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Environmental Studies Department
Olin Rice 249
1600 Grand Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55105
651-696-6274
Comments & questions to:
esson@macalester.edu


Major/Minor Requirements

Environmental Studies is an interdisciplinary program based on a holistic understanding of environmental issues occurring at the local, national, and global level.  The program offers students tools and perspectives from the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences to understand the causes and consequences of environmental problems and the knowledge to develop potential solutions.

Major Concentration

The Environmental Studies major consists of ten courses (40 credits) in environmental studies and related subjects plus a seven-course emphasis.  The ten course requirement is distributed as follows:

Other Environmental Studies Courses:

Minor Concentration

Five courses (20 credits) are required for a minor in Environmental Studies: two from the introductory sequence (Environmental Studies 133, 215, or 234) and three additional Environmental Studies courses selected in consultation with a department faculty member and approved by the department chair.

Honors Thesis

The Environmental Studies Department participates in the Honors Program. Eligibility requirements, application procedures, and specific project expectations for the Environmental Studies Department are available here, from the Environmental Studies Department office, or the Dean of Academic Programs.

Current Course Schedule can be found here.

Course Descriptions

ENVI 120 - Environmental Geology (same as GEOL 120)
The physical environment has begun to show signs of our earth's expanding population and increasing need for natural resources.  Geologic materials such as soil, water, and bedrock, and geologic processes involving earthquakes, volcanic activity, and running water often pose constraints on land use.  This course is designed to introduce students to the relationship between humans and their geologic environment:  the earth.  We will focus on understanding the processes that shape the surface of the earth, and how these processes affect human activity.  We will use current scientific methods to collect and analyze data, and compile coherent reports outlining results and conclusions, pollution and waste management, landslides, volcanic and earthquake hazards, and global climate change.  Format:  three hour block per week of local field excursions, lectures, and/or laboratory exercises; evaluation will be based on project reports and homework/classroom assignments, and one exam (final).  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  Fall semester.  (4 credits)

ENVI 130 - The Science of Renewable Energy (Same as PHYS 130)
This is a course on the current status of the most promising alternative and renewable energy methods from a primarily scientific and technological perspective.  Photovoltaics, passive solar, wind, biomass and biofuels, and hydrogen will be considered in depth. Fusion and geothermal power generation will also be briefly discussed.  The course will begin with a consideration of the nature of energy and the physics and chemistry of energy generation.  Current methods of electricity generation and transportation energy sources (fossil fuels, nuclear, and hydroelectric) will be briefly reviewed, including discussion of their limitations and environmental consequences.  The focus of the course will be on understanding the scientific basis of alternative energy sources, and their promise and technological challenges for wide scale implementation.  A two hour weekly laboratory accompanies the course, which will include fabrication of a dye-sensitized solar cell; the design, construction, and testing of a scale model wind turbine; design, construction of a passive solar oven; and analysis of data from the Macalester wind turbine and the Olin-Rice solar cell lab. Some pre-calculus mathematics will be used, otherwise there are no prerequisites for the course.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  (4 credits)

ENVI 133 - Environmental Science
This course provides the basic scientific knowledge and understanding of how our world works from an environmental perspective.  This course provides a framework of knowledge into which additional information can be readily integrated over a lifetime of continued learning.  Topics covered include, but are not limited to, general issues on the environment, basic principles of ecosystem function, human population growth, production and distribution of food, soil and soil ecosystems, pest and pest control, water resources and management, water pollution, hazardous chemicals, air pollution and climate change, pollution and public policy, biodiversity and its conservation, solid waste, energy resources, and sustainability.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  There are no prerequisites.  It will be offered every Fall and Spring semester.  (4 credits)

