Environmental Humanities Initiative

The environmental humanities bring humanists together with social scientists and scientists to improve human wellbeing, promote justice, and protect earth’s life support systems. The field builds on more than 30 years of scholarship in history, literature, philosophy, religion, anthropology, ethnic studies, gender, film, art and music focused on human relationship to other humans and to other species in a rapidly changing world. 

Since 2006, Arizona State University has counted some of the founders of the field among its faculty and actively hired some of the brightest emerging scholars. In 2016, the Environmental Humanities Initiative (EHI) was launched to network faculty from 22 different schools and departments across four of ASU’s campuses. In education, undergraduates can earn certificates in environmental humanities and food systems. Associated faculty also teach a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses exploring the full interdisciplinary nature of interlinked social and environmental systems. There are also annual lectures open to the public.

In addition, the initiative serves as headquarters of the North American Observatory, part of an international system of Humanities Observatories and contributes to the PLuS (Phoenix - London – Sydney) Alliance, a collaboration between three globally-focused universities working together to innovate a sustainable future.