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What are the possible careers one can pursue after majoring in environmental studies?

I am interested in studying environmental studies and dance in college and was wondering what careers others have pursued after earning a degree in environmental studies. How were you offered a job opportunity? What kind of resources were available to you during college that helped you prepare for the workplace?
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Laura’s Answer

A lot of people like to mix software and environmental science together because of how much computer science is involved in data collection and making websites/applications that help environmental scientists accomplish their goals. I know from the computer science side of things about the opportunities there are if you mix environmental studies with computer science (you can be an application developer, a Full Stack developer, a front-end and back-end developer, a data scientist, etc), but you can also be an environmental scientist, biological scientist, geoscientist, environmental engineer and a hydrologist. What you learn in college is that the field you want to enter always encompasses so much more than just your major, so it's important to realize how each discipline relies on one another and how varying your classes/studies really gives you a strategic and competitive edge. For example, if you mix business and environmental science together, you can become an operations manager or an industrial engineer for a company that wants to limit pollution or manufacture a lot of alternative energy goods like solar panels and windmills and do this in such an efficient way that would reduce pollution.
Thank you comment icon Thank you so much for the advice! I will definitely look into the opportunities you mentioned. Isabella
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Emily’s Answer

Dow chemical has a lot of positions for this type of degree. We seem to be always hiring environmental techs.

A lot of that role has to do with compliance with environmental regulations and helping make sure the plant is meeting all of those. But you can rest easy knowing you are helping the planet!
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Virginia’s Answer

Hi there - I was an environmental science major that after doing a short stint of consulting/permitting work realized that wasn't the path for me, but wound up finding an incredible career in environmental insurance (I thing I previously didn't know existed!). I'm an underwriter for an insurance company and I specialize in insurance for pollution related events. As an underwriter, I get to look at applications from all different kinds of companies all over the country, from people that specialize in mitigating pollution events, to warehouses full of chemicals. And it's my job to understand and quantify the risk involved with their operations. It's a little bit detective work, a lot of judgement, and a good amount of learning a little more each day about random chemicals or recycling processes or whatever kind of account happens to pop up! If you like interacting with people, there's also the fun element of marketing and light travel that comes along with it. I highly recommend you look into underwriting and environmental insurance as it's a great career that I'm so glad I found!
Thank you comment icon Thank you so much for your input! I will definitely look into underwriting and environmental insurance. Both sound very interesting. Isabella
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JAYAKRISHNAN’s Answer

1) Environmental Consultant
2)Environmental Engineer
3)Water Quality Scientist
4) Horticultural consultant
Thank you comment icon Thank you so much! Isabella
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Larry’s Answer

Environmental Attorney (needs additional schooling)
Sustainability Specialist
Policy Analyst

These are some of the positions I thought of that were not mentioned. Good luck!
Thank you comment icon Thanks so much! Isabella
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Sarah’s Answer

An often overlooked area of "environmental studies" is workplace safety. These are often referred to as Environment Health and Safety (EHS) Officers, EHS engineers, or other titles. This field is about designing a safe and sustainable workplace environment for many different industries, from offices to industrial work sites. We have an EHS group at my factory, and they come from a variety of fascinating educational backgrounds.

Here is a website where you can see a little more about careers in EHS: https://ehscareers.com/
Thank you comment icon Wow! That sounds so interesting! Thank you so much for your insight. I will definitely look into it. Isabella
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Sarah’s Answer

I studied Environmental Geology and began my career in Environmental Consulting. This was a very interesting field and I learned a lot about property site assessments (Phase I and Phase II reports, or Environmental Site Assessments). It involved doing some field work which was traveling to former or current industrial sites and collecting soil and groundwater samples. I worked for a consultant and coordinated with the Environmental Protection Agency for coming up with strategies to get sites cleaned up. While it was rewarding, it became less interesting over time. After a few years, I was looking for something different, with less travel and more variety on the daily tasks. With consulting, you often end up working on the same projects for several months or years. I was a member of a Women in Insurance social networking group, who occasionally shared job opportunities. One came up for an Environmental Insurance broker. I interviewed for that and was referred to an Environmental Underwriting opportunity. As the person mentioned above, underwriting is a great mix of people skills, strategy, and environmental exposure. There is a huge variety with the types of companies and sites you look at each day, and a variety of people that you interact with. The underwriter's job is to assess the risk of the company to determine the pricing and insurance structure. A huge part of that is understanding the environmental exposures at a site, such as a chemical manufacturer who needs pollution insurance for potential spills. The rewarding part is the relationships with people. It is also rewarding to see that insurance companies provide guidance on how companies can improve their operations to prevent pollution from happening, and also that if pollution does occur, the insurance policy is there to help clean it up.
Thank you comment icon Thank you! That sounds really interesting. Isabella
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