ENVI 194 - Water Science and Policy (Same as GEOL 194)
Many scientists and political leaders argue that the world is in desperate need of a “blue revolution” to provide safe, clean and accessible water for human and ecosystem services.  Drawing from the fields of hydrology, political science, geography, and history, this course will introduce students to the basic analytical tools necessary to understand   surface and groundwater processes.  This interdisciplinary course is team taught by two professors affiliated with the Environmental Studies department.  Through a focus on large river basins, we will examine historical and emerging challenges to the sustainable use of water.  The course begins with an overview of scientific concepts, water laws and institutions, and development challenges such as flood prevention, hydroelectric energy generation and groundwater contamination. In the second half of the course, we will shift our attention to the application of these concepts to major world river systems, including the Nile, Yangtze and Narmada rivers. Students will choose a domestic or international river system to examine for their final poster and paper project.  Our fieldtrips will introduce students to the “Three Rivers” region of Minnesota. Students will measure water discharge during a fieldtrip to the Sunrise River, a tributary of the St. Croix River.  We will discuss the effects of dams and riverfront development on the urban corridors of the Mississippi River.  We will also learn about the impacts of industrial agriculture on the Minnesota River.  Through exercises, homeworks, and fieldtrips, students will also be introduced to the plethora of government agencies and NGOs that are involved with river related concerns.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  (4 credits)

ENVI 194 - Global Climate Change
The Earth’s climate system is complex and dynamic, and a solid understanding of how the system operates is required in order to address concerns about the anthropogenic influence on climate.  In this course, we examine the basic physical and chemical processes that control the modern climate system, including the role of incoming solar radiation, the greenhouse effect, ocean and atmospheric circulation, and El Niño. We also look critically at the methods and archives used to reconstruct climate in the past, such as ice cores, marine and lake sediments, and cave deposits.  We explore the possible effects of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions on modern and future climate by critically examining the models used in climate prediction, and discuss the challenges of modeling such a complex system.  Although this course is taught from a primarily scientific perspective, it includes frequent discussions regarding the role of policy and economics in the current dialogue on global climate change.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  (4 credits)

ENVI 194 - Restoration Ecology (Same as BIOL 194)
Ecological restoration is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed (SER 2004).  This new course will provide a broad overview of the interdisciplinary field of restoration ecology, include specific case studies of restoration efforts, and involve extensive hands-on field experiences.  We will focus on using knowledge of basic ecology and ecosystem functioning to facilitate the recovery of degraded ecosystems.  Topics related to the implementation of restoration projects such as assessment of reference conditions, planning and setting objectives, manipulating successional trajectories, evaluating success, legislation, and funding will be included.  Additional topics will include management of introduced/exotic/invasive species, environmental design principles, and complications due to climate change.  Labs will include field trips to restoration efforts in the Twin Cities area and a semester long project at Macalester’s field station, the Katherine Ordway Natural History Study Area.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.   (4 credits)

ENVI 194 - Rivers, Humans and Environmental Justice (Same as ENGL 194 and PHIL 194)
The Minnesota, Mississippi and St. Croix Rivers converge nearby and provide the context for our class.  We begin with a consideration of Native American perspectives on the three rivers.  In September we plan to take a weekend canoe trip on the Minnesota River under the direction of the Healthy Nations Program of the American Indian Center.  Our consideration of Native American perspectives will raise questions of ownership and property rights and lead to consideration of environmental justice as well as the environment as a human rights issue.  The written work for the course will include creative writing such as poems, short stories and reflections as well as philosophical writing such as conceptual analysis and arguments for ethical and political positions related to environmental justice and human rights.  There are no prerequisites.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.   (4 credits)

ENVI 194 - Lakes, Streams and Rivers (Same as BIOL 194)
 Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes, is also home to numerous streams and rivers. In this course we will examine the nature of these aquatic ecosystems; exploring their ecology, geology and chemistry. We will also investigate human impacts through such practices as agriculture, urbanization and industrialization, on these important ecosystems. Students will complete projects exploring various aspects of local waterbodies, especially the Mississippi, Minnesota and St. Croix Rivers.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  (4 credits)

ENVI 194 - Culture, Conservation and the Environment (Same as ANTH 194)
This course introduces students to the ways in which anthropology has engaged the idea of the environment through its most significant theoretical concept, that of culture, and goes on to examine the value of an anthropological perspective for contemporary conservation strategies. There are two kinds of anthropological approaches to environment that we will consider. The first is cultural ecology, the ways in which culture shapes how human beings adapt to their environment. The second examines how actors in different societies understand the concept of environment; does “environment” mean the same thing to all people everywhere? Finally, we will apply the ideas we have learned in the first half of the course to a number of conservation projects throughout the world to see how they illuminate their success or failure. No prerequisites.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.   (4 credits)

