Environmental Studies

Discovering how human societies affect the natural world and how the environment, in turn, affects our quality of life, is one of the most important learning experiences any student can have. At Redlands, however, understanding these relationships is not enough. Students in Environmental Studies learn how to preserve and repair these relationships in order to build a more sustainable society. 

Biodiversity Students in the Bearpaw Reserve

Environmental Studies is a field that spans the boundaries of traditional disciplines, connecting the study of complex environmental systems with even more complex human social systems. Students at Redlands are encouraged to examine the relationship between humans and the natural environment from a variety of perspectives, drawn from the natural and earth sciences, social sciences and the arts and humanities. All environmental majors engage in a common core curriculum that includes study of living systems, earth science, and environment-society relations. Students then have the opportunity to take advanced and topical courses in each of these areas, as well as May Term travel courses and courses in geographic information systems (GIS), research methods, and environmental ethics, literature, planning, and policy.  

Environmental Studies at Redlands is highly distinctive in four major ways: 

  1. We have a distinct Environmental Studies Department with dedicated, full-time faculty - we seek to promote critical and integrative thinking, with an eye toward sustainability as the organizing central concept. 
  2. We are interdisciplinary not only in what we teach, but also in the training and interests of our faculty – see our Faculty pages for more information 
  3. We believe that learning is best achieved by doing, and so we engage as often as possible with our ecologically and topographically diverse region, including mountain, forest, desert, ocean, and even urban, constructed environments. 
  4. Our department is housed in a LEED-certified, 21st century "earth sheltered" structure that combines labs, project rooms, indoor and outdoor classrooms, faculty offices, the Redlands Research Institute and a roof garden covered by native grasses, rock and plant materials from which students can peer down into a hidden courtyard that separates the offices, labs and classrooms  

We invite you to explore our website and reach out with any questions! 

Daniel Klooster, Professor
Environmental Studies Chair
(909) 748-8642
daniel_klooster@redlands.edu