ENVI 40 - Critical Thinking and Evidence-Based Reasoning for the Environment (Martin, Winter 2025): Internet Sources

Copy your search terms into Google Advanced Search. From there, limit to a specific domain, such as .gov, .edu, or .ucsb.edu. Additionally, you can limit by file type. Reports will typically be .pdf files.

You can also try the advanced search on Startpage for some high quality and ad-free results. 

Using web search engines (such as Google) to find web sites on your topic can be valuable, but you will often find a lot of useless material along with the good sites. 

Additionally, you may want to consult the sites below:

• Sustainability at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• National Agricultural Library Alternative Farming Systems Information Center (AFSIC)
• National Institute of Food and Agriculture Sustainable Agriculture Program
• Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems
• Guiding Principles for Sustainable Federal Buildings
• Department of Housing and Urban Development Sustainable Housing and Communities
• Federal Transit Administration Transit and Environmental Programs
• Energy Indicators for Sustainable Development, International Energy Agency
• United Nations Environment Programme
  • The UNEP addresses sustainability issues in several of its thematic areas.
• UN Food and Agriculture Organization
  • Focus on Sustainable Aquaculture
  • Natural Resources and Environment

Not only can you use graphs and images from online articles (by using a html version and saving), but you can find reliable images from some web sources.  Here are some tips for quality images. Please be sure you cite them and note that most of these are Copyrighted and cannot be reproduced on the Internet without permission (with the exception of the Public Domain Image Archive).

Google Images Sort by image size or color (select "settings" and "advanced search" after performing your initial search)

CalPhotos High quality images from organizations and photographers that usually allow educational use

Flickr Commons

Getty Images - Sign in for watermark-free images

Public Domain Image Archive - Out of copyright works free for you to use