ENVI 194 - Introduction to Global Environmental History (Same as HIST 194)
This introductory course will introduce the main themes, methods, and conclusions of global environmental history. We will explore how different societies used and transformed the natural world, how they responded to the challenges of growth and environmental sustainability, how different political, cultural, and religious world-views affect land and resource use. Throughout the semester, we will work with comparative case studies (such as dam-building in America, China, and Africa or forest use in medieval and modern Europe) to see how these common themes played out in vastly different environmental and historical contexts. No prerequisites.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  (4 credits)

ENVI 215 - Environmental Politics and Policy (Same as POLI 215)
This course provides an introduction to the field of Environmental Politics and Policy. Using a comparative approach, the course engages the meaning and development of environmental governance. We will explore the tandem rise of the modern environmental movement and profound new environmental legislation in the U.S. and internationally.  Topics investigated will include: deforestation, hazardous wastes, climate change, population growth, and loss of biodiversity.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  Every spring.  (4 credits)

ENVI 229 - Environmental Ethics (Same as PHIL 229)
A course that addresses a variety of theoretical positions and applied topics in environmental ethics from both traditional and non-traditional perspectives.  The positions include: traditional ethics concerning the environment that do not constitute an environmental ethic (or, ethic of the environment); utilitarian and rights-based animal welfarism; an ethics of respect; Leopold's Land Ethic, environmental pragmatism; continental environmental ethics; deep ecology; ecofeminist ethics; Black and Third World feminist positions on environmental ethics; and, indigenous and earth-based community perspectives in environmental ethics.  We will also consider the viability of these theoretical positions in applied, real-life contexts by considering such topics as: their implications for public policy; environmental ethics and environmentalism as a social justice movement, human overpopulation; pollution; globalization; colonialization; and grassroots activism.  The ultimate objective is for each student to develop their own conceptually deep, theoretically grounded, and concrete environmental ethic.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  Every year.  (4 credits)

ENVI 231 - Environmental Economics and Policy (same as ECON 231)
This course presents the elementary theories of environmental pollution (e.g., air, water and land pollution) and the economics of such global issues as climate change and biodiversity.  The aim is to provide an understanding of the conditions determining whether markets do a good job in protecting the environment and biological resources, to explore potential areas for government intervention, and to employ economics in evaluating the relative effectiveness of alternative forms of government intervention in achieving particular objectives.  Both local, state, national and global environmental issues and policy, and the linkages between them, are addressed.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  Prerequisite:  Economics 119.  Every year.  (4 credits)

ENVI 232 - People, Agriculture and the Environment (same as GEOG 232)
This course introduces you to the study of human-environment interactions from a geographic perspective, with a special emphasis on the role of humans in changing the face of the earth and how, in turn, this changing environment influences humans.  The course will examine environmental issues in a variety of geographic contexts (developed and developing countries) and the connections between environmental problems in different locations.  Students will explore the fundamentals of environmental science, economics, cultural and political ecology, as well as a number of sectoral issues related to human population growth, agriculture, water resources, biodiversity, forest resources, energy use, climate change, and environmental health.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  No prerequisites.  Spring semester.  (4 credits)

ENVI 234 American Environmental History (Same as HIST 234)
In this course, we will examine the variety of ways that people in North America have shaped the environment, as well as how they have used, labored in, abused, conserved, protected, rearranged, polluted, cleaned, and thought about it.  In addition, we will explore how various characteristics of the natural world have affected the broad patterns of human society, sometimes harming or hindering life and other times enabling rapid development and expansion.  By bringing nature into the study of human history, and the human past into the study of nature, we will begin to see the connections and interdependencies between the two that are often overlooked.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  (4 credits)

ENVI 236 - Consumer Nation:  Twentieth-Century American Consumer Culture (Same as HIST 236)
Of all the strange beasts that have come slouching into the 20th century," writes James Twitchell, "none has been more misunderstood, more criticized, and more important than materialism." In this course, we will trace the various twists and turns of America's vigorous consumer culture across the twentieth century, examining its growing influence on American life, its implications for the environmental health of the world, and the many debates it has inspired. For more information, look at the course syllabus.  (4 credits)

