diff --git a/conda-store-server/conda_store_server/_internal/server/views/api.py b/conda-store-server/conda_store_server/_internal/server/views/api.py
index 496e46f6..31522de5 100644
--- a/conda-store-server/conda_store_server/_internal/server/views/api.py
+++ b/conda-store-server/conda_store_server/_internal/server/views/api.py
@@ -676,8 +676,10 @@ async def api_list_environments(
     Returns
     -------
     Dict
-        Paginated JSON response containing the requested environments
-
+        Paginated JSON response containing the requested environments. Results are sorted by each
+        envrionment's build's scheduled_on time to ensure all results are returned when iterating
+        over pages in systems where the number of environments is changing while results are being
+        requested; see https://github.com/conda-incubator/conda-store/issues/859 for context
     """
     with conda_store.get_db() as db:
         if jwt:
@@ -712,10 +714,10 @@ async def api_list_environments(
             schema.Environment,
             exclude={"current_build"},
             allowed_sort_bys={
-                "namespace": orm.Namespace.name,
-                "name": orm.Environment.name,
+                "scheduled_on": orm.Environment.current_build.scheduled_on,
             },
-            default_sort_by=["namespace", "name"],
+            default_sort_by=["scheduled_on"],
+            default_order="asc",
         )
 
 
diff --git a/conda-store-server/conda_store_server/api.py b/conda-store-server/conda_store_server/api.py
index 7b937046..0b582c5d 100644
--- a/conda-store-server/conda_store_server/api.py
+++ b/conda-store-server/conda_store_server/api.py
@@ -324,7 +324,11 @@ def list_environments(
     Query
         Sqlalchemy query containing the requested environments
     """
-    query = db.query(orm.Environment).join(orm.Environment.namespace)
+    query = (
+        db.query(orm.Environment)
+        .join(orm.Environment.namespace)
+        .join(orm.Environment.current_build)
+    )
 
     if namespace:
         query = query.filter(orm.Namespace.name == namespace)
@@ -343,9 +347,6 @@ def list_environments(
     if not show_soft_deleted:
         query = query.filter(orm.Environment.deleted_on == null())
 
-    if status or artifact or packages:
-        query = query.join(orm.Environment.current_build)
-
     if status:
         query = query.filter(orm.Build.status == status)