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- Environmental Geography Major
This information is part of the Colgate University catalog, 2023-24.
Advisers Ballvé, Burnett, Klepeis, E. Kraly, Meyer, Loranty, Scull
Environmental geography engages students in the interrelations between human systems and the natural environment. The major combines courses in the Department of Geography with a common set of environmental studies courses and courses offered in other relevant disciplines. In collaboration with the major adviser, environmental geography majors select a specific theme within environmental studies on which to focus. Examples that correspond to geography faculty expertise include climatology, population studies, environmental health, environmental systems analysis, gender and the environment, geographic information systems (GIS), political economy of the global environment, sustainable agriculture, and sustainable development.
This major in affiliation with the Environmental Studies Program (ENST) provides students with an opportunity to consider explicitly environmental issues from a geographic perspective. Courses in geography and a common set of courses in the ENST program are combined in an interdisciplinary course of study that focuses on climatology, population studies, environmental health, urban ecology, environmental systems analysis, geographic information systems analysis, sustainable agriculture, sustainable development, and gender and environment.
For students graduating in the Class of 2025 and earlier, please refer to prior University Catalog requirements.
Major Requirements
The major program consists of the following requirements:
Environmental Studies Courses (five)
All of the Following
One of the following environmental justice courses:
One of the following introductory environmental science courses:
- CHEM 100 - The Chemistry of Altered and Natural Environments
- ENST 200 - Environmental Science: Challenges and Solutions
- ENST 240 - Sustainability: Science and Analysis
- GEOG 231 - Geography of the Physical Environment
- GEOL 101 - Environmental Geology
- GEOL 102 - Sustainable Earth
- GEOL 135 - Oceanography and the Environment
- GEOL 190 - Evolution of Planet Earth
One of the following courses on environmental economics or policy:
- ECON 228 - Environmental Economics
- ENST 250 - Environmental Policy Analysis
- ENST/POSC 335 - U.S. Environmental Politics
Geography Courses (seven)
All of the Following
- GEOG 211 - Geographies of Nature, Economy, Society
- GEOG 231 - Geography of the Physical Environment
- GEOG 245 - Geographic Information Systems and GEOG 245L
- GEOG 250 - Research Methods (which must be taken on campus by the end of the senior fall semester)
- GEOG 401 - Seminar in Geography
Two of the following elective courses:
Note: only one may be a 100-level course.
- ENST 232 - Environmental Justice
- ENST 234 - Case Studies in Global Environmental Health
- ENST 240 - Sustainability: Science and Analysis
- ENST 241 - Sustainability and Climate Action Planning
- ENST 250 - Environmental Policy Analysis
- ENST 291 - Independent Study
- ENST 309 - Australian Environmental Issues (Study Group)
- ENST/ASIA/SOCI 313 - Environmental Problems and Environmental Activism in the People's Republic of China (course with lab and extended study)
- ENST/SOCI 319 - Food
- ENST 321 - Global Environmental Justice
- ENST 324 - Hunting, Eating, Vegetarianism
- ENST 334 - Carnivores Across Cultures
- ENST/POSC 335 - U.S. Environmental Politics
- ENST 340 - Environmental Cleanup: Methods and Regulation
- ENST 345 - Water Pollution: Chemistry and Environmental Engineering
- ENST 358 - Ecosystems, Environmental Threats, and response in Trinidad and Tobago (Study Group)
- ENST 389/ENST 389L - Conservation Biology & Policy Lab
- ENST 391 - Independent Study
- GEOG 105 - Climate and Society
- GEOG 107 - Is the Planet Doomed?
- GEOG 315 - Sustainable Livelihoods in Asia
- GEOG 319 - Population and Environment
- GEOG 321 - Transnational Feminist Geography
- GEOG 322 - Ecologies of the City
- GEOG 323/REST 323 - Arctic Transformations
- GEOG 325 - Water and Society
- GEOG 326 - Environmental Hazards
- GEOG 328 - Sustainability and Natural Resources
- GEOG 329/PCON 329 - Environmental Security
- GEOG 332 - Weather and Climate
- GEOG 335 - Soil Geography
- GEOG 336 - Biogeography
- GEOG 338 - Earth System Ecology
Honors and High Honors
Environmental Geography students interested in pursuing honors follow the same process outlined for honors in Geography; see the catalog listing for the Geography major and consult your academic advisor for more details.
Environmental Studies Program
For more information about the department, including Faculty, transfer credit, awards, etc., please visit the Environmental Studies program catalog page.