ENVI 237 - Environmental Justice (Same as HIST 237)
Poor and minority populations have historically born the brunt of environmental inequalities in the United States, suffering disproportionately from the effects of pollution, resource depletion, dangerous jobs, limited access to common resources, and exposure to environmental hazards. Paying particular attention to the ways that race, ethnicity, class, and gender have shaped the political and economic dimensions of environmental injustices, this course draws on the work of scholars and activists to examine the long history of environmental inequities in the United States, along with more recent political movements--national and local--that seek to rectify environmental injustices. Every other fall.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  ((4 credits)

ENVI 252 - Water and Power (Same as GEOG 252  and POLI 252)
This course develops an interdisciplinary approach to studying water resources development, drawing from political science, geography, anthropology, history, hydrology and civil engineering. With a focus on large river basins, the course examines historical and emerging challenges to the equitable and sustainable use of transboundary waters. After first exploring the American water development model, the course will examine the promulgation of this model in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. Dam development for irrigation, electricity, navigation and flood protection will be discussed.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  (4 credits)

ENVI 258 - Geography of Environmental Hazards (Same as GEOG 258)
The study of environmental hazards stands at a key point of intersection between the physical and the human worlds. Once commonly referred to as “natural hazards,” environmental hazards are increasingly being recognized as critically influenced by human behavior, broadening our understanding of how such hazards can and should be addressed. Geography, with its focus on human-environment interactions, provides key theoretical approaches that can help to elucidate these complexities. This human approach considers three main themes related to hazards geography. First, what influences vulnerability to environmental hazards, focusing on issues of inequality at global, regional, and local scales? Second, how might planning for and mitigation of disasters associated with hazards be undertaken more effectively in the context of such understandings of vulnerability? Finally, how can geographic methods and approaches best be employed to reduce people’s vulnerability to environmental hazards? No prerequisite. Spring semester. (4 credits)

ENVI 265 - Justice (same as ENGL 265)
In this course we will examine texts by, about, and for workers for social justice. Our method will be interdisciplinary.  With an eye toward aesthetics, we will examine novels and plays that have at their center protagonists who have been called to realize a vision of the just society or, more desperately, to stand alone against seemingly inevitable assaults upon human dignity.  We will at the same time examine philosophical and sociological accounts of political action, including works that evaluate the effectiveness of different individual and organizational strategies for social change.  Central issues may include obedience and disobedience, economic justice, eco-activism, globalization, human rights, gender, race, and the question of personal vocation - that is, how do we bring together our ethical commitments and our working lives?  Central figures will range from Sophocles to Naomi Klein, Zola to James Baldwin.  Students will be provided extensive opportunities for service and experiential learning in local organizations committed to social justice.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  (4 credits)

ENVI 266 - Field, Fold and Table:  Literature of Sustainable Agriculture (Same as ENGL 266)
Study of literary writers' explorations of farming and the sustainable creation of our food.  We consider current agrarian issues through fiction, poetry, prose, and liturgical practices concerned with agricultural change, food supply, labor, justice, sufficiency, dearth and abundance, rural poverty and plenty, the nature of appetite, the ethical imperative to feed the hungry.  Readings may be drawn from Michael Pollan, Wendell Berry, Robert Hardy, Willa Cather, Henry David Thoreau, medieval Icelandic sagas, Robert Frost, Gerard Manley Hopkins John Keats, Seamus Heaney, Dogen, Hesiod, Virgil, Arthur Waley, Lewis Hyde, Masanobu Fukuoka, Raymond Williams, and visual artists Dorothea Lange, Pete Wettach, Pieter Brueghel, illustrators of the Luttrell Psalter.  Visits to local farms, co-ops, markets, and religious observances of harvest-time will occur as possible.  No prerequisites.  Alternate years.  (4 credits)

ENVI 267 - Literature and Environment:  Poetry of Dwelling (Same as ENGL 267)
Study of a wide array of poetry, creation myths, cosmologies, and creative scholarly work, considering poets' sense of habitation in what Gary Snyder calls "Earth House Hold."  How does a place environ its inhabitants?  What are just and dynamic principles of dwelling?  What makes for powerful poetic meditations on dwelling?  Texts may include those of poets and cosmologists of ancient China (Lao Tzu, Wang Wei, Cold Mountain), ancient Greece and Rome (Hesiod, Virgil), Britain (Keats, Coleridge, Heaney, Oswald), and espeically 20th- and 21st-century United States:  Robert Frost, Wendell Berry, Lorine Niedecker, Elizabeth Bishop, A. R. Ammons, Gary Snyder.  Thinkers in diverse disciplines will include Angus Fletcher, Mary Douglas, Tim Ingold, Frank Lloyd Wright.  We tour the Purcell-Cutts House in Minneapolis, and other sites as available.  No prerequisites.  Alternate years.  (4 credits)

