Climate change, war, globalization, poverty and discrimination, suburban sprawl, pollution, over-consumption, waste - interest in the environment is at an all time high for good reason. The Faculty of Environmental Studies (FES) at York University is the place to critically examine these and a host of other environmental problems. For over 40 years, FES faculty and students have worked at the frontiers of knowledge, exploring the relationships between theory and action, between problems and the contexts in which these occur, and between natural, built, and social environments and systems.

From ecology to community arts, from environmental policy and planning to environmental education and philosophy, from international development to green business (and everything in between), FES offers exciting, innovative, and interdisciplinary programs. We are an educational community dedicated to cultivating environmental vision and advancing environmental knowledge and social change. Come explore with us.

Our faculty and students embody our belief that passion and commitment, combined with knowledge and education, are the foundation of a well-informed citizenry. This is clearly reflected in our research that includes animal rights and wetland restoration, SARS in Canadian cities and the political economy of the globalized tomato, tropical forest preservation and thinking environmentally through writing. The reach and influence of FES is also international with active research programs in Australia, Brazil, the Caribbean, China, Costa Rica, India, Israel, Kenya, Mexico, Mongolia, and Sri Lanka, as well as across Canada and throughout the GTA.

Over the past few years, we have hired a dozen new faculty members who bring a wide range of interests and expertise to FES. From climate change to indigenous studies and from healthy communities to community planning, our new faculty members add new energy and new perspectives to our already impressive array of dedicated teachers and researchers.

If you have an interest in anything environmental, you are likely to find someone at FES exploring similar concerns. Browse our Web site, scan through our faculty members' profiles, and look at what current students and alumni are doing. FES may just be the place you've been looking for.

We have more than 3,000 grads working around the world, and playing vital roles in government, business, non-profit agencies, environmental NGOs, and throughout the public policy sector in Canada and beyond. We are proud of all our grads, working in Winnipeg and Halifax, London and Caracas, Delhi and Sydney. Will you join them? Whether you are interested in our undergraduate BES degree, taking our two-year Master in Environmental Studies (MES) degree, or working towards a PhD, we will be happy to assist you.

Environmental studies are more important now than ever before. We hope you will join us in our efforts to create a more equitable, more just, and more sustainable world.

Barbara Rahder
Dean
Faculty of Environmental Studies
York University