Program Requirements: Global Environmental Studies

The Global Environmental Studies major provides a general introduction into the interdisciplinary field, and offers the opportunity to study a particular dimension in depth. The major has four components: (1) Breadth courses; (2) Skills Courses; (3) Depth Courses; and (4) a Capstone seminar or internship. GES majors are required to take a minimum of 12 interdepartmental courses in accordance with the following guidelines:

Breadth Requirement
(Five courses) Environmental problems and solutions result from economic systems, governments, international institutions, cultural systems, social movements and ecological systems. Breadth courses emphasize the basic concepts of the Global Environmental Studies Major and ways of creating knowledge. Courses in the breadth area are designed to help you build frameworks for understanding the world. We strongly encourage you to take your breadth courses early in your program, because these courses are often prerequisites for 200-level courses. Majors must take 5 breath courses which are selected from the following broad disciplinary areas. Students must take one course from State of the Earth and one course from Natural Science. The remaining three courses can be chosen from the four remaining areas: Economics/Political Economy of the Environment; Government/Institutions; Civil Society and Social Movements; and Culture and Environment.

Skills Requirement
(Two Courses) Skills are particularly important to promoting valid analysis of environmental problems and their solutions. They are of critical importance in gaining employment after graduation. Majors must take two skills courses and are encouraged to take more. GES 141 (Research Design) is strongly recommended for all GES majors unless the student obtains permission from the advisor. Exceptions may be granted on a case-by-case basis, especially for those students who take a humanities-based approach to the major. The second required course should be intellectually compatible with the “depth” area.

Depth Requirement
(Four Courses) Depth courses give you an opportunity to explore a specific subject area more critically and stringently. The field of global environmental studies is large, and students should develop expertise in a more narrowly defined substantive area. Majors are required to take four depth courses, two of which must be at a 200-level. The depth or substantive area is determined by the student and advisor through development of the learning plan (see below). Some examples are Sustainability Science; Culture and Political Ecology; Urban Industrial Ecology and Urban Environmental Problems; Environmental Risks and Hazards; Resource Management; Land-Change and Land-Degradation Science; Art and the Environment; and Energy and the Environment.

Capstone
(One Course) The capstone is intended to draw together the knowledge and skills gained throughout the course of study for completing the requirements of the major. Each year a series of capstone courses is offered. The chosen capstone should complement the work completed previously by the student and be in accordance with the student’s formal learning plan. Internships and special research opportunities are also encouraged and count as capstone experiences.

Learning Plan and Learning Synopsis
Each student is required to prepare a formal learning plan upon declaring the major. This plan, which can take the form of the major planning sheet in the program guide, identifies the courses the student intends to take (and in which semesters) in order to complete the major requirements. This plan can and should be regularly updated, with files retained by the major advisor and/or the undergraduate coordinator, as well as by the student.

In addition by January 31 of the senior year, each student must complete a learning synopsis. The synopsis will provide a comprehensive assessment of the GES major as experienced by the student. Specifically, the synopsis describes and points to evidence of student achievement according to the goals of the major: 1) understanding the diverse sources, and therefore, possible solutions to environmental problems; 2) articulating relationships of people, culture, and society with the biophysical environment; 3) defining and describing concepts of sustainability, economic and social justice in a global context 4) identifying specific problem/issue of global environmental significance and discussing comprehensive approach to solutions; and 5) mastery of appropriate skills. The synopsis must be developed in consultation with, and signed by, two GES faculty.

Internships and Study Abroad
Students are strongly encouraged to do internships with local, state, federal and international governments, and social movement organizations for major credit. Similarly, study abroad provides students the opportunity to witness first-hand the environmental issues that arise in other parts of the world and to be a part of their analysis and solution. To receive credit for study abroad, students must work with faculty advisers or other departmental and affiliate professors.

Requirements for the Dual Major
In accordance with university guidelines, the requirements for a dual major are identical to those of the individual major. Two courses may be double-counted towards both majors. Students may not, at this time, double major in global environmental studies and geography.

Course Layout:

I. Breadth Requirement (Total of five courses)

A. State of the Earth (One course required)
EN171 International Perspectives on Environmental Problems and Policies
GES179 Global Environmental Justice
ID112  Leading Issues in Sustainable Development

B. Natural Science (One course required)
BIOL084 Biodiversity
BIOL103 Principles of Environmental and Conservation Biology
BIOL114 Marine Biology
BIOL201 Ecology of Atlantic Shores
BIOL216 Ecology
CHEM142 Environmental Chemistry
EN120 Discovering Environmental Science
GES102 Weather & Climate
GES103  The Natural Environment of New England
GES114 Introduction to Geomorphology
GES115 Introduction to Hydrology
GES119 Arctic Systems Science
GES232 Landscape Ecology
GES263 The Climate System and Global Environmental Change