ENVI 280 - Environmental Classics (Same as ENGL 266)
What has the environment mean to past generations?  How have writers shaped the ways we understand our relationships with the natural world?  This course explores these questions, drawing in roughly equal measure on “classic” texts from the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.  Required for Environmental Studies majors.  It is recommended that students complete this course during the spring of their sophomore year.  Prerequisites:  Permission of the instructor or two of the following:  ENVI 133, ENVI 215, ENVI 234.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  Every spring.  (4 credits)

ENVI 285 - Ecology (Same as BIOL 285)
The subject of this course is the natural world and the current and past ecological processes that have shaped it.  Various ecological patterns are described and potential underlying mechanisms are investigated through field and laboratory studies.  The impact of humans on natural systems is also examined.  The course is guided by a strong evolutionary approach and an emphasis on systems behavior, such as feedback mechanisms, threshold responses, and alternative stable states.   Three hours lecture and one three-hour lab each week.  Prerequisites: none.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  Every semester.  (4 credits)

ENVI 292 - Integrated Tropical Water Quality Management
This class is an intensive, inquiry-based field experience.   It involves field work in several areas in Jamaica, with a focus on a single community (Robin’s Bay, St Mary’s Parish).  Students experience a range of habitats and environmental impacts in which to address land-use and water quality issues.  They use a range of tools to investigate water-quality on a working farm.  They also connect closely with members of the community surrounding the farm, working with them as stakeholders in water quality decisions.  The farm offers a ridge-to-reef opportunity where we analyze freshwater and marine water quality.  We use inquiry-based techniques to learn about the tools and designs needed to understand water quality impacts, how those tools and designs are used in a tropical setting, and how students from two different academic and social cultures approach the same questions.  Throughout the class, we integrate discussion about land-use practices and water quality in this tropical island setting.  January course.  (2 credits)

ENVI 294 - Environment and the Media
This course examines how media and popular culture influence our understanding of the environment.  We will use an interdisciplinary framework to explore the ways in which nature and the environment are portrayed in a variety of cultural texts.  Topics will include:  feature films and nature television, news accounts of environmental issues, corporate advertising, nature theme parks, and media representations of green activism.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  (4 credits)

ENVI 294 - Literature and Environment (Same as ENGL 294)
What counts as sustainable living, and what do literary writers explore about it? This course studies writers of essays, journals, fiction, poetry, and song on questions of sustainable human and natural communities. We’ll look at current issues of food supply, agriculture, agrarian communities, sufficiency, dearth and abundance, attending to the ways that literary craftsmanship can inspire and inform action. Works drawn from nonfiction prose by Emerson, Thoreau, Jefferson, Wendell Berry, Michael Pollan, Gary Snyder, Charles Olson; fiction by Ursula Le Guin and Willa Cather; and some poets, going back as far as ancient mythological poets Hesiod and Virgil.  (4 credits)

ENVI 294 - The Black Death (Same as HIST 294)
From 1347-1350, a great plague swept across Europe, killing an estimated 1/3 of the entire human population.  As if that wasn’t bad enough, the fourteenth century also witnessed animal diseases, famines, large-scale climate change, and the human crisis of war.  This had both immediate and long-term effects on medieval Europe, changing daily life, social networks, and economic decision making.  Understanding the degree to which the medieval world was altered by (and survived) this natural disaster also offers glimpses of medieval psychology, scientific knowledge, spirituality, and aesthetics.  We will also set the medieval epidemic in its broader context, by discussing problems in studying historical plagues and by looking at the earlier outbreak of plague in Europe at the end of the Roman Empire.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  (4 credits)

