Faculty Profile
Heather Plumridge Bedi
(she/her/hers)Associate Professor of Environmental Studies (2014)
Contact Information
Kaufman Hall Room 110
717-254-8168
Bio
Dr. Heather Plumridge Bedi's interdisciplinary social science research examines human-environmental injustices associated with climate change, the energy transition, and land grabbing. Conducting research across scales, Dr. Bedi analyzes the local development and economic costs of environmental change, and associated activism. One of Dr. Bedi’s current local projects uses spatial analysis to examine environmental justice areas and municipal renewable energy adoption. Globally, she examines climate governance and India’s efforts to assert soft power via solar diplomacy. Her climate diplomacy and governance research connect the local to the global, including environmental, sustainable development, and livelihood implications. Her research has been funded by the Fulbright Program, the Cambridge Political Economy Society Trust, the UK-India Education Research Initiative, the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds, and Mellon Foundation grants at Dickinson College. Dr. Bedi received the American Association of Geographers Harm de Blij Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. She is currently a Research Affiliate at the University of Colorado Boulder, Environment & Society Program and Center for the Governance of Natural Resources.
Education
- B.A., Occidental College, 2000
- M.S., University of Michigan, 2002
- Ph.D., University of Cambridge, 2012
2025-2026 Academic Year
Fall 2025
ENST 161 Environmental Connections
This introductory environmental studies course draws from the influences of the humanities and natural sciences on the social sciences in relation to the environment. The course will examine the ideas, concepts, and debates central to the field. Students will examine the relationship between humans and the environment and become familiar with a range of environmental challenges, with an emphasis on how these challenges have emerged over time and space. The course will investigate and evaluate a variety of strategies that are currently being pursued to address these environmental challenges. The course stresses the importance of “seeing connections”, thinking carefully and critically about environmental issues, and appreciating that complex questions rarely have a single solution. This is an introductory course for those majoring in environmental studies and environmental science. Non-majors should enroll in ENST 121 Introduction to Environmental Science. This course has no laboratory section.