The Minor in Environmental Studies

Course Requirements for the Minor: 24 units

The following courses, or their approved transfer equivalents, are required of all candidates for this minor.

Social Policy Core: 12 units

4 courses required:

SUBJ NUM	Title	Sustainable	Units	Semester Offered	Course Flags
ECON 365	Environmental Economics		3.0	FS	GE
An analysis of the costs and benefits of environmental preservation. Systems for creating economic incentives for pollution abatement. Criteria for establishing optimum pollution abatement, including efficiency, safety, and sustainability standards. Impacts of population growth on global environmental problems. Alternative energy use patterns and their impact on energy markets and global environmental health. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved General Education course. (002671)
GEOG 304	Sustainability Issues		3.0	FS	GE
Geographic analysis of humanity's interaction with the environment. Examines natural and human systems, resources, population, energy, and pollution. Develops an appreciation of the beauty, balance, and complexity of natural systems and human success in attaining harmony with them. Enhances awareness and perception of each individual's role in and with the environment. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved General Education course. (003873)
GEOG 440	Environmental Thought in Action		3.0	SP
Prerequisites: Faculty permission. This seminar is required of students minoring in Environmental Studies and is to be taken as the culminating course in the minor. The course integrates the cross-disciplinary elements of the minor, emphasizing the interplay among the scientific, social, legal, historical, and humanistic elements of the study of the environment. 3 hours seminar. (009080)
POLS 461	Environmental Politics and Policy		3.0	FA
Investigation and analysis of the political nature of the environmental crisis in the United States and the development of legal and administrative mechanisms for handling environmental problems. 3 hours lecture. (007596)

Science Core: 6-8 units

2 courses selected from:

SUBJ NUM	Title	Sustainable	Units	Semester Offered	Course Flags
BIOL 334	Conservation Ecology		3.0	FS	GE
Prerequisites: One biological sciences course. An examination of ecological principles and the impact of increasing population and technology upon the environment. 3 hours discussion. This is an approved General Education course. (001156)
CHEM 107	General Chemistry for Applied Sciences		4.0	FS	GE
Prerequisites: GE Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning Ready, Intermediate Algebra. A survey of the principles of chemistry, primarily for students in agriculture, industry and technology, and pre-nursing. 3 hours lecture, 3 hours laboratory. This is an approved General Education course. (001826)
CHEM 111	General Chemistry		4.0	FS	GE
Prerequisites: GE Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning Ready; second-year high school algebra; one year high school chemistry. (One year of high school physics and one year of high school mathematics past Algebra II are recommended.) Principles of chemistry for students in science and engineering programs. Topics include atoms, molecules and ions, reactions, stoichiometry, the periodic table, bonding, chemical energy, gases, and solution chemistry. The laboratory sequence supports the above topics including both qualitative and quantitative experiments, analysis of data, and error propagation. 3 hours lecture, 3 hours laboratory. This is an approved General Education course. (001816)
GEOS 330	Environmental Science		3.0	SMF	GE
Prerequisites: One course from GE Pathway Foundation Physical Sciences and one course from GE Pathway Foundation Life Sciences. Human impact on life-support systems; use of physical and ecological principles in environmental management and protection; discussion of land use and its environmental impact; and an evaluation of human influence on natural cycles. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved General Education course. (004141)

OR (the following course may be substituted for the above)

SUBJ NUM	Title	Sustainable	Units	Semester Offered	Course Flags
GEOS 330W	Environmental Science (W)		3.0	FS	GE  W
Prerequisites: One course from GE Pathway Foundation Physical Sciences and one course from GE Pathway Foundation Life Sciences. Human impact on life-support systems; use of physical and ecological principles in environmental management and protection; discussion of land use and its environmental impact; and an evaluation of human influence on natural cycles. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved Writing Course. This is an approved General Education course. (021331)

Applications: 4-6 units

Note: If you choose to take 6 units in the Science Core, you must take 6 units in Applications. If you choose to take 8 units in the Science Core, you must take 4 units in Applications.

2 courses selected from:

One of the following three categories.

Natural Resources

Note: Requires prior approval of the Environmental Studies coordinator.