ENVI 294 - Psychology of Sustainable Behavior (Same as PSYC 294)
This course is an introduction to the psychology of sustainable behavior. As scientific evidence of degraded world environmental conditions accumulates, researchers from many disciplines are joining the effort to find solutions. Technological innovation will certainly play an important role, but equally important are behavior changes at both the organizational and individual level. Psychologists use their training in the scientific study of human behavior to examine why people do or do not act sustainably in a variety of situations. In this course we will study this body of research and use psychological principles, theories, and methods to understand the factors that underlie both environmentally destructive as well as environmentally sustainable actions. A significant component of the course will be direct application of theory to one's own actions as well as to a campus-based sustainability issue. Prerequisite for Psychology majors: Introduction to Psychology (PSYC 100). No prerequisite for ES majors.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  (4 credits)

ENVI 294 - Environmental Issues and Media (Same as HMCS 294)
How are public perceptions concerning environmental conditions, policy, actors and interests shaped by the language and images used to represent environmental issues? Who sets the agenda for environmental issues and debates and how is that agenda presented for public consumption? What role does news, entertainment and advertising play in establishing or maintaining particular images, perspectives and discourses regarding the environment?  This course focuses attention on patterns of environmental news reporting, media portrayals of environmental activism, images of industrial polluters, the visions and metaphors of “green advertising,” and the shifting parameters of environmental rhetoric nationally and globally to gain a sense of the influence of media representation on our views of nature and our understanding of environmental debate. Class members will plan individual term projects that address such issues as: visualizing biodiversity, the limitations of science journalism, the role of elites in shaping media agendas, green visions of environmental sustainability, the images and metaphors of nature documentaries, and preoccupations with risk, drama, geography or culture in television and movie treatments of environmental problems.  (4 credits)

ENVI 304 - Myth and Environment in Medieval Literature (Same as ENGL 304)
This course studies poems, tales, myths, and non-fiction of the British and Scandinavian archipelagos in medieval times, focusing on accounts ofmagic, marvels, enchantment and disenchantment, nature spirits, dragons, demons, shape-shifters, fairies, and uncanny animals. These narratives and character types, surprisingly, constitute medieval literature's most complex explorations of environment, home and homelessness, invasion and settlement, the fates of indigenous religions and its spirits as Christianity spread, and people's encounters with seas, forests, lands, weathers, and other humans of those northern worlds. Works will be drawn from the Scandinavian Volsung Saga and The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki; the Irish legends Sweeney Astray, The Life of Saint Gall, The Taìn; the Welsh Mabinogion; the lais of Anglo-French writer Marie de France; the English Beowulf, The Wedding of Sir Gawain & Dame Ragnelle, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Chaucer's Wife of Bath's Tale and Franklin's Tale, excerpts from Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur, and Hayao Miyazaki's film Spirited Away.  We will make connections among scholarship in literary history, religious studies, anthropology, philosophy, and historical geography.  Alternate years.   (4 credits)

ENVI 335 - Science and Citizenship  (same as POLI 335)
This course explores the dynamic relationship between science, technology and society. The course will examine how, and which members of, the public make controversial environmental decisions over topics such as endangered species, genetically modified foods, bioprospecting, climate change, and toxic waste disposal. Through these case studies, the course will critically examine concepts of risk and uncertainty, trust, credibility, expertise and citizenship. For more information, look at the course syllabus.  (4 credits)

ENVI 340 - U.S. Urban Environmental History (Same as HIST 340)
In the minds of many Americans, cities are places where nature is absent--places where nature exists only in the crevices and on the margins of spaces dominated by technology, concrete, and human artifice. This course confronts this assumption directly, drawing on the scholarship from the relatively young field of urban environmental history to uncover the deep interconnections between urban America and the natural world. Among the other things, we will examine how society has drawn upon nature to build and sustain urban growth, the implications that urban growth has for transforming ecosystems both local and distant, and how social values have guided urbanites as they have built and rearranged the world around them. Using the Twin Cities has a backdrop and constant reference point, we will attempt to understand the constantly changing ways that people, cities, and nature have shaped and reshaped one another throughout American history.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.   Every other fall.  (4 credits)

ENVI 343 - Imperial Nature:  The United States and the Global Environment (Same as HIST 343)
Although the United States accounts for just five percent of the world’s population, it consumes roughly twenty-five percent of the world’s total energy, has the world’s largest economy, and is the world’s largest consumer and generator of waste. Relative to its size, its policies and actions have had a significantly disproportionate impact on global economic development and environmental health. Mixing broad themes and detailed case studies, this course will focus on the complex historical relationship between American actions and changes to the global environment.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  Every other fall.  (4 credits)

