STEWARDSHIP MATTERS
Environmental and Sustainability Studies (ESS) is a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary minor that offers students the opportunity to explore and critically examine issues related to the environments we share with other humans and with other species. Students have the opportunity to consider how the scientific, social, cultural, cognitive, intellectual, and spiritual dimensions of human-ecological relationships relate to the natural world and how these relationships affect the well-being of human, non-human, and shared communities alike. In addition, students develop the tools to form, evaluate, and act upon environmental questions at the local, national, and global levels.
PROGRAM MISSION
The mission of the ESS program is to bring together faculty and students to explore human-environment relationships. Environmental degradation produced by human activity poses an existential threat to humans and other-than-humans. Communities around the world are creating alternative social, political, economic, and ethical structures and worldviews to transition to a just and sustainable future. The ESS program prepares students to become part of this transformation.
Students who choose a minor in ESS will:
1. Understand the critical urgency of threats to our ecological communities and systems,
2. Deepen their understanding of the connections between individual and community well-being and the integrity of the places we inhabit,
3. Deconstruct systems of privilege and power to examine how they threaten natural systems and environments,
4. Explore the rich variety of existing practices and perspectives that represent sustainable alternatives to dominant socio-economic structures,
5. Focus on the interconnected socio-cultural, economic, political, and ethical systems that lead to environmental degradation and/or environmental sustainability,
6. Explore sustainable alternatives to human ecology and communities,
7. Reflect on the meaning of being human in a more-than-human world, and
8. Engage in community stewardship projects and/or creative expression that combines environmental theory and practice.
Requirements for Minor in Environmental and Sustainability Studies
The Environmental and Sustainability Studies (ESU) Minor requires a minimum of six courses (18 credits)
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required Course | (3 credits) | |
| IS-130 | Introduction to Environmental and Sustainability Studies | 3 |
| Electives- At least one course incorporates an action or creative component 1 | (15-20 credits) | |
| One 100-level ESU designated course | 3-4 | |
| Plants and Human Affairs | ||
| Humans and the Environment | ||
| Field Biology | ||
| Paper Or Plastics? | ||
| Introduction to Microeconomics | ||
| Introduction to Macroeconomics | ||
| Integrated Environmental Science for Educators | ||
| Environmental Problems and Solutions | ||
| Environmental Science | ||
| Human Spaces: Culture, Society, and Environment | ||
| Understanding Earth: an Introduction to Physical Geography | ||
| Modern Global Environmental History | ||
| Introduction to Sociology: Exploring Our Social World | ||
| Introduction to Urban Studies | ||
| Two 200-level ESU designated courses | 6-8 | |
| Principles of Ecology | ||
| Environmental Literature | ||
| Energy and the Environment | ||
| Global Environmental Change | ||
| Sustainable Communities | ||
| Conservation & Natural Res Mgt | ||
| Oceanography | ||
| Sediments and Soils | ||
| Introduction to Public Health | ||
| Introduction to Global Health | ||
| Health Policy | ||
| Multiculturalism and Health | ||
| Land and Power in North America | ||
| Food in American History | ||
| Wilderness, Parks, and Forests in America | ||
| Environmental Ethics | ||
| Animal Ethics | ||
| Energy and the Environment | ||
| Introduction to Urban Planning | ||
| Two 300-level ESU designated courses | 6-8 | |
| Economics of the Environment | ||
| Writing About Food Systems | ||
| American Public Lands: Environmental Issues | ||
| Sustainable Food Systems | ||
| Lakes & Environmental Change | ||
| Environmental Health | ||
| American Environmental History | ||
| Environmental Crisis and Management in China | ||
| Environmental Politics and Policy | ||
| Environmental Sociology | ||
| Transportation Planning | ||
| Environmental Systems and Public Policy | ||
| Public Policy and Environmental Issues | ||
| Total Credits | 18-23 | |
- 1
Course must be at the 200-level or above and can count towards total of electives. Criteria for meeting the action or creative component include:
- Design alternatives
- Engage in community service and environmental action (i.e. policy brief, internship, practicum, volunteer, service learning)
- Produce creative work (i.e. writing, visual or musical piece, performance, PR, video/podcast)
Students can take at most 8 credits from any one department to count towards the minor. A maximum of two courses at the 200 level or above can come from any single department. If the Environmental and Sustainability Studies Minor is part of a Liberal Studies Major, this maximum does not apply.
Environmental and Sustainability Studies is an interdisciplinary program drawing from the faculty of many departments at Worcester State University.
