UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For undergraduate student Amaya Heffelfinger, sustainability is more than a topic in the classroom. She said it is tied to the places where she grew up, the environmental questions she cares about and the kind of work she hopes to do in the future.
A second-year student from Carbon County, Pennsylvania, Heffelfinger grew up in a rural part of the state in a Pennsylvania Dutch family with ties to farming. She said that connection to the outdoors shaped her interest in environmental issues early in her life.
“Sustainability is important to me because I want to see the environment I grew up in thriving and prospering,” Heffelfinger said. “I want that for other people, too, because when the environment is doing well, everybody benefits.”
That personal connection is part of what drew Heffelfinger to Penn State’s new Sustainability, Society and Environmental Geography program, a bachelor of arts degree in the Department of Geography in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. Heffelfinger is the first student to declare the major.
The program examines sustainability through the connected lenses of environment, economy and equity and prepares students to evaluate sustainability policy and practice with attention to real-world outcomes, including equity and social justice.
Heffelfinger said the major stood out to her because it focuses on the human side of sustainability and gives students tools to evaluate policies and programs, not just discuss them. She said that emphasis aligns with her goal of translating evidence into information people can use.
“I want to focus long-term on science communication and on taking scientific data and turning it into something people can use in public life and policy,” she said. “I want to make the information accessible. You can’t just throw out numbers and jargon to make a point. You have to communicate the context and meaning behind it.”
She said communication becomes even more important when environmental news feels discouraging. For Heffelfinger, the goal is to present difficult information with context and clarity so people can respond to it, not shut down.
“How information is presented matters,” Heffelfinger said. “If data is framed in a way that feels only negative, it can create a sense of hopelessness. But the numbers are part of a longer process. Change does not happen overnight, but that does not mean change is not happening.”
Heffelfinger said another reason she connects with sustainability is because people can take part in different ways, from small personal choices to broader collective efforts.
“I think sustainability matters because it’s something everyone can do on some scale,” she said. “Small habits can create long-term change in a person’s lifestyle. And if enough people make those changes, they can have a real effect.”
Her interest in sustainability grew, she said, as she took geography courses that connect environmental issues to policy, social systems and the ways people live in different places. Two courses have already stood out to her — GEOG 30N: Environment and Society in a Changing World, and GEOG 344: Sustainability Methods.
In GEOG 230, she said the course pushed her to connect sustainability concepts to everyday life while keeping sight of the bigger picture.
“We have covered so many topics related to sustainability and environmental impacts,” Heffelfinger said. “It has made me think about everyday life and how much a person consumes and contributes. We focus on the individual while also looking at broader, global actions.”
Now enrolled in GEOG 344, she said she is digging into the tools used to assess sustainability outcomes, including how consumption and energy use are measured and how the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals can be used as a framework for evaluating progress.
Those courses also reshaped how she thought about geography, she said. What she once associated mainly with maps became, for her, a way to connect environmental systems, politics, infrastructure and human behavior.
“You get to see all the different lenses geography covers,” she said. “It’s such a strong center point and connects to so many other topics and situations.”
For Heffelfinger, the major also reflects the kind of culture she hopes sustainability work can build: practical, welcoming and rooted in shared responsibility.
“I hope to help create an environment where sustainability and environmental action feel like a comfortable norm, not something people see as a chore,” she said. “I want to help build a knowledgeable and welcoming environment where people can engage with each other.”
The new Sustainability, Society and Environmental Geography program is now available in the Penn State University Undergraduate Bulletin. Students interested in the program can contact the Department of Geography to learn more about requirements and course planning.