ENVI 345 - Car Country:  The Automobile and the American Environment (Same as HIST 345)
At the dawn of the twentieth century, automobiles were newfangled playthings of the very wealthy; by century’s end, they had become necessities of the modern world. This momentous change brought with it a cascading series of consequences that completely remade the American landscape and touched nearly every aspect of American life. This course will explore the role that cars and roads have played in shaping Americans’ interactions with the natural world, and will seek an historical understanding of how the country had developed such an extreme dependency on its cars. In the process, we will engage with current debates among environmentalists, policymakers, and local communities trying to shape the future of the American transportation system and to come to grips with the environmental effects of a car-dependent lifestyle.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  (4 credits)

ENVI 365 - Environmental Anthropology (same as ANTH 365)
It is a truism that human beings have always transformed their natural environment, but the scale and long-term consequences of the contemporary environmental crisis far exceed the localized ecological degradation that has taken place in the past.  One important reason for this transformation–and the point of departure for this seminar–is the globalization of economic life and the subjection of local economies and their resource bases to the relentless logic of world capitalist production and the consumer-oriented culture of capitalism.  This seminar is an inquiry into the nature of the political, cultural, and social structures that have combined to generate contemporary environmental problems.  The aim is to understand the way the "environmental crisis" of resource scarcity and ecological degradation is the outcome of particular configurations of power and economic inequity, both at the global level and within states.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  (4 credits)

ENVI 368 - Sustainable Development and the Global Future (same as INTL 368)
This advanced course thoroughly examines the concept of sustainable development.  We will define the term, examine its history, and evaluate its political, philosophical, scientific, and economic significance.  Implementation of sustainable development in both the world's North and South are considered.  Close attention is given to non-governmental organizations and nation states, the loss of global biodiversity, and existing and proposed remedial actions.  Prior coursework in international, development, political, scientific, and/or environmental issues is strongly recommended.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  Every year  (4 credits)

ENVI 394 - Education and the Challenge of Globalization (same as EDUC 370)
 The complex phenomenon of globalization affects the quality of learning and life worldwide.  In the United States and abroad; across dimensions of philosophy, policy, and practice; educators, government officials, policy makers, public intellectuals and citizens struggle with the implications of globalization for the future of public education, the fate of the natural world, and the quality of civic life.  The purpose of this course is to join in that struggle.  We will explore interdisciplinary scholarship and policy designs that integrate approaches to environmental, civic, moral and multicultural education for the purpose of mitigating the negative consequences of cultural and economic globalization.  Spring semester.  (4 credits)

ENVI 394 - Economics of Global Food Problems (sames as ECON 394)
This class will examine food distribution, production, policy, and hunger issues from an economics perspective. It explores and compares food and agriculture issues in both industrialized and developing countries. Economic tools will be applied to provide an analytical understanding of these issues. Topics such as food security and nutrition, US farm policy, food distribution, food aid, biotechnology and the Green Revolution, HIV/AIDS and agricultural production, bioenergy and food prices, as well as others related themes will be explored in depth throughout the semester.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  Every year.  (4 credits)

ENVI 394 - Poetry of the Environment (Same as ENGL 394)
In this course we'll read a wide array of poetry, along with selected creation myths, cosmologies, and essays, to consider poets' sense of what Gary Snyder famously called "Earth House Hold." What is an environment in the first place? What environs us? How do we find a dynamic and just principle of dwelling? How do poets evoke the vitality of sensory experience within elemental environments? How does a specific natural environment arouse strong emotions and attachments? How do people in today's environmental movements use poetry? Can poetry about environments teach specific guidelines for living? What are ecopoetry and ecocriticism, and how are they different from nature poetry? What do poets mean when they say that language itself becomes an environment, or when they say that language is wild? Are broad scientific virtues of exactitude of observation, and a contemplative spirit, also virtues in environment poetry? How can studying poetry fuel or refine thinking about environmental justice?  (4 credits)

