Skills; Applied Sustainable Solutions; Know Your Planet; Social Context; Ethical Decision-making; and Impactful Communication.
The E&S Minor is comprised of five to six subjects, for a minimum of 57 units:
- One foundational subject (12.387[J] People and the Planet: Environmental Governance and Science)
- Subjects in two core required areas of study: 1) Context and Perspective and 2) Sustainable Solutions
- 24 units of elective subjects, reflecting the student's particular interests.
| Environment and Sustainability Foundation | ||
| 12.387[J] | People and the Planet: Environmental Governance and Science | 9 |
| Context and Perspective | ||
| Select one of the following: 1,2,3 | 12 | |
| Global Climate Policy and Sustainability | ||
| Planetary Change and Human Health | ||
| Environmental Struggles | ||
| Environment and History | ||
| Nature and Environment in China | ||
| US Environmental Governance: from National Parks to the Green New Deal | ||
| Sustainable Solutions | ||
| Select one of the following: 1,2,3 | 12 | |
| Tools for Sustainable Design | ||
| D-Lab: Design | ||
| D-Lab: Development | ||
| D-Lab: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene | ||
| D-Lab: Climate Change and Planetary Health | ||
| Electives | ||
| Select a minimum of 24 units from the categories below: 1,2,3 | 24 | |
Discovery | ||
| Engineering for a Sustainable World | ||
| Climate Change | ||
| Traveling Research Environmental eXperience (TREX): Fieldwork | ||
| Design for Complex Environmental Issues 4 | ||
| New England Coastal Ecology | ||
| Materials for Energy and Sustainability | ||
| Solving Complex Problems 4 | ||
| Nature's Sandbox: The History of Ancient Environments, Climate, and Life | ||
| Engagement and Discovery Through the Terrascope Field Experience 4 | ||
| Terrascope Radio 4 | ||
| Majors and Careers Through a Terrascope Lens 4 | ||
Applied Problem Solving | ||
| Startup Sustainable Tech | ||
| Senior Civil and Environmental Engineering Design | ||
| Modeling and Decision-Making for Sustainability | ||
| Introduction to Civil and Environmental Engineering Design II | ||
| Environmental Chemistry Laboratory | ||
| Designing for the Future: Earth, Sea, and Space | ||
| Introduction to Energy in Global Development | ||
| Disaster Resilient Design | ||
| D-Lab Schools: Building Technology Laboratory | ||
| Design of Sustainable Polymer Systems | ||
| Urban and Environmental Technology Implementation Lab | ||
| Infrastructure Design for Climate Change | ||
| Weather and Climate Laboratory | ||
| Experimental Atmospheric Chemistry | ||
| D-Lab: Supply Chains | ||
| Nuclear Systems Design Project | ||
Economic and Global Systems | ||
| Environmental Policy and Economics | ||
| Economics of Energy, Innovation, and Sustainability | ||
| Energy Economics and Policy | ||
| System Dynamics: Tools for Solving Complex Problems | ||
| Technology and the Global Economy, 1000-2000 | ||
| Technology, Globalization, and Sustainable Development | ||
Energy x Sustainability | ||
| Materials Science and Engineering of Clean Energy | ||
| Continuous Flow Chemistry: Sustainable Conversion of Reclaimed Vegetable Oil into Biodiesel | ||
| Physics of Energy | ||
| A Philosophical History of Energy | ||
| Foundational Analyses of Problems in Energy and the Environment | ||
| Fundamentals of Advanced Energy Conversion | ||
| Introduction to Sustainable Energy | ||
| Energy Systems for Climate Change Mitigation | ||
Ethics and Just Futures | ||
| Ethics for Engineers | ||
| Environmental Justice: Law and Policy | ||
| Food, Culture, and Politics | ||
| Social Problems of Nuclear Energy | ||
| Good Food: The Ethics and Politics of Food | ||
| Being, Thinking, Doing (or Not): Ethics in Your Life | ||
| The Ethics of Climate Change | ||
| Energy, Environment, and Society | ||
| Science Activism: Gender, Race, and Power | ||
