Environmental Studies Major

Twelve courses are required for the Environmental Studies major.  Of these 12 courses, one 200-level course and two 300-level courses may be taken off campus (study abroad, five-college courses, etc.).  Permission of ES adviser is required for all off-campus credit.  All other courses must be taken at Mount Holyoke College.

Introductory Courses

All students must take Environmental Studies 100, Introduction to Environmental Studies, one 100-level science course with lab, and one statistics course (see each concentration for additional Statistics requirements).  Note: The credits from the Lab Science course and Statistics course, although required for the major, will not be counted toward the total number of credits.

Other recommended introductory courses: 

BIOL 145 (Introductory Biology), CHEM 101 (General Chemistry I), CHEM 200 (Environmental Chemistry), CHEM 201 (General Chemistry II), GEOG 105 (World Regional Geography), GEOL 100 (Physical Geology), GEOL 101 (Environmental Geology), GEOL 103 (Exploring the Dynamic Earth),  PHYS 103, PHYS 115.

All students must take two courses from Group A and three courses from Group B.  In Group A, one of the courses must be ENVST 200, Environmental Science, or BIOL 223 Ecology, orGEOL 203 Surface Processes. (Note the two course requirement in Group A can be met by taking two of these required courses in Group A.)  In group B, one of the courses must be ECON 203, Environmental Economics or POLIT 266, Environmental Politics in America, and one must be an approved humanities course listed below or approved by the Department.

At least one of the following courses is required:

The second course may be one of the above or one of the following: 

Other Course MUST BE approved by the ES Advisor
            Dept, Course # and

Title:_______________________________________________

Group B  (three from different departments, one in Humanities)

One of the following courses is required:

Students may take both of the above courses and one of the following:
**Remember you must take at least one humanities courseto fulfill the Group B requirement.

Other Course MUST BE approved by the ES Advisor
            Dept, Course # and

Title:_______________________________________________

Concentration Within the Major

All ES majors must declare a concentration.  For each of the concentrations listed below, three 200-level (4 credit) courses and four 300-level (4 credit) courses are required.  For 2-credit courses, an additional 2-credit course must be taken to total 4 credits.  A maximum of two 200-level courses in the concentration may be used to fill the Group A and Group B requirements, where appropriate and subject to adviser’s approval.  ES Concentration Guidelines and Forms are available in the racks just outside the doorway of the Department Office, Clapp 304.

Conservation
Ecosystem Science
Environmental Politics and Policy
Geoscience
Nature/History/Culture
Organismal Biology
Sustainable Development
Political Ecology

Conservation                  

• STAT 240 required
  
  
• 200-level courses (3 required): BIOL 223 Ecology (required), BIOL 206 Local Flora (2 credits), BIOL 226 Evolution, CHEM 202 Organic Chemistry I, ENVST 200 Environmental Science, ENVST 204 Human Dimensions of Environmental Change, GEOG 205 Mapping and Spatial Analysis, GEOG 211 Introduction to GIS.
  
  
• 300-level courses (4 required): BIOL 331 Theory and Application of Conservation Biology (required), BIOL 315 Ethology, BIOL 321 Marine Conservation (2 credits), BIOL 321 Extreme Life (2 credits), BIOL 325 Plant Diversity and Evolution, BIOL 309 Vertebrate Zoology, ENVST 321 Contaminants and the Environment, ENVST 321 Energy and the Environment, ENVST 321 Environmental Justice: Theory and Practice, ENVST 321 International Water Issues and Policies, ENVST 321 Sustainable Agriculture, ENVST 321 Urban Ecology, ENVST 344 Biogeochemistry of Northern Ecosystems, GEOG 307 Remote Sensing.
  

Ecosystem Science             

• STAT 240 required
  
  
• 200-level courses (3 required): BIOL 223 Ecology (required),ENVST 200 Environmental Science (required), BIOL 206 Local Flora (2 credits), BIOL 226 Evolution, CHEM 202 Organic Chemistry I, CHEM 232 Global Biogeochemistry, GEOG 205 Mapping and Spatial Analysis, GEOG 211 Introduction to GIS, GEOL 203 Surface Processes, GEOL 227 Groundwater,GEOL 240 Geological Resources and the Environment.
  
