Environmental Geography Major

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.

Major Requirements

The major program consists of the following requirements:

Environmental Studies Courses (four)

All of the Following

• ENST 202/PHIL 202 - Environmental Ethics 
• ENST 390 - Community-based Study of Environmental Issues
• One full-credit course or two half-credit courses from the ENST list of Interdisciplinary Courses Focused on the Environment   

One of the Following

• ENST 232 - Environmental Justice
• ENST 321 - Global Environmental Justice

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

Only one may be a 100-level course

• GEOG 105 - Climate and Society
• GEOG 107 - Is the Planet Doomed?
• GEOG 315 - Sustainable Livelihoods in Asia
• GEOG 316 - Environmental and Public Health Geographies
• 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

Other Required Courses (three)

• One course from the Earth Systems and Processes list, or with permission of the program director an additional course that satisfies the Interdisciplinary Courses Focused on the Environment requirement.
• One course from the Social Science Investigations of Environmental Issues list, or with permission of the program director an additional course that satisfies the Interdisciplinary Courses Focused on the Environment requirement.
• One course from the Arts and Humanities Courses Related to the Environment list, or with permission of the program director an additional course that satisfies the Interdisciplinary Courses Focused on the Environment requirement.

Honors and High Honors

Students interested in pursuing honors can find the additional requirements on the Environmental Studies program page.

Environmental Studies Program

For more information about the department, including Faculty, transfer credit, awards, etc., please visit the Environmental Studies program catalog page.