Major Requirements
The Environmental Studies major has four major components that together form the basis for a robust background for our students.
- Introductory Courses: These courses are meant to introduce students to the range of topics and approaches utilized in studying environmental issues.
- Intermediate Courses: These courses are designed to give students an overview of the important texts that scholars and practitioners use as the basis of their understanding of environmental issues and to give students a “real world” experience working in the environmental field. The courses are also meant to allow students to reflect on their goals as Environmental Studies majors.
- Capstone Course: The ENVI 488 - Sr Seminar in Environmental St course is intended to provide students the opportunity to utilize their background in environmental studies to address an environmental issue as part of an interdisciplinary team. A student may also fulfill their capstone requirement by participating in ENVI 644 - Honors Independent .
- Disciplinary or Interdisciplinary Emphasis: The emphasis allows students to gain depth in a particular disciplinary approach to examining environmental issues or in a particular environmental theme or problem considered from an interdisciplinary perspective. The emphasis includes a series of six courses to provide depth and a methods course to insure students have the appropriate “tools” to implement their area of study.
The Environmental Studies major consists of 9 - 10 courses (40 credits) in environmental studies and related subjects plus a 7-course emphasis. Since some double counting of courses is allowed, a minimum of 15 courses (60 credits) is required for the major.
The ten course requirement is distributed as follows:
Introductory Courses: Must take 3
Required Environmental Studies Courses: 4 courses
Distribution Courses: Introductory environmental studies courses may be distributed as follows:
One Natural Science course (beyond the required introductory course): Pre-approved courses include:
One Social Science Course: Pre-approved courses include:
One Humanities Course: Pre-approved courses include:
Capstone Course: The senior capstone requirement in Environmental Studies will be satisfied by completing ENVI 488 - Sr Seminar in Environmental St or ENVI 644 - Honors Independent .
Disciplinary or Interdisciplinary emphasis of seven courses:
Disciplinary Option
- 6 courses in a discipline, 2 must be 300 or 400 level courses
- 1 methods course related to the focus of the emphasis
*Disciplinary emphases in departments other than those listed below must be approved by the chair.
Interdisciplinary Option
- 6 courses organized around a clear theme or environmental problem, 2 must be 300 or 400 level courses
- 1 methods course related to the focus of the emphasis
*All interdisciplinary emphasis plans should be designed in consultation with members of the Environmental Studies Department and must be approved by the Chair.
*Introductory environmental studies courses may not be counted.
Preapproved Interdisciplinary Emphases
Climate Science and Policy
Consensus is growing on the national and international scale that climate change is real and urgent action is needed. However, responses differ among policy makers and other actors about the methods we should use to implement energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions. This interdisciplinary emphasis examines the climate change problem and the most effective policy and development options for carbon mitigation strategies. Students can opt for a emphasis that weighs more heavily on either the science or policy dimensions.
4 required courses:
2 elective courses:
1 required Methods course - choose from:
Potential Study Away Options:
- HECUA - Minnesota - Environmental Sustainability: Science, Public Policy and Community Action
- SIS - Iceland summer program
- Macalester South Africa Program
- SEA-Semester at Sea (Oceans and Climate voyage or other)
Communication Studies
Communication of environmental ideas and beliefs by individuals, institutions, societies, and cultures are central to the definition and solution of environmental problems. This emphasis focuses on how environmental messages and media (traditional and social media) are crafted, distributed, and received. This includes a wide range of themes including journalism, social marketing, risk communication and collaboration and conflict.
4 required courses:
2 elective courses:
- - Intro to Digital Photography
- ART 299 - Film Photography (St. Kate’s)
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- COJO 372 - Environmental Communications (with Mark Neuzil at UST)
- COJO 480 - Communication Ethics (with Mark Neuzil at UST)
1 required Methods course:
NOTE: It is understood that students will seek out opportunities to develop environmental themes in their project/portfolio work in the non-ES courses.
Community and Global Health
The emphasis in Community and Global Health (CGH) aims to connect the Environmental Studies major with the College’s Concentration in Community and Global Health. Environmental conditions are known to have a significant impact on human health. Students in the CGH emphasis receive an introduction to the issues involved in health issues and then can take a broad interdisciplinary approach to these issues or tailor the emphasis with a focus on science, social science or humanities.
3 required courses:
Any 3 of the Following:
1 required Methods course:
Environmental Justice
Poor and minority populations have historically borne the brunt of environmental inequalities in the United States, suffering disproportionately from the effects of pollution, dispossession of land, resource depletion, dangerous jobs, limited access to common resources, and exposure to environmental hazards. This interdisciplinary emphasis focuses on the ways that race, ethnicity, class, and gender have shaped the political and economic dimensions of environmental injustices, along with more recent political movements pushing to rectify environmental injustices and to develop new possibilities for understanding the human place in nature.
3 required core courses:
3 elective core courses:
1 required Methods course - choose from:
Environmental Science
From water scarcity to toxics exposure to climate change, scientific understanding is a crucial component of assessing and addressing the major environmental issues facing the world. This interdisciplinary emphasis provides a background in the physical and natural sciences most closely tied to environmental issues. Students also acquire further specialization in one area of their choosing.
5 required core courses:
3 elective core courses:
- At least three other Science courses within one discipline (BIOL, CHEM, GEOL, PHYS)
Food Systems
The food system emphasis allows focus on an interconnected set of biological, technological, economic, and social issues that connect to how food systems work. Food system topics include small and large scale food production, access and consumption issues as well as a concern for the biophysical properties to agroecological systems.
3 required courses:
3 electives from this list in consultation with your advisor:
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- - Dirt and Development
- - Food, Env. and Society
- (Amy Damon - there are Econ prereqs)
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1 Method courses - choose from:
- TBD in consultation with your advisor.
International Environment and Development
This interdisciplinary emphasis focuses on the concept of sustainable development by tracing historical and contemporary understandings of wealth and resource distribution within and between countries. These courses provide students with a grounding in the economic, political, and cultural conceptions of development, focusing on states in the Global South.
1 required course:
5 elective core courses:
1 required Methods course - choose from:
Sustainable Design
By marshaling natural resources in creative ways and on an unprecedented scale, industrial nations have developed new methods of converting the raw materials of nature–wood and metal, soil and water, coal and oil–into an economy capable of delivering fantastic comfort, abundance, and convenience to a steadily growing number of people. Yet the material advances of the industrial revolution are also directly responsible for many of the most serious environmental problems that now confront humanity. This interdisciplinary emphasis combines coursework at Macalester and DIS - Copenhagen to develop the skills of sustainable design: the active attempt to re-design the material world in ways that mitigate or eliminate the negative environmental impact of the buildings, products, and industrial systems on which the modern world relies.
Macalester