Any students with questions, please contact the Chair of Interdisciplinary Studies, Dr. Nafisa Nipun Tanjeem at ntanjeem@worcester.edu or the Chair of the Board of the Environmental and Sustainability Studies program, Dr. Josh Koenig at jkoening2@worcester.edu.
Courses
BI-114 Plants and Human Affairs
LASC Categories: GP, NSP
Man's dependence upon plants and their influence on civilization and its art, religions, literature, folklore, medicine, and human behavior.
Every 2-3 years. 3 Credits
BI-117 Humans and the Environment
LASC Categories: LAB, NSP
A survey of Anthropologic environmental impacts and the underlying mechanisms involved. Three lecture hours and three laboratory hours per week. Not open to Biology or Environmental Science majors.
Every 2-3 years. 4 Credits
BI-130 Field Biology
LASC Categories: GP, NSP, LAB
Study-Abroad Field Biology course for non-Biology majors. Course explores the intersection of human activities and environmental preservation, with a basic introduction to topics in organismal biology, biodiversity and biogeography.
Spring only and every year. 4 Credits
BI-202 Principles of Ecology
LASC Categories: NLL
Prerequisites: BI-140, EN-102 or BI-109, MA-150, or MA-180, or MA-190, or MA-200, with a grade of C- or above.
Basic ecological theory relating to organism-environment interactions; population dynamics, and ecosystems. Three hours of lecture and a three-hour laboratory per week.
Fall and Spring and every year. 4 Credits
CH-106 Paper Or Plastics?
LASC Categories: NSP
Students will study modern issues related to chemistry. These will include sustainability, green chemistry, climate change and the ozone layer.
Every year. 3 Credits
EC-110 Introduction to Microeconomics
LASC Categories: HBS
An introduction to the operation of the American market system and to the behavior of its participants whether consumers, producers, the government, or other nations engaged in international trade with the United States.
3 Credits
EC-120 Introduction to Macroeconomics
LASC Categories: HBS
An introduction to economic analysis with particular emphasis upon the national problems of achieving and maintaining full employment, general price stability, and growth of the American economy through time.
3 Credits
EC-304 Economics of the Environment
Prerequisites: EC-110 and EC-120
Methods of pollution control and the socio-economic problems caused by pollution, current research on ecology and economics, and the impact that limits on pollution may have on income and population growth.
3 Credits
EN-230 Environmental Literature
LASC Categories: CA, ICW
This course will focus on how environmental writers challenge and change how we perceive human ecological relationships to the natural world. We will address the following questions: How have writers challenged us to think about our place in a shared world and our responsibilities toward our ecological communities? How have writers attempted to awaken us to our connections to the natural world and the non-human other? How do these connections feed our mind, body, and spirit? We will also consider their warnings of what happens when we ignore our ecological selves, our ecological communities, and our ecological responsibilities.
Every 2-3 years. 3 Credits
EN-335 Writing About Food Systems
Prerequisites: EN-102 or EN-202.
Food systems are complex and vulnerable, but our lives depend upon their sustainability. In all efforts to support socially just, sustainable food systems, language matters. This course engages students in learning about and writing about sustainable and just food systems. Students will gain an understanding of the interconnected ecological, cultural, political, economic, social, ethical, material, affective, and aesthetic dimensions of food systems; create written deliverables that respond to an authentic community need concerning sustainable and just food systems, address an audience external to the class through their writing, and participate in collaborative, community-based action and service.
Alternating and every 2-3 years. 4 Credits
EV-120 Integrated Environmental Science for Educators
LASC Categories: NSP, LAB
Introduction to the scientific method. Physical, biological and earth sciences as applied to problems in environmental science. Three lecture hours and Two laboratory hours per week. EV-120 precludes credit for EV-150. Credit will not be granted for both of these courses.
Fall and Spring and every year. 4 Credits
EV-130 Environmental Problems and Solutions
LASC Categories: NSP, WAC
Prerequisites: Writing II
The course is an introduction to human impacts on the earth and ecosystem processes. The complexity of these issues is examined through a series of case studies examining global, regional and local issues. EV-150 precludes credit for EV-130. Credit will not be granted for both of these courses.