SUBJ NUM	Title	Sustainable	Units	Semester Offered	Course Flags
GEOG 426	Water Resource Policy and Planning		3.0	SP
Prerequisites: GEOG 101W or SCED 101 or equivalents. Recommended: GEOG 304, GEOG 343. Analysis of local, regional, national, and international water resource projects, distributions, and characteristics. 3 hours seminar. (003948)
GEOG 444	Biogeography and Landscape Ecology		3.0	INQ
Prerequisites: GEOG 101W, GEOG 211, GEOG 343, GEOG 390W or equivalents. Recommended: BIOL 152, BIOL 350W, GEOG 315. Biogeography and landscape ecology are keys for evaluating plant and animal distributions at local to global spatial scales. This course seeks to understand the physical and biological processes that determine these patterns through time, as well as help design management strategies for conserving our planet's biological diversity, and thus ecosystem services. The course emphasizes nature and impact of continuity and patchiness of species distributions and movement, and material flow on the structure and dynamics of wildland, agrarian, and urbanized landscapes. This is thus a highly integrative field of inquiry, pulling on concepts, theories and data from general ecology, evolutionary biology, geology, and physical and human geography. Quantitative methods and field trips consider the biogeography of plants and animals in the local landscapes. 2 hours lecture, 2 hours activity. (003929)
GEOS 370W	Energy in the Human Environment (W)		3.0	SP	GW  W
Prerequisites: GE Written Communication (A2) requirement; GEOS 170; PHYS 202A or PHYS 204A. Analysis of present and long-term global energy crises; coverage of scientific concepts needed to understand energy and its environmental interactions; in-depth examination of alternative energy sources and their environmental impact. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement course; a grade of C- or higher certifies writing proficiency for majors. This is an approved Writing Course. (004149)
GEOS 460	Water Resources Management		3.0	S2
Prerequisite: GEOS 380. Water-resources, management plans of world; emphasis on California and Israeli plans. Water plans in primitive, agrarian, and industrial societies. Data gathering and interpretation, regulation of water resources, and control of water pollution. 3 hours lecture. (004168)
GEOS 530	Environmental Systems Modeling I		3.0	SP
Prerequisites: CHEM 112; GEOS 300W or faculty permission; MATH 120; either PHYS 202B or PHYS 204C. Physical principles, theory and analysis techniques for computer modeling in the geosciences. Methods of estimation and error analysis, boundary values and initial conditions, steady-state and time-dependent models. Emphasis on problems relating to air and water pollution and hydrologic cycle. 3 hours discussion. (004163)
PSSC 390	Food Forever: Comparisons of Sustainable Food Production Systems		3.0	FA	GE  GC
How ecological factors, technology, and human values interact to determine available choices of food and its production. Consequences of these choices in terms of community structures, resource allocations, and stability of agro-ecosystems. This course is not intended for majors, but open to them. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved General Education course. This is an approved Global Cultures course. (004874)

Nature, Society, and Human Values

SUBJ NUM	Title	Sustainable	Units	Semester Offered	Course Flags
ANTH 423	Human Behavioral Ecology		3.0	INQ
This course serves as an introduction to the evolutionary processes influencing human behavior grounded in the paleoanthropological study of foraging peoples and an examination of cross-cultural patterns in human behavior. Emphasis will be placed on an evolutionary ecological perspective where aspects of human adaptation are viewed as the result of long-term survival strategies. 3 hours seminar. (000570)
ANTH 435	Medical Anthropology		3.0	SP
Surveys the relationships among disease, curing, culture, and environment. Topics include problems of adapting modern medicines to diverse cultures; explication of the social and cultural correlates of physical and mental health and disease; nutritional implications of culture change; anthropology contributions to health-policy decisions and makers in non-Western countries. 3 hours seminar. (000579)
BIOL 322W	Science and Human Values (W)		3.0	FS	GE  W
Prerequisites: One biological sciences course. Critically examines scientific and humanistic world views and sensibilities, directly applying these approaches to contemporary social and personal problems. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved Writing Course. This is an approved General Education course. (021254)
GEOG 352	The United States		3.0	FS	GE  USD
A regional study of our nation in terms of the physical earth and its human use. The course includes emphasis on issues and problems related to resources, environmental concerns, and settlement patterns. Cultural and regional differences in human-environmental relationships are compared and contrasted. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved General Education course. This is an approved US Diversity course. (003902)
GEOG 389	Geography Internship		1.0 -3.0	FS
This internship is offered for 1.0-3.0 units. Students must register directly with a supervising faculty member. The internship provides service learning experience as a volunteer or supervisor in a campus or community environmental organization or agency. Each unit of credit requires a minimum of three hours of activity in the assigned role. 9 hours supervision. You may take this course more than once for a maximum of 15.0 units. Credit/no credit grading. (003922)

Note: Requires prior approval of the Environmental Studies coordinator.

SUBJ NUM	Title	Sustainable	Units	Semester Offered	Course Flags
GEOG 405S	Conservation, Restoration, and Stewardship		3.0	FA
Prerequisites: GEOG 101W, GEOG 102, and GEOG 390W or equivalents. Recommended: GEOG 343, GEOG 444, GEOG 445, or PSSC 330. An analysis of the complex interactions between humans, plants, and animals in the restoration process. Includes the use of maps and other graphic material as well as reading, lecture, and discussion. Emphasis on how human activities can affect the distribution and abundance of various plant and animal species in both negative and positive ways. Restoration work on the Butte Creek Ecological Reserves and other similar sites provide a focus for class projects and discussion. 3 hours lecture. (003930)
HIST 341	American Environment		3.0	SMF	GE  USD
History of the attitudes, concepts, and public policy toward the American environment, including the natural, rural, and urban environments. Emphasis on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved General Education course. This is an approved US Diversity course. (004539)
RHPM 448	Methods and Materials for Environmental Education		3.0	SP
This course is also offered as EDCI 448. Experiential-oriented survey of methods and materials for teaching environmental concepts in schools, communities, nature centers, camps, and parks. Exposure to history, theory, philosophy, and goals of environmental education programs. 3 hours lecture. (002778)

