The Environmental Program has as its goals:
- provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary for making wise decisions about stewardship of the Earth
- convey knowledge to the general public so it can make intelligent decisions, understand the costs and trade-offs of these environmental choices, and appreciate how these issues affect people's everyday lives
- study environmental issues at the local level, including the cleanup and restoration of toxic sites, such as Rocky Flats, the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, and mine tailings sites; waste treatment; water quality; and land use
- examine regional concerns about air quality, grazing policies, river basin water quality, and availability, and the impacts of international trade agreements
- research global change issues, including climate change, the interconnectedness of Earth's systems, carrying capacities of the land, atmosphere and oceans; and geophysiology, which studies how different ecosystems react to environmental assaults
- research such topics as biodiversity, sustainable development, risk assessment, cost-benefit analysis, and the improvement of the effectiveness and accuracy of media coverage of complex scientific subjects