Fall and Spring and every year. 3 Credits
EV-150 Environmental Science
LASC Categories: NSP
Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary study of how the natural world works, the relationship between living organisms and their physical surroundings, and the relationship between human society and the natural world. This course will explore the physical and environmental impact of humans from the global to local level. Environmental issues to be discussed include ecosystem processes, human population dynamics, energy usage and conservation, water resources and pollution, atmospheric emissions, and climate change. EV-150 precludes credit for EV-130 and EV-120. Credit will not be granted for EV-150 and either of these courses.
Fall and Spring and every year. 3 Credits
EV-220 Energy and the Environment
LASC Categories: NSP
Prerequisites: A college level math course or a math placement code 3.
Explore the important questions surrounding energy, environment, and climate.
Fall only and every 2-3 years. 3 Credits
GE-102 Human Spaces: Culture, Society, and Environment
LASC Categories: GP, HBS, DIV
This course delves into the connections between space, place, and humans. We examine human-environment interactions, global political and economic trends, and the spatial patterns shaping population, culture, politics, urbanization, and globalization. Students develop introductory skills in understanding and using spatial information.
Fall and Spring and every year. 3 Credits
GE-258 Global Environmental Change
Prerequisites: GE-102 or GL/GE-102 or GS-101 or GL-150 or EV-150 or UR-101 or CH-106
An introduction to the science, political economy and ethics of global environmental change.
Every year. 3 Credits
GE-285 Sustainable Communities
LASC Categories: HBS, USW
Prerequisites: GE-102 or GL/GE-102 or GL-150 or EC-110 or EC-120.
Exploration of changes in U.S. and global economic landscape, 1970 to present. Approaches to sustainable economic development.
Every 2-3 years. 3 Credits
GE-290 Conservation & Natural Res Mgt
LASC Categories: TLC
Through a multidisciplinary approach, students in this conservation management course will explore various theoretical frameworks and practical strategies for effective conservation management, including rational planning, adaptive management, stakeholder engagement, and structured decision making. Students will critically analyze past and present conservation management approaches and assess their applicability to current environmental issues in our local community and beyond. Through case studies, discussions, and project-based learning, students will apply their understanding of conservation management approaches to propose management plans that address real-world conservation challenges.
Other or on demand. 3 Credits
GE-307 American Public Lands: Environmental Issues
Prerequisites: GE-258 or permission of instructor.
Exploration of the environmental management issues on U.S. public lands such as national parks, national forests BLM lands.
3 Credits
GE-312 Sustainable Food Systems
Prerequisites: GE-102 or a 200 level GE, GS, SO or UR course.
Overview of the structure, evolution, costs and benefits of the global food system. Exploration of local and global alternatives.
Every 2-3 years. 3 Credits
GS-101 Understanding Earth: an Introduction to Physical Geography
LASC Categories: NSP
A comprehensive exploration of Earth's interconnected systems, including the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and lithosphere, with a focus on how these systems interact to shape the planet. Students will examine the dynamic processes that drive environmental change, such as weather patterns, climate variability, plate tectonics, and the cycling of water and nutrients. By analyzing the feedback loops and relationships among these systems, students will gain a deeper understanding of how natural processes influence landscapes, ecosystems, and human activities. The course also explores the role of human interactions with physical systems and how to address global environmental challenges.
Fall and Spring and every year. 3 Credits
GS-225 Oceanography
LASC Categories: QAC, NSP, LAB
Prerequisites: GS-101 or GS-140.
This class will introduce you to the geological, physical, and climatic aspects of oceanography and the many ways the world ocean affects our daily lives. Topics include ocean waves and currents, marine geology and sediments, tides, coastal processes and hazards, and sea level change. Course includes field trips.
Spring only and every year. 3 Credits
GS-270 Sediments and Soils
LASC Categories: NSP, LAB
Prerequisites: GS-140 or permission of instructor
This laboratory class will introduce you to how sediments and soils form and transform over time. The class will include laboratory and field investigations of modern sedimentary environments and local soils, following standardized protocols used by government agencies and environmental companies.
Spring only and every year. 3 Credits
GS-370 Lakes & Environmental Change
LASC Categories: NLL
Prerequisites: At least one of the following classes, or instructor permission: BI-202 (Ecology), GS-250 (Hydrology), GS-270 (Sedimentary Record), GS-225 (Oceanography), CH-320 (Environmental Chemistry)
This interdisciplinary course will introduce you to the geological, physical, chemical, and biological processes of aquatic systems. You will gain hands on field and laboratory experience sampling aquatic systems, measuring and interpreting limnological data, and identifying aquatic organisms. We will cover topics such as: the origin and evolution of lake systems, human impacts on water quality and biodiversity, and lakes and climate change. One full day weekend field trip to examine lakes outside of Worcester County. [Cross-listed with EV-370 and BI-377]
Fall only and every 2-3 years. 4 Credits
HC-201 Introduction to Public Health
This course is an overview and will focus on populations, prevention, and the evidence-based practice of public health.
