Raft down the Grand Canyon. Shape environmental legislation. Climb the slopes of Mount Rainier. Collect algae in the Puget Sound. Survey the giant forests of the Pacific Northwest.
Students visit Yellowstone National Park for the program Environmental Analysis to study the unique geological and microbiotic conditions in the park.
Getting out in the field is easy when you have the field right outside the classroom. Students in environmental studies benefit from Evergreen’s natural learning labs: our 1,000-acre rain forest, open shoreline, and organic farm. Our location in Washington’s capital city makes getting involved in environmental politics easy. Students live and learn where policies are created. The surrounding community’s high level of environmental consciousness and the Pacific Northwest’s cultural and natural heritage form an unparalleled backdrop to your studies.
Environmental studies offers introductory and advanced work in a wide array of laboratory and field studies that incorporate social sciences, environmental justice, biology, geology, chemistry, climatology, evolution, ecology, hydrology, and oceanography. You can also work independently with support through independent contracts, internships, and research. You’ll have the opportunity to work along with faculty in real-world research, publish papers, attend conferences, and develop new techniques to answer novel questions. The mixture of an interdisciplinary approach and hands-on research allows you to make a transformative impact.
Join us in an education that doesn’t just change your life — it gives you the tools to change the world.
Ken Tabbutt talks about the geological structure of the cliffs in Yellowstone as Andy Brabban and Clyde Barlow hold a geological map. Due to Evergreen’s emphasis on interdisciplinary learning, you’ll experience many programs taught by multiple faculty.
Related Paths
Sample Program
Forests and Farms: The Systems that Sustain Us
Offered Fall 2018–Winter 2019
The Pacific Northwest’s cultural and natural heritage form an unparalleled backdrop to your studies.
Learn to get your hands dirty in two globally important types of landscapes: forests and farms. We will split our focus between an introduction to forests and forest measurements in the Pacific Northwest and an introduction to agricultural systems and ecological agriculture.
You will learn to do forest measurements, inventory carbon sequestration, understand ecological succession, and identify common trees. You'll gain hands-on experience working with our local trees in Evergreen's forest reserve.
You'll also learn the structure and function of annual and perennial crop plants. Ecological agroforestry systems will be emphasized to show how perennial crops can be used to optimize carbon uptake, efficiently use inputs, conserve soil, and maintain food production.
View this program in the catalog.
Students in Restoration Ecology and Freshwater Ecology take a field trip to the Elwha River to study the effects of the Elwha Dam and how nature is recovering after its removal.
After Graduation
Earning your degree with an emphasis in environmental studies prepares you for graduate studies and careers in the field. Our graduates are leaders in ecology, environmental health, natural resource management, conservation, forestry, wildlife biology, politics, economics, and global sustainability movements.
You also have the option of continuing your studies with our Master of Environmental Studies.
Facilities & Resources
Christopher Sabine, director of the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), talks about the global carbon cycle, climate change, and ocean acidification.
The Organic Farm
Students of all levels have access to science labs with a full range of equipment and high-tech tools.
At the Organic Farm you can explore sustainable agriculture, agro-ecology, and environmental sciences. In addition to three acres of certified organic fields, the farm’s facilities include a food-grade laboratory, the student-designed and -built Organic Farmhouse, and the student-run Demeter’s permaculture demonstration site and Community Gardens.
The Evergreen State College Forest & Campus Shoreline
Evergreen’s 1,000-acre forest is ideal for studying a lowland Puget Sound second-growth rainforest. Through the Evergreen Ecological Observation Network (EEON), students and faculty conduct long-term scientific research. The college’s 3,300-foot shoreline offers a variety of ecosystems and natural features for students to investigate.
Students do a titrations lab in the program Environmental Analysis.
Labs, Gardens, & Collections
Students of all levels have access to science labs with a full range of equipment and high-tech tools. You can study some 27,000 specimens in the college’s zoological, botanical, and mycological collections. Evergreen’s campus is also dotted with a variety of teaching gardens.
Sustainability in Prisons Project
The Sustainability in Prisons Project trains inmates and correctional staff at local prisons to carry out ecological research and conservation projects.
The program Picturing Plants went on a field trip to Mima Mounds Glacial Heritage Preserve to identify and draw native prairie plants.
Rachel Carson Forum
Students in Evergreen’s Master of Environmental Studies program organize this annual event. Experts speak on environmental topics such as local sustainability and climate change.
Sustainability House
The Sustainability House is a living/learning option for returning and transfer students. Residents commit to an environmentally conscious lifestyle, social justice, sustainable agriculture and activism.
Recent Student Projects
- Nisqually River education project film, a watershed overview focusing on water testing as a vehicle to evaluate safe salmon habitat
- Saving the hemlocks: Using bioanalytical chemistry to understand plant-insect interactions and save a threatened species
- A cost-benefit analysis of the oyster industry in Willapa, Bay
- Investigating changes in nutrient concentration and relative composition as regulating factors for algal biomass and species composition during the spring bloom in Budd Inlet
- Exploring migratory connectivity in the calliope hummingbird through stable isotope analysis of tail feathers
- Pacific Northwest second-growth forest carbon dynamics and tree diversity
| Title | Expertise |
|---|---|
| Biswas, Abir | Geology, earth science, biogeochemistry |
| Fischer, Dylan | forest and plant ecology |
| Joshi, Shangrila | climate justice, climate policy and politics, political ecology, environment and development |
| LeRoy, Carri | freshwater ecology, quantitative biology, environmental education |
| Levenda, Anthony | |
| Martin, Erin | chemical oceanography, biogeochemistry, freshwater ecology |
| Saul, Kathleen | energy and environmental policy, political ecology, social impacts of energy choices |
| Styring, Alison | ornithology |
| Tabbutt, Kenneth | geology |
| Withey, John | ecology, conservation biology, wildlife biology |