What are some of the specializations within this degree program?

• Policy: You can consider tailoring your environmental studies degree to focus specifically on governmental policy and legislation.
• Water: Also known as hydrology, a concentration on water exposes you to the challenges facing our oceans and rivers.
• Wetland ecosystems: The wetlands are a suffering ecosystem, and this specialization helps you discover ways of saving them.
• Global warming: One of the more popular specialties at the present moment, this concentration takes your knowledge of concepts like greenhouse gases and fossil fuel to the next level. (BLS)

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What degree levels are available?

• Diploma or Certificate in Environmental Studies, six months to one year to earn.
• Associate Degree in Environmental Studies, Environmental Science, Renewable Energy, or a Related Field: 2 years to complete
• Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Studies, Environmental Science, Renewable Energy, or a Related Field: 4 years to complete
• Master's Degree in Environmental Studies, Environmental Science, Renewable Energy, or a Related Field: 1-3 years to complete
• Doctorate of Philosophy in Environmental Studies: 4-7 years to complete

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What are the educational and certification requirements?

In order to wring the most from an education in environmental studies, it is best to reach the master's degree in the subject. A bachelor's degree can provide a solid introduction to the academic field, but undergraduates can only engage so much in one particular aspect of their studies. Graduate school enables you to delve more deeply into a certain aspect of environmental studies, making you into an authority on it. However, you should know that a PhD in environmental studies is not necessarily more valuable that a master's level diploma. Only in academic research and scholarship does the doctoral degree prove more useful than anything else. 

If you're in high school and you're looking at environmental studies as a potential major, you would be smart to enroll in high-level natural science classes as soon as possible. Many high schools also offer a very valuable class to curious minds: environmental science, which is also available at the Advanced Placement level. There are no certification requirements for environmental studies. That said, your computer skills can distinguish you from your colleagues as a professional who is able to put her environmental knowledge into practice. (BLS)

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What kinds of classes will I be expected to take?

• Climate Change: This definitely ranks as one of the most fundamental classes to a program in environmental studies, whose information will ripple through every other course. You'll be studying weather patterns, the rhythm of the tides, and dendroclimatology.
• Population Geography: This class focuses on how the patterns of movement and settlement exert an influence on the environment and the lay of the land. A specialty glass under the heading of human geography, you will encounter issues like immigration and mortality rates here.
• American Environmental History: This class exposes you to a branch of history that other disciplines frequently fail to touch upon. "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson and "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair will likely factor into the course's syllabus. 
• Nonfiction Environmental Writing: In order to express your own original thoughts and research in this discipline, you'll need to understand the precise writing style expected of you. Place narration and proposal writing will definitely be on the menu here. 
• Energy and Sustainability: Taking this class will teach you about how environmental studies marries ecology, engineering, and even economics. Thermodynamics and the search for a sustainable fuel source are both important topics in the course.

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If I pursue this program online, will I be required to complete any on-site training?

The answer to this question depends on the environmental studies degree level you choose to pursue. Master's and doctoral candidates may need to be physically present in order to meet with their advisers and participate in in-depth special projects. Otherwise, it is not likely that an on-site training requirement will factor into your degree. 

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What are some other degrees that are related to this program?

• Geographic Information Systems: Delving into this important field of study will expose you to the ways in which navigation, technology, and geography combine. Physical fitness and sterling communication skills are big assets for doing well here. 
• Social Sciences: Psychology, economics, anthropology, history, economics, urban studies, and sociology are all encompassed under this program's heading. Pairing study in one of these along with environmental science could be a smart career move. 
• Biology and Biochemistry: These branches of science are a bit less focused on societal concerns, as is environmental studies. Nevertheless, it also provides an opportunity to engage deeply with the natural world.
• Political Science: This discipline focuses on the government, its influence on culture and history, and vice versa. It is similar to environmental studies in that policy and regulation are also important themes here.
• Physics: Like environmental scientists and specialists, physicists also excel at understanding the whys and wherefores of the world, albeit via strictly physical means. Subatomic particles, accelerators, and aerospace are just some of the myriad themes in this degree.

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