ENVI 477 - Comparative Environment and Development Studies (same as GEOG 488)
A concern for the relationship between nature and society has been one of the pillars of geographic inquiry, and has also been an important bridge between other disciplines.  By the 1960s, this area of inquiry was referred to variously as 'human ecology' or 'cultural ecology.'  Over the last two decades certain forms of inquiry within this tradition have increasingly referred to themselves as 'political ecology.'  The purpose of this seminar is to review major works within the traditions of cultural and political ecology; examine several areas of interest within these fields (e.g., agricultural modernization, environmental narratives, conservation, ecotourism); and explore nature-society dynamics across a range of geographical contexts.  Towards the end of the course, we will explore how one might begin to think in practical terms about facilitating development in marginal environments.  Prerequisite:  Geography 232 or permission of instructor.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  (4 credits)

ENVI 488 - Senior Seminar in Environmental Studies
In this seminar, students will explore the difficult and often controversial issues surrounding environmental problems.  Through readings, discussions, guest speakers, field trips, independent research, writing, and oral presentations, students will develop a clearer understanding of the underlying causes and long term implications of some of the environmental problems facing the world today.  Both local and global environmental problems will be examined in the seminar.  Taking advantage of the diverse academic backgrounds of the student participants, the seminar will bring together the knowledge, perspectives, and insights of the natural and social sciences and the humanities.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  Prerequisites:  Senior standing in the Environmental Studies major, permission of the instructor and satisfactory progress in the environmental studies major.  Spring semester.  (4 credits)

ENVI 489 - Environmental Leadership Practicum
This course is an intensive internship experience (8-10 hours/week) with an environmental organization or business in the Twin Cities metro region.  An internship is an excellent way for students to apply knowledge learned in the classroom and laboratory, to learn more in an environmental area, and to explore career options.  Required for Environmental Studies majors.  It is recommended that students complete this course during the fall of their Junior year.  This course must be taken concurrently with ENVI 490.  Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor or two of the following:  ENVI 133, ENVI 215, ENVI 234.  Every Fall.  (4 credits)

ENVI 490 - Environmental Studies Leadership Seminar
This course complements the internship experience through reflective writing, mentor profiles, and individual and group projects.  Required for Environmental Studies majors.  It is recommended that students complete this course during the fall of their Junior year.  This course must be taken concurrently with ENVI 489.  For more information, look at the course syllabus.  Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor or two of the following:  ENVI 133, ENVI 215, ENVI 234.  Every Fall.  (2 credits)

ENVI 614 - Independent Project
This is an opportunity for students to do independent study or research on an environmental topic.  This may be undertaken in the Environmental Studies Program laboratory and/or field facilities under the direct supervision of a faculty member.  It may also be undertaken at another college, university, or similar institution under direct supervision, or in certain circumstances, it may be undertaken off campus with minimal direct supervision.  Given the nature of independent projects, students need to demonstrate that they have the necessary background, including appropriate coursework, in the area they are interested in pursuing before an independent project is approved.  Prerequisite:  Sponsorship by and Environmental Studies faculty member.  (2-4 credits)

ENVI 624 - Internship
This is an opportunity for students to work with professionals in the environmental field outside of academia.  Students will work with a faculty sponsor and their site supervisor to develop a set of learning goals, strategies to meet these goals, and methods of evaluation for the internship, including the nature of the final product.  An internship is an excellent way for students to apply knowledge learned in the classroom and laboratory, to learn more in an environmental area, and to explore career options.  The internship may be undertaken during a semester or during the summer and must encompass 140 hours of work by the student. It is expected that the student will make a poster presentation of his/her experience.  Prerequisite:  Sponsorship by a faculty member on the Environmental Studies Coordinating Committee.  (4 credits)

ENVI 634 - Preceptorship
Work assisting a faculty member in planning and teaching a course.  Prerequisite:  Invitation by a faculty member.  Every semester.  (4 credits)

ENVI 644 - Honors Independent
Independent research, writing, or other preparation leading to the culmination of the Seniors Honors Project.   Prerequisite: Sponsorship by an Environmental Studies faculty member. Every semester. (1-4 credits) Eligibility requirements, application procedures, and specific project expectations for the Environmental Studies Department are available here, from the Environmental Studies Department office, or the Dean of Academic Programs.

If you would like to see a list of all possible majors and their requirements, look at Macalester's online college catalog.

 


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