Global Sustainability

The skills you need, to develop solutions that work, for the problems that matter.

Overview

The relationship between human societies and the planet have created many of today’s most important global challenges. The search for new social, spatial, and technological systems that do not require undue and increasing amounts of finite resources is known as sustainability. Over the past 50 years, Earth’s human population has doubled, to 8.2 billion people, and is projected to increase to 9.7 billion by 2050. When multiplied by a growing per-capita rate of consumption, the effects can include depletion of natural resources, loss of natural capital, water and energy shortages, pressure on global food supplies, loss of precious biodiversity, increasing global health challenges, and social upheaval. These issues threaten human well-being and Earth's ecosystems.

Curriculum

In the Global Sustainability (GSVS) concentration, as a GSVS major or minor, you will gain conceptual and practical knowledge essential for tackling critical sustainability challenges. The GSVS curriculum is built on a foundation of GSVS and other Global Studies courses and rounded out with diverse electives from across the University. Through your course of study, you will address issues associated with human transformations of the earth through the triple lens of sustainability: Environment, Equity, and Economy, or "the three P's" of Planet, People and Prosperity.

As a GSVS student, you will survey and have the opportunity for deeper dives into such topics as

• environmental, social, and personal behavior and ethics
• earth system science, environmental sustainability, ecosystem restoration and environmental conservation
• economics, development, natural capital, resource allocation and externalities
• human settlement patterns, rapid urbanization, and affordable housing
• fresh water and sanitation production, consumption, and infrastructure
• energy production, consumption, and infrastructure
• agriculture, food systems, and food security
• public health challenges connected with environment degradation
• environmental impact of material resource extraction and commodity production
• transportation technologies and logistics

This integrated and interdisciplinary track provides foundational knowledge on the multifaceted aspects of both problems and solutions, and challenges participants to deepen their understanding of global sustainability issues through applied research.

Key Questions GSVS Students Address

What is sustainability and what are the dimensions of our physical environment in need of serious research and action?

How can we build understanding of relationships between human and natural systems and how can we find high-leverage solutions to improve the outcomes of these relationships? How do diverse global cultures inhabit and transform their physical environment? What policies, economic development, and technical decisions have created these systems, and what can we do to improve upon those decisions?

What are the material, ethical, and economic relationships between urbanization and the use/depletion of natural resources?

What values are implicit in what we create? What are the ways of thinking and skills necessary to positively change the physical world? What traditional knowledge and new technologies are most promising for a sustainable future?

Knowledge & Skills

Students develop multiple skills and competencies necessary to understand and develop strategies for solving complex environmental issues:

• knowledge of historical and current environmental conditions
• cross-cultural translation and comparison
• statistical literacy, visual literacy and the visualization of data
• systems thinking and design thinking skills to address complex, open-ended problems
• applied, project-based problem-solving
• research methods for collaboration across diverse disciplines (scientific, technical, social, aesthetic, economic)
• policy analysis and development 
• communication, community engagement and leadership skills

History

The Global Studies major was approved in February 2014 and the first class of GSVS students graduated in May 2016. 337 students have graduated from the program as of May 2025. The program attracts a diverse array of undergraduates from the College and Schools across grounds and the number of students applying to GSVS has steadily increased. The program also offers a Minor in Global Sustainability. Please visit this webpage to learn more.

Careers

Students in the Global Sustainability program learn to be effective researchers, leaders and collaborators in a range of institutional and academic settings, international and domestic governmental agencies, the nonprofit sector, and private business. Together we are building a strong alumni network to enrich the program and to advise current students about career opportunities.