• 300-level courses (4 required): BIOL 321 Marine Conservation (2 credits), BIOL 325 Plant Diversity and Evolution, BIOL 331 Theory and Application of Conservation Biology, CHEM 302 Organic Chemistry II, ENVST 321 Contaminants and the Environment, ENVST 321 Energy and the Environment, ENVST 321 Sustainable Agriculture, ENVST 344 Biogeochemistry of Northern Ecosystems, GEOG 307 Remote Sensing, GEOL 326 Climate through Earth History.
  
  

Environmental Politics and Policy                     
Recommended Adviser: Doug Amy, Jens Christiansen

• 200-level courses (3 required): ECON 203 Environmental Economics (required), HIST 284 History, Ecology, and Landscape, POLIT 242 Oil and Water Don’t Mix, IR 241 Global Resource Politics (Five-College Course), SS 125 This Land is Your Land (Hampshire), SS 285 Environmental and Social Justice (Hampshire), PPL 222
        US Environmental History and Policy (Smith),Pol 253 International Environmental Politics and Policy (UMass), Pub & Adm 179B US Environmental Policy (UMass).
  
  
• 300-level courses (4 required): POLIT 3xx Environmental Politics (POLIT 266 at 300-level, required), ENVST 321 Energy and the Environment, ENVST 321 International Water Issues and Policies, GEOG 304 Planning and the Environment, GEOG 313 Development and Environment in the Third World, GEOG 341 Nature and Society in the Global South, POLIT 345 Memories of Overdevelopment, Gov 306 Seminar in Politics and the Environment (Smith), Legal 479N Environmental Justice (UMass).

Geoscience                                
Recommended Adviser: Steven Dunn, Thomas Millette, or Al Werner

• 200-level courses (3 required): ENVST 200 Environmental Science, GEOG 205 Mapping and Spatial Analysis, GEOG 211 Introduction to GIS, GEOG 224 Atmosphere and Weather, GEOL 201 Rocks and Minerals, GEOL 202 History of Earth, GEOL 203 Surface Processes, GEOG 215 Earth System Science, GEOL 227 Groundwater, GEOL 240 Geological Resources and the Environment.
  
  
•  300-level courses (4 required): ENVST 321 Energy and the Environment, GEOG 307 Remote Sensing, any other 300-level Geography or Geology courses.
  
  

 Nature/History/Culture        
Recommended Adviser: Lauret Savoy or Robert Schwartz

• 200-level courses (3 required): HIST 256 Interpreting Nature: Environmental Thinking and Practice in Europe 1500-present, HIST 284 History, Ecology, and Landscape (HIST 256 or HIST 284 required), ARTH 216 Empire: Art & Archaeology of the Roman Empire, ARTH 243 Building the Modern Environment: Architecture 1890-1990, CST 255 Human Agency and Historical Transformation, ENGL 202 Introduction to Journalism, ENGL 232 Global Diversity/European Modernity, ENGL/ENVST 267 Reading and Writing in the World, GEOL 202 History of Earth, HIST 283 Mapping the Memorable: A Cultural and Environmental History of MHC Campus, PHIL 240 Environmental Ethics: Nature/Culture/Values.
  
•  300-level courses (4 required): ENGL 301 Nonfiction Writing: Science Writing: The Environment, ENGL 373 Nature and Gender: A Landscape of One’s Own, ENVST 312 Native American Lands and Environment, ENVST 317 Perspectives on American Environmental History, ENVST 325 Photography and Landscape: Earth as a Visual Text, HIST 301 Food and Famine in Africa, HIST 361 Environmental History: Nature and Industrialization in Britain, 1780-1814, LATAM 389 Agrarian America, POLIT 3xx Environmental Politics in America (POLIT 266 at 300-level),POLIT 345 Memories of Overdevelopment.