The Earth Institute—in collaboration with Columbia College, the School of General Studies, the School of International and Public Affairs, and the Departments of Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology; and Earth and Environmental Engineering—offers a major and a special concentration in sustainable development.

Course Requirement

The sustainable development foundation courses should be taken first and students should then work with the program adviser on further course selection and sequencing.

The major in sustainable development requires a minimum of 15 courses and a practicum as follows:

Sustainable Development Foundation
SDEV W1900 Introduction to Sustainable Development Seminar
SDEV W2300 Challenges of Sustainable Development
EESC W2330 Science for Sustainable Development

Basic Disciplinary Foundation

Select one of the following science sequences:
PHYS V1202 General Physics II
- PHYS V1202 and General Physics II
CHEM W1403 General Chemistry I (Lecture)
- CHEM W1404 and General Chemistry II ( Lecture)
EEEB W2001 Environmental Biology I: Elements to Organisms
- EEEB W2002 and Environmental Biology II: Organisms to the Biosphere
EAEE E2100 A better planet by design
- EESC W1600 and Earth Resources and Sustainable Development
EESC V2100 Earth's Environmental Systems: Climate
- EESC V2200 and Earth's Environmental Systems: Solid Earth
EESC V2100 Earth's Environmental Systems: Climate
- EESC V2300 and Earth's Environmental Systems: Life Systems

Select two of the following social science courses:
SOCI W1000 The Social World
ANTH V1002 The Interpretation of Culture
ECON W1105 Principles of Economics
POLS V1501 Introduction to Comparative Politics
POLS V1601 Introduction to International Politics
SDEV W2000 Introduction to Environmental Law
SDEV W3400 Human Populations and Sustainable Development

Select one of the following quantitative foundations courses:
STAT W1211 Introduction to Statistics (with calculus)
MATH V2010 Linear Algebra
STAT W2024 Applied Linear Regression Analysis
STAT W2025 Applied Statistical Methods
STAT W2026 Statistical Applications and Case Studies
EEEB W3005 Introduction to Statistics for Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
EESC BC3017 Environmental Data Analysis
STAT W3026 Applied Data Mining
STAT W3105 Introduction to Probability
STAT W3107 Introduction to Statistical Inference
STAT W4105 Introduction to Probability
STAT W4107 Introduction to Statistical Inference
STAT W4315 Linear Regression Models
STAT W4606 Elementary Stochastic Processes

Analysis and Solutions to Complex Problems

Select two of the following courses:
EESC BC3032 Agricultural and Urban Land Use: Human-Environment Interactions
EESC BC3045 Responding to Climate Change
PUBH W3100 Fundamentals of Global Health
SDEV W3200 Global Food Systems
CIEE E3260 Engineering for developing communities
SDEV W3330 Ecological and Social Systems for Sustainable Development
SDEV W3355 Climate Change and Law
SDEV W3360 Disasters and Development
SDEV W3366 Energy Law
SDEV W3410 Urbanization and Sustainable Development
URBS V3565 Cities in Developing Countries: Problems and Prospects
ECIA W4100 Management and development of water systems
EAEE W4304 Closing the carbon cycle
PLAN A4579 Introduction to Environmental Planning
EESC W4600 Earth Resources and Sustainable Development

The Summer Ecosystems Experience for Undergraduates (SEE-U) *

Skills/Actions
Select two of the following courses:
SDEV W2320 Economic and Financial Methods for Sustainable Development
SOCI W3010 Methods for Social Research
SDEV W3390 GIS for Sustainable Development
SDEV W3450 Spatial Analysis and Modeling for Sustainable Development
SDEV W4015 Complexity Science
EESC W4050 Global Assessment and Monitoring Using Remote Sensing
SUMA K4100 Sustainability Management
EAEE E4257 Environmental data analysis and modeling

The Summer Ecosystems Experience for Undergraduates (SEE-U) *

Electives

Select one of the following courses:
SUMA K4310 Practicum in Innovation Sustainability Leadership
INAF U4420 Oil, Rights and Development
SUMA K4734 Earth Institute Practicum

Select two of the following:
Additional courses from analysis and solutions to complex problem
Additional courses from skills/actions
Upper division courses from the list approved by program adviser
EESC W3901 Environmental Science Senior Seminar
- EESC BC3800 and Senior Research Seminar

Capstone Workshop
SDEV W3280 Workshop in Sustainable Development
or SDEV W3550 Bangladesh: Life on a Tectonically Active Delta