C. Economics/Political Economy of the Environment (Choose one of the following courses:)
ECON 157 Economics of Natural Resources and Environment
GES126 Living in the Material World: Political Geography of Resource Development.
GES127 Political Economy of Development
GES224 Economy and Environment
ID125 Tales from the Far Side: Development and Underdevelopment

D. Government/Institutions (Choose one of the following courses:)
EN171 International Perspectives on Environmental Problems and Policies
EN276 Environmental Law
GOVT157 The Politics of U.S Environmental Issues
GOVT216 Comparative Environmental Politics
ID294 Participation and Environmental Management

E. Civil Society and Social Movements (Choose one of the following courses:)
GES090/197 Native Americans and Natural Resources
GOVT251 U.S Social Movements and Interest Groups
ID131 Local Action/Global Change
ID253 Social Movements, Globalization and the State
ID294 Participation and Environmental Management
SOC265 Social Movements: Quest for Justice

F. Culture and Environment (Choose one of the following courses:)
ARTS162 Exploring of the Natural World: Seeding Artistic Process with Drawing Monotype and Mixed Media
ARTS 204 Sacred Space
GES017 Culture, Place and Environment
GES136 Gender and Environment
GES237 Feminism, Nature and Culture
ID269 Raced Nature, Gendered Developments: The Political Economy of Environmental Conservation
PHIL131 Environmental Ethics
PHIL232 Case Studies in Environmental Ethics

II. Skills (Two required, one related to substantive specialization; Geog141 Strongly Recommended)
ARTS120 Introduction to Photography
ARTS121 Intermediate Photography
ARTS200 Photography Projects
BIO106 Quantitative Methods in Biology
ENG202 Feature Writing
GEOG216 Field Methods for Environmental Science
GES087 Introduction to Environmental Information Systems
GES110 Introduction to Quantitative Methods in Geography
GES141 Research Design and Methods in Geography
GES261 Decision Methods for Environmental Management and Policy
GES226 Who Fears Environmental Risk and Why: Social Theories of Environmental Risks and Hazards
ID190 Raster GIS
ID260 Quantitative Modeling
TA107 Introduction to Video Production
TA119 Public Speaking

III. Depth Component (Students must take four courses in a substantive area, two of which must be at the 200 level. Examples follow.)

A. Sustainability Science
ECON128 Introduction to Economic Development
EN 101 Sustainability Science: Environment, Society and Technology
EN 207 Climate Change, Energy and Development
EN 277 Sustainable Consumption and Production
GES226 Who Fears Environmental Risk and Why: Social Theories of Environmental Risks and Hazards
ID112 Leading Issues and Sustainable Development

B. Culture and Political Ecology
ECON245 The History of Global Economy
GES 017 Culture, Place and Environment
GES105 Keeping of Animals: Patterns of Use and Abuse
GES136 Gender and Environment
GES179 Global Environmental Justice
SOC205 Sociology of the Environment

C. Urban-Industrial Ecology and Urban Environmental Problems
GES280 Urban Ecology: Cities as Ecosystems
MGMT252 Corporate Environmental Management
MGMT264 Sustainable Urban Economic Development

D. Environmental Risks and Hazards
EN282 Management of Environmental Pollutants
GES226 Who Fears Environmental Risks and Why: Social Theories of Environmental Risks and Hazards
GEOG247 Quantitative Methods in Geography
GES261  Decision Methods for Environmental Management and Policy

E. Resource Management
ECON257 Environmental and Natural Resource Economics
GES105 Keeping of Animals: Patterns of Use and Abuse
GES115 Introduction to Hydrology and Water Resources: A Geographical View
GES126 Living in the Material World: The Political Geography of Resource Development
GES271 Groundwater Hydrology

F. Land-Change and Land-Degradation Science
GEOG086 Losing Ground (FYS)
GEOG283 Land-Atmosphere Interactions
GES232 Landscape Ecology
GES234 Geography of Fire
ID296 Advanced Vector GIS
IDND299 HERO

G. Art and the Environment
ARTS162 Exploring of the Natural World: Seeding Artistic Process with Drawing Monotype and Mixed Media
ARTS 204 Sacred Space
GES017 Culture, Place and Environment
GES237 Feminism, Nature and Culture
PHIL131 Environmental Ethics

H. Energy and the Environment
EN103 Susatainable University
EN207 Climate Change, Energy and Development
EN124 Global Warming: How to Respond?
GES126 Living in the Material World: The Political Geography of Resource Development

IV. Capstone
GES224 Economy and Environment
GES226 Who Fears Environmental Risk and Why: Social Theories of Environmental Risks and Hazards
GES280 Urban Ecology: Cities as Ecosystems
SOC276 Environment and Inequality
IDND299 HERO
Internship