Every year. 3 Credits
HC-202 Introduction to Global Health
LASC Categories: GP, ICW, DIV, DAC
The course introduces students to the main concepts of public health and the critical links between public health and social and economic development. Students get an overview of the determinants of health, how health status is measured, and the influences of various factors, including cultural, historic, geographic, social, economic, and political issues on the health of individuals and communities. The course also introduces students to key concerns regarding nutrition, reproductive health, infectious disease, and chronic diseases. The course will be global in coverage but with an important focus on the developing world and on the health of the poor.
Fall and Spring and every year. 3 Credits
HC-220 Health Policy
Prerequisites: HE-100
Examination of the process and factors that influence formulation, implementation and modification of health policy in the United States.
Fall and Spring and every year. 3 Credits
HC-234 Multiculturalism and Health
Examination of diverse ethnic/racial and cultural beliefs beliefs and practices affecting health and illness
Spring only and every year. 3 Credits
HE-390 Environmental Health
Prerequisites: HE-100 or HC-201
Examination of the issues affecting the environment and their impact on our health.
Fall and Spring and every year. 3 Credits
HI-156 Modern Global Environmental History
LASC Categories: GP
This course examines twentieth century world history through an environmental lens. The course will explore the significance of natural resource distribution in uneven globalization, the human and environmental costs of resource extraction in different national and colonial contexts, the role of natural disasters in shaping and accelerating social and political change, environmental costs and experiments that came with mobilization for war, the cross-generational legacies of twentieth century environmental disasters, and the meanings and possibilities of sustainable development. Counts for Global/Thematic in the History major.
Every year. 3 Credits
HI-265 Land and Power in North America
LASC Categories: HBS
This course will survey the history of American land use from pre-contact Native North America to the present. The course will examine how peoples of North America came to acquire, control, utilize, and transform the landscape. In turn, the class explores how land shaped American history. Topics of study include early American agriculture, the plantation system, land policy, settlement and agricultural expansion, scientific and technological change, industrial transformation, land use in wartime, land policy, and water rights. It will introduce students to the diverse people, places, and cultural traditions that collectively constitute the American landscape. Europe/US in History major.
Fall only and every 2-3 years. 3 Credits
HI-283 Food in American History
LASC Categories: ICW
American History, 1607 to the present, as understood through the changing and diverse meanings of food. Food reflects broader economic, culture, and political trends and structures in American history as well as providing a multi-sensory window into the past. As part of this class, students will engage in a civic engagement and/or public history project related to the history of food. Counts for Global/Thematic/Methodological in the History major.
Spring only and every 2-3 years. 3 Credits
HI-289 Wilderness, Parks, and Forests in America
LASC Categories: HBS, ICW
This course explores the history of various efforts to conserve nature and culture. It focuses on the evolving relationship between nature and US society, emphasizing the social, cultural, and political forces that have influenced protection of parks, forests, and wilderness. Students develop an appreciation of the changing cultural meanings of nature and the environmental ethics of wilderness protection and management.
Every 2-3 years. 3 Credits
HI-332 American Environmental History
LASC Categories: ICW, NSP
Prerequisites: Writing II.
This course explores the impact of environmental conditions on American historical and cultural development and examines changing attitudes toward environmental issues. Environmental history is an interdisciplinary field that focuses on the physical, material, cultural, intellectual, governmental, and economic processes, which helped transform and shape our environment and society in different places and times. This course explores American history through an environmental lens. It examines America's interaction with nature the environment, and environmental science since the arrival of Europeans in the fifteenth century. Counts for Europe/United States in the History major.
Fall and Spring and every 2-3 years. 3 Credits
HI-334 Environmental Crisis and Management in China
LASC Categories: HBS, NSP
This course will examine the history of the relationship between Chinese society and culture, economic development, state power, scientific theories, and the environment. Recent media reports have highlighted a worsening environmental crisis in China while at the same time reporting on China as a new leader in the development of alternative energy sources. Government, domestic and international non- governmental organizations, urban and rural activists, scientific studies and discourses, and evolving political ideologies will be addressed. Counts for Middle East/Asia in the History major.
