Center for Environmental Studies

The Center for Environmental Studies was established in May 1978. With the assistance of a $221,000 grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation in 1981, the Center created the Urban Environment Laboratory in the old Lucian Sharpe Carriage House at 135 Angell Street, turning it into a model house to show what can be accomplished in an urban environment with a solar greenhouse, insulation, water-conserving plumbing, and a recycling facility. Eleven summer interns renovated the building in the summer of 1982. The laboratory helps the community by sharing energy-saving experiences and conducting recycling projects. In 1990 a program called “Brown is Green” was established under a committee of twelve administrators, professors, and students to encourage at Brown the acceptance of responsibility by individuals for the proper use of natural resources. The environmental studies program combines science and policy. The Center offers undergraduate and graduate programs and sponsors a semester program in Zimbabwe.