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
3.088	The Social Life of Materials
10.05	Foundational Analyses of Problems in Energy and the Environment
11.068	Environmental Justice, Science, and Technology
11.169	Global Climate Policy and Sustainability
11.170	Cities and Climate Change: Mitigation and Adaptation
11.171	Indigenous Environmental Planning
12.385	Science, Politics, and Environmental Policy
17.181	Sustainability: Political Economy, Science, and Policy
21A.312	Planetary Change and Human Health
21A.403[J]	Anthro-Engineering: Green Steel, Green Jobs
21A.404	Living Through Climate Change
21A.406[J]	Anthro-Engineering: From Lab to Land - Infrastructures of Climate Justice in the Pacific Northwest
21A.408[J]	Anthro-Engineering: Decarbonization at the Million-Person Scale
21A.410	Environmental Struggles
21H.186	Nature and Environment in China
21H.187	The History of US Environmental Governance
22.04[J]	Social Problems of Nuclear Energy
24.233	The Ethics of Climate Change
STS.031[J]	Environment and History
STS.039	History of Native Science
STS.066	Discards, Technologies, and Everyday Ecologies
Sustainable Solutions
Select at least 9 units of the following: 1,2,3,4		9-12
1.006	Tools for Sustainable Design
1.103[J]	Infrastructure Design for Climate Change
1.UAR[J]	Climate and Sustainability Undergraduate Advanced Research
2.00A	Designing for the Future: Earth, Sea, and Space
2.00C[J]	Design for Complex Environmental Issues 5
2.651[J]	Introduction to Energy in Global Development
2.722[J]	D-Lab: Design
4.328	Climate Visions
6.7120	Principles of Modeling, Computing and Control for Decarbonized Electric Energy Systems
10.421[J]	Energy Systems for Climate Change Mitigation
11.007	Urban and Environmental Technology Implementation Lab
11.025[J]	D-Lab: Development
11.092	Renewable Energy Facility Siting Clinic
22.033	Nuclear Systems Design Project
EC.715	D-Lab: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
EC.716	Thermal Energy Networks for Decarbonization of Campuses, Neighborhoods, and Cities
EC.719	D-Lab: Climate Change and Planetary Health
EC.724	D-Lab: Smallholder Agriculture
STS.038	Risky Business: Food Production, Environment, and Health
Electives
Select a minimum of 24 units from the categories below: 1,2,3,4		24-27
Discovery
1.008	Engineering for a Sustainable World
1.009	Climate Change
1.016[J]	Design for Complex Environmental Issues 5
1.091	Traveling Research Environmental eXperience (TREX): Fieldwork
2.981	New England Coastal Ecology
3.002	Materials for Energy and Sustainability
12.000	Solving Complex Problems 5
12.12	Nature's Sandbox: The History of Ancient Environments, Climate, and Life
22.011	Nuclear Engineering: Science, Systems, and Society
SP.310	Engagement and Discovery Through the Terrascope Field Experience 5
SP.360	Terrascope Radio 5
SP.361	Majors and Careers Through a Terrascope Lens 5
Applied Problem Solving
1.004	Startup Sustainable Tech
1.005	Experiential Sustainability
1.013	Senior Civil and Environmental Engineering Design
1.020	Modeling and Decision-Making for Sustainability
1.107	Water and Air Quality Laboratory
1.C03[J]	Computational Methods for Engineering Sustainable Systems
2.652[J]	Applications of Energy in Global Development
3.003	Small Planet Engineering: Climate, Energy, and Sustainability
3.004	Small Planet Engineering: Climate, Energy, and Sustainability
4.218	Disaster Resilient Design
10.496[J]	Design of Sustainable Polymer Systems
11.173[J]	Infrastructure Design for Climate Change
11.188	Introduction to Spatial Analysis and GIS Laboratory
12.307	Weather and Climate Laboratory
12.335	Experimental Atmospheric Chemistry
15.772[J]	D-Lab: Supply Chains
EC.713[J]	D-Lab Schools: Building Technology Laboratory
Economic and Global Systems
2.760	Global Engineering: Green Machines
14.42	Environmental Policy and Economics
14.43[J]	Economics of Energy, Innovation, and Sustainability
14.44[J]	Energy Economics and Policy
15.0201[J]	Economics of Energy, Innovation, and Sustainability
15.8731	System Dynamics: Tools for Solving Complex Problems
STS.040	A Global History of Commodities
