Sustainability is growing theme of business schools.

Environmentally conscious entrepreneurs looking to get a business degree now have several options when choosing a graduate school. Four U.S. institutions offer "Sustainable MBAs," or Masters of Business Administration programs that infuse sustainability concepts through their curricula. More-traditional business schools are also including classes and coursework that reflect a growing awareness of the interactions between business and the environment.

Sustainable MBA programs, according to Miguel Esteban of Washington state's Bainbridge Graduate Institute (BGI), are built "from the ground up," with environmental considerations not just applied as a "band-aid" to traditional classes. Both BGI and the Presidio School of Management in San Francisco offer primarily online classes, with professors and students meeting in person only once a month. Bainbridge ranked first among 40 business programs surveyed by Net Impact, an organization that promotes using the power of business to drive positive social, environmental, and economic changes.

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Green Mountain College, located in Vermont, is an accredited business program that offers true distance learning that is practical for working professionals, according to William Prado, director of the school's MBA and Sustainable Business program. Students are required to meet instructors in person only twice during the two-year program. The accredited New College of California, on the other hand, values face-to-face interaction so much, says promotions coordinator Stacie Wickham, that its sustainable MBA program is conducted entirely in the classroom and is not available online.

Representatives of each of the four schools describe their sustainable MBA programs as practical and inclusive of all of the key components of a traditional business education. Each program incorporates a real-life project or "capstone," and focuses on benefiting the three elements of "people, planet, and profit." Critics, however, contend that these specialized programs still fall short when compared to conventional programs. "They're providing fundamentals, but they may not be as deep as your traditional MBA," noted Mark Milstein, business research director at the World Resources Institute (WRI) and a lecturer at Cornell University's business school, in a January 2006 New York Times article.

But prospective students will find that even traditional MBA programs are becoming more environmentally responsible. According to the most recent Beyond Grey Pinstripes survey, a biennial ranking of business schools' social and environmental leadership sponsored by WRI and the Aspen Institute, 54 percent of participating institutions now require a course in ethics, corporate social responsibility, sustainability, or business and society, up from 45 percent in 2003. Stanford University's MBA program ranked number one overall among the 91 participants.

The illustrations for this Eye on Earth section were created by students in Glenna Lang's advanced illustration class at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Eye on Earth is produced in collaboration with the Blue Moon Fund (www.bluemoonfund.org). Stories are posted continually at www.worldwatch.org/eyeonearth.