| Gender, Race, and Environmental Justice | ||
Life and Ecology | ||
| Environmental Microbial Biogeochemistry | ||
| Fundamentals of Ecology | ||
| Geobiology: History of Life on Earth | ||
| The Anthropology of Biology | ||
Materials and Material Culture | ||
| Mechanics of Materials | ||
| Industrial Ecology of Materials | ||
| Materials in Human Experience | ||
| Sustainable Chemical Metallurgy | ||
| The Ancient Andean World | ||
| Ancient Mesoamerican Civilization | ||
| Design: The History of Making Things | ||
Media, Communications, and Literature | ||
| The Wilds of Literature | ||
| Writing and Rhetoric: Food for Thought | ||
| Science Writing and New Media: Writing and the Environment | ||
| Writing about Nature and Environmental Issues | ||
| Transmedia Art, Extraction, and Environmental Justice | ||
| Reading Climate Through Media | ||
| Science Communication: A Practical Guide | ||
Negotiations, Politics, and Policy | ||
| Methods of Policy Analysis | ||
| The Art and Science of Negotiation | ||
| Science, Politics, and Environmental Policy | ||
| Sustainability: Political Economy, Science, and Policy | ||
| Making Public Policy | ||
| Science, Technology, and Public Policy | ||
| Environmental Law, Policy, and Economics: Pollution Prevention and Control | ||
| Regulation of Chemicals, Radiation, and Biotechnology | ||
| Global Environmental Negotiations | ||
Planet Earth and Climate Science | ||
| Transport Processes in the Environment | ||
| Transport Processes in the Environment I | ||
| Global Change Science | ||
| Environmental Chemistry | ||
| Air Pollution and Atmospheric Chemistry | ||
| Introduction to Geology | ||
| Introduction to Geophysics and Planetary Science | ||
| Introduction to Atmosphere, Ocean, and Climate Dynamics | ||
| Earth Science, Energy, and the Environment | ||
| Modeling Environmental Complexity | ||
| Geochemistry of Natural Waters | ||
| Climate Science | ||
| Atmospheric Physics and Chemistry | ||
| Mechanisms and Models of the Global Carbon Cycle | ||
| Elements of Modern Oceanography | ||
| The History of Earth's Climate | ||
| Fluid Dynamics of the Atmosphere and Ocean | ||
| Nonlinear Dynamics: The Natural Environment | ||
The Built Environment | ||
| The Once and Future City | ||
| Environmental Technologies in Buildings | ||
| Modeling Urban Energy Flows for Sustainable Cities and Neighborhoods | ||
| The Economic Approach to Cities and Environmental Sustainability | ||
| Big Plans and Mega-Urban Landscapes | ||
| Decarbonizing Urban Mobility | ||
| Behavioral Science, AI, and Urban Mobility | ||
| Urban Energy Systems and Policy | ||
| Total Units | 57 | |
| 1 | See the Environment & Sustainability Minor website for potential elective and core subject substitutions or additions. |
| 2 | Not all subjects in the E&S Minor are offered every academic year, and some have prerequisites that are outside of the E&S Minor program. Please visit the MIT Subject Listing for a current and comprehensive list of offered classes. |
| 3 | If a subject is counted towards a core area of study, it cannot also count as an elective. |
| 4 | Up to two Terrascope subjects may count towards the E&S Minor. |
A minimum of four subjects (or 48 units) taken for the Environment and Sustainability minor cannot also count toward a student's major or other minor. In other words, only one subject that counts toward a student’s major or other minor degree may also count toward the E&S Minor elective requirement.
There are no restrictions on the number of subjects that may count towards a student's HASS Concentration and the E&S Minor. A student may petition to have a subject that is not listed on the electives listing count towards the E&S Minor.
For more information, contact Sarah Meyers, Education Program Manager at the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative (ESI) or visit the ESI education website.