Every 2-3 years. 3 Credits
IS-130 Introduction to Environmental and Sustainability Studies
LASC Categories: ICW, HBS
This course explores the interactions between our social and natural worlds within an interdivisional and interdisciplinary framework. The first major course goal is to familiarize students with concepts and theories from environmental geography, political ecology, and related fields. Toward that end, we discuss ways to create a sustainable future that support environmental health, social equity, and economic vitality. This conceptual background prepares students for upper-level ESU courses. The second major course goal is to clarify how these issues play out on the ground. For this purpose, students will take part in projects that focus on experiential learning and direct applications.
Fall only and every year. 3 Credits
PH-205 Environmental Ethics
LASC Categories: GP, ICW, TLC
This course will examine the contemporary ethical issues in our interactions with the environment and students will develop the skills necessary to engage in the contemporary debates surrounding these issues. Students will read, discuss, and critique traditional and contemporary theories in environmental ethics, as well as how these influence current debates. Students will focus on analyzing and critiquing contemporary cases, and develop philosophical arguments to better approach the relevant ethical issues. Possible topics include animal rights, duties to nature, food ethics, climate change, and environmental justice.
Fall and Spring and every 2-3 years. 3 Credits
PH-206 Animal Ethics
LASC Categories: ICW, HBS, TLC
This course is intended as an exploration of some of the many issues surrounding non-human animals and how they are treated by our species. The goal of this class is to critically examine our assumptions and views toward nonhuman animals, with the hope of not only forming coherent opinions, but also being able to provide strong arguments for them. Some topics we will address are: historical perspectives on the human-animal relationship, legal and philosophical personhood, human exceptionalism, and various ethical approaches.
Fall and Spring and every 2-3 years. 3 Credits
PH-220 Philosophy of Mind
LASC Categories: NSP, TLC
Prerequisites: EN-102
Drawing on canonical philosophical texts as well as research from relevant disciplines, this course is an investigation of the relationship between mental phenomena and physical states and processes, along with implications for such issues as personal identity and free will.
Every 2-3 years. 3 Credits
PO-311 Environmental Politics and Policy
LASC Categories: HBS, NSP
Investigation of the factors that determine the formation of public policy on the environment with consideration of the roles played by federal, state, and local regulatory agencies in the United States. Case studies will include global climate change, air and water pollution, energy, land use, brownfields, waste management, endangered species, and population growth.
Alternating and every 2-3 years. 3 Credits
SO-100 Introduction to Sociology: Exploring Our Social World
LASC Categories: HBS, ICW, TLC
The nature of group behavior and social interaction viewed through analysis of structure, norms, and values.
Fall and Spring and every year. 3 Credits
SO-303 Environmental Sociology
LASC Categories: DIV, GP, HBS
This course explores the relationship between environment and society through a focus on political ecology, sociological dimensions of environmental crisis and dynamics of social change. Prerequisite: 30 completed credits.
Other or on demand and every year. 3 Credits
UR-101 Introduction to Urban Studies
LASC Categories: USW, HBS
This course offers a broad contextual overview of urban life that examines the relationship between humans and their environment.
Fall and Spring and every year. 3 Credits
UR-250 Introduction to Urban Planning
LASC Categories: ICW
An exploration of planning theory, dynamics, and practice, and how they form the modern urban planning agenda.
Fall only and every year. 3 Credits
UR-319 Transportation Planning
LASC Categories: GP, ICW
Prerequisites: 75 credits. It is recommended that students take UR 250 (Urban Planning) or a GIS or Cultural Geography class in the Department of Earth, Environment, and Physics before taking this course.
This course examines the policy, politics, planning, and design of transportation systems in urban areas, with a special focus on Massachusetts. It covers the roles of the federal, state, and local governments and MPOs. It will also overview planning for different modes (e.g. public transit, auto, active travel), tools for transportation planning and policy analysis, transportation impacts such as air pollution, social costs, and climate change, land use and transportation interactions, and citizen participation and citizen needs in the transportation planning process.
Spring only and every 2-3 years. 3 Credits
UR-360 Environmental Systems and Public Policy
Prerequisites: UR-101
Examination of urban ecosystems, focusing on land uses designed to effectively utilize water, open space, and other natural resources.
Other or on demand. 3 Credits
UR-361 Public Policy and Environmental Issues
Prerequisites: UR-101
Investigation of the factors that determine the formation of public policy on the environment with consideration of the roles played by state and federal regulatory agencies.
Other or on demand. 3 Credits