Energy x Sustainability
3.18	Materials Science and Engineering of Clean Energy
5.371	Continuous Flow Chemistry: Sustainable Conversion of Reclaimed Vegetable Oil into Biodiesel
5.372	Chemistry of Renewable Energy
6.2200	Electric Energy Systems
8.21	Physics of Energy
10.04	A Philosophical History of Energy
10.390[J]	Fundamentals of Advanced Energy Conversion
22.003	NEET Seminar: Renewable Energy Machines
22.081[J]	Introduction to Sustainable Energy
Ethics and Just Futures
6.9320	Ethics for Engineers
8.226	Forty-three Orders of Magnitude
21A.155	Food, Culture, and Politics
24.03	Good Food: The Ethics and Politics of Food
24.191	Being, Thinking, Doing (or Not): Ethics in Your Life
STS.022[J]	Gender, Race, and Environmental Justice
STS.032	Energy, Environment, and Society
WGS.160[J]	Science Activism: Gender, Race, and Power
WGS.275[J]	Gender, Race, and Environmental Justice
Life and Ecology
1.089	Environmental Microbial Biogeochemistry
7.30[J]	Fundamentals of Ecology
12.031[J]	Fundamentals of Ecology
21A.303[J]	The Anthropology of Biology
Materials and Material Culture
1.035	Mechanics of Materials
3.081	Industrial Ecology of Materials
3.087	Materials, Societal Impact, and Social Innovation
3.094[J]	Materials in Human Experience
3.19	Sustainable Chemical Metallurgy
3.982	The Ancient Andean World
3.983	Ancient Mesoamerican Civilization
4.657	Design: The History of Making Things
22.078[J]	Nuclear Energy and the Environment: Waste, Effluents, and Accidents
Media, Communications, and Literature
21L.449	The Wilds of Literature
21W.012	Writing and Rhetoric: Food for Thought
21W.036	Science Writing and New Media: Writing and the Environment
21W.775	Writing about Nature and Environmental Issues
CMS.374[J]	Transmedia Art, Extraction, and Environmental Justice
CMS.375	Reading Climate Through Media
STS.034	Science Communication: A Practical Guide
Negotiations, Politics, and Policy
11.003[J]	Methods of Policy Analysis
11.011	The Art and Science of Negotiation
11.148	Environmental Justice: Law and Policy
15.2191[J]	Global Energy: Politics, Markets, and Policy
17.30[J]	Making Public Policy
17.309[J]	Science, Technology, and Public Policy
IDS.060[J]	Environmental Law, Policy, and Economics: Pollution Prevention and Control
IDS.061[J]	Regulation of Chemicals, Radiation, and Biotechnology
IDS.062[J]	Global Environmental Negotiations
IDS.066[J]	Law, Technology, and Public Policy
Planet Earth and Climate Science
1.061	Transport Processes in the Environment
1.061A	Transport Processes in the Environment I
1.071[J]	Global Change Science
1.080[J]	Chemicals in the Environment
1.070A[J]	Introduction to Hydrology and Water Resources
1.085[J]	Air Pollution and Atmospheric Chemistry
12.001	Introduction to Geology
12.002	Introduction to Geophysics and Planetary Science
12.003	Introduction to Atmosphere, Ocean, and Climate Dynamics
12.021	Earth Science, Energy, and the Environment
12.086	Modeling Environmental Complexity
12.104	Geochemistry of Natural Waters
12.301	Climate Science
12.306	Atmospheric Chemistry Models & Climate
12.349	Mechanisms and Models of the Global Carbon Cycle
12.372	Elements of Modern Oceanography
12.377	The History of Earth's Climate
12.390	Fluid Dynamics of the Atmosphere and Ocean
18.352[J]	Nonlinear Dynamics: The Natural Environment
The Built Environment
4.211[J]	The Once and Future City
4.401	Environmental Technologies in Buildings
4.432	Modeling Urban Energy Flows for Sustainable Cities and Neighborhoods
11.113	The Economic Approach to Cities and Environmental Sustainability
11.123	Big Plans and Mega-Urban Landscapes
11.149	Decarbonizing Urban Mobility
11.158	Behavioral Science, AI, and Urban Mobility
11.165	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	If a student only takes 9 units of Sustainable Solutions subjects, they must take 27 units of Elective subjects. Please contact the minor advisor with questions or concerns.
5	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 Reva Butensky, Education Program Administrator at the Office of the Vice President for Energy and Climate or visit the Climate Project website.