Law, Policy, and the Environment

SUBJ NUM	Title	Sustainable	Units	Semester Offered	Course Flags
ANTH 437	International Development and Globalization		3.0	INQ
Explores the historical and contemporary global movements of people, commodities, technology and ideas. Surveys the impacts of colonial relationships on the contemporary world, post-colonialism and the rise of the development era, and contemporary trends resulting in the increased social and cultural integration and differentiation of individuals and groups around the world. 3 hours lecture. (000582)
ANTH 487	Heritage Resource Planning		3.0	INQ
The social and institutional frameworks, legislative bases, procedures, and practices of prehistoric and cultural resources management taught by means of case studies of legislative documents, management studies, and environmental impact reports. The investigation of selected resources and preparation of appropriate descriptive, evaluative, and management reports. 3 hours lecture. (000617)
ECON 355	The Economics of Government Regulations		3.0	SP
Prerequisites: ECON 103. An overview of the economics of government regulation with emphasis on the formulation of regulatory policy, alternative methods of regulation, and the economic impacts of such policy. Topics may include environmental regulation, energy conservation policy, consumer protection, antitrust policy, and a critical evaluation of market-based regulatory policy. 3 hours lecture. (002668)
GEOG 389	Geography Internship		1.0 -3.0	FS
This internship is offered for 1.0-3.0 units. Students must register directly with a supervising faculty member. The internship provides service learning experience as a volunteer or supervisor in a campus or community environmental organization or agency. Each unit of credit requires a minimum of three hours of activity in the assigned role. 9 hours supervision. You may take this course more than once for a maximum of 15.0 units. Credit/no credit grading. (003922)
GEOG 425	Planning for Sustainable Communities and Regions		3.0	F2
Examination of economic, social, demographic, and political bases for sustainable community and regional development and planning. Introduces the theory, evolution and practice of planning for sustainable communities and regions through examination of environmental, economic, and equity issues. 3 hours discussion. (003947)
GEOG 427	Environmental Impact Analysis		3.0	SP
Prerequisites: GEOG 320 or equivalent. Study of the legal antecedents to California environmental impact legislation; analysis of environmental review procedures, environmental research, preparation and evaluation of EIRs, and conditional negative declarations. 3 hours discussion. (003949)
GEOG 429	Environmental and Conservation Planning		3.0	S1
Prerequisites: GEOG 211 and GEOG 219 or equivalents; GEOG 320. Recommended: GEOG 101W or GEOS 130. This course introduces the theory and application of environmental and conservation planning. It critically examines the activities of environmental planning and the analytical approaches that can be used to direct resources toward conservation that yields the greatest return on biodiversity protection and ecosystem services sustainability. Students gain knowledge of the theories, techniques through practical experiences in planning activities, and institutional legalities of environmental and conservation planning. Using sustainability as a framework, this course presents the underlying concepts of sustainable land-use planning to best manage for abiotic and biotic resources. Focus is on the regional, local, and landscape scales. 3 hours lecture. (020744)
PHHA 362S	Environmental Health		3.0	FS
An overview of the relationship of people and nature; the impact of environmental conditions, such as water and air pollution, solid wastes, food contamination, vectors, radiation, noise, light, which cause deleterious effects on people's physical, mental, and social well-being. Individual and collective consumer intervention in environmental health problems. 3 hours discussion. (001606)
POLS 468	Planning Law		3.0	INQ
Review and analysis of the present and changing nature of planning and land-use control law, particularly as the law is applied in California. 3 hours seminar. (007605)
POLS 489K	Internship in Legal Studies		3.0	SMF
Prerequisite: Faculty permission. Field work in a public or private law office. Work supervised by attorneys in cooperating legal organizations. POLS 454 Legal Research and Writing is highly recommended for placement in private or public law offices. 9 hours independent study. You may take this course more than once for a maximum of 15.0 units. Credit/no credit grading. (007621)
SOCI 420	Environmental Sociology		3.0	FS	GE  USD
This course views the environment as shaped by human societies, where competing values and interests play out. Controversial issues such as population growth, pollution, rapid climate change, water and land use, and noxious facility siting in minority, working class, and poor communities are examined. Attention is directed to public policies, corporate practices, and social movements and individual habits that promote solutions. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved General Education course. This is an approved US Diversity course. (008963)

Note: Enrollment in GEOG 389 or POLS 489K requires the prior approval of the Environmental Studies coordinator.