在每个人的生活中，环境问题仍然是突出的问题。基本上，由于不断增长的人口活动，地球上没有任何地方能够摆脱扰动。面临的挑战是要保持地球的宜居性，同时满足人类的需求。科学将在使技术文明朝着与自然界的可持续互动发展方面发挥绝对关键的作用。必须对有效的环境科学家进行一门科学的严格教育，其视野要比任何一门科学学科都广得多。伦斯勒（Rensselaer）的环境科学学位通过多方面的计划应对这些挑战。
Environmental issues continue to be prominent in the lives of everyone. Essentially no place on the planet has escaped perturbation resulting from activities of an ever-growing human population. The challenge is to maintain those attributes of the Earth that make it habitable while at the same time providing for human needs. Science will play an absolutely critical role in enabling technological civilizations to move toward sustainable interactions with the natural world. The effective environmental scientists must be rigorously educated in one area of science and have a perspective far broader than any single science discipline affords. Rensselaer's Environmental Science degree addresses these challenges with a multifaceted program.