57 courses with the subject ES, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
ES 121Environmental Issues
Introduction to national and global environmental issues. Students learn the basic concepts of ecology, including population growth models, species interactions, and ecosystem and biosphere processes. Building on this scientific base, students use an interdisciplinary approach to analyze economic, ethical, political, and social aspects of environmental issues. Topics include human population dynamics, air and water pollution, toxic wastes, food production, land use, and energy utilization.
Investigation of natural and human induced climate forcings and scientific principles that cause climate change. Topics include volcanoes, greenhouse gases, glaciers, flooding, ocean acidification, and sea level rise. Climate change mitigation, communication, and sustainable practices are discussed.
Exploration of the causes and consequences of the current species extinction crisis. The focus is on why and how the loss of biodiversity is an important environmental threat. Topics will include the importance of biodiversity and healthy ecosystems, the intrinsic and utilitarian values of biodiversity, the social and political issues associated with this issue. Topics will be explored through active engagement in service learning activities and through reading of diverse sources.
Introduction to the ecology and conservation of large marine animals including marine mammals, sea turtles, sea birds, invertebrates, bony fishes, and sharks. Using marine megafauna examples and case studies, this lecture course integrates fundamental ecological concepts with interdisciplinary discussion of ocean ecosystems, animal physiology and behavior, methodological approaches and technologies, social value and cultural use, and national and international conservation and management.
Study of the localized weather of a region. Influencing factors of climate are examined, including continental vs. oceanic/lake effects, temperature and precipitation, the role of cyclones and anticyclones, and topographic and organismic alterations. Also analyzed are specific climatological disturbances, such as thunderstorm formation, tornado development and occurrence, hurricane structure and movement, El Nino, and the Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and La Nina.
Introduction to our planet's oceans, beginning with the history of oceanography and focusing on the fundamental concepts of chemical, physical, geological, and biological oceanography. Important environmental problems in marine habitats are also explored. Topics include ocean exploration, plate tectonics, hydrothermal vents, currents, tides, upwelling, waves, tsunamis, ocean-climate interactions, El Nino, global nutrient cycles, primary production, biodiversity, pollution, overfishing, and the law of the sea.
Examines the effects of the environment on human health in the United States and globally. Topics include how the body reacts to environmental pollutants in the water, air, and soil; the agents of environmental contamination; hazardous waste; environmental justice and policy decisions; and emerging global environmental health issues.
Introduction to the physical, chemical, and biological components of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. Emphasis is placed on the history of the Bay, primary production dynamics, habitat types, and pelagic and bottom-dwelling organisms. Human impacts on the Bay and its watershed are discussed, including contemporary issues such as crab and oyster fisheries, aquaculture, nutrient inputs, toxic chemicals, exotic species invasions, and the management goals of the Chesapeake Bay Program
Studies of human activities in its locational context. Topics include basic place name geography, population trends and characteristics, health and human development, culture and language, technology and economic development, human ecology, and environmental problems.
An introduction to geography through the study of world regions. This course serves to broaden and diversify students’ worldviews on contemporary issues while providing powerful conceptual tools for clearer understanding. Geographic applications emphasize the importance of region, place, spatial scale, and diffusion. Course focuses on the interaction within and between regional cultures, environments, politics, and processes of globalization from a variety of scales. Topics include: human-induced environmental change, population and migration, culture change, international development, regional conflict, and global inequality.
Examination of past and present environmental challenges facing indigenous communities in the United States with a focus on tribal activism and indigenous voices. Students analyze land and natural resource disputes in the context of European conquest, indigenous traditions, law, and human rights. Course includes in-depth analysis of contemporary environmental conflicts related to climate justice, fossil fuel extraction, and environmental health.
Introduction to current ideas in theoretical and empirical ecology. A quantitative approach is used to examine population dynamics, competition, predator-prey interactions, life-history strategies, species diversity patterns, community structure, energy flow, biogeochemical cycling, and the biosphere. Course provides a foundation for further work in environmental studies. Three class hours and laboratory. Prerequisite: ES 196 or one year of college science.
Introduction to the natural environment and human interaction with it. Course examines the physical processes of the Earth's atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere. Topics include geological processes and hazards, water resources, waste management, energy and mineral resources, and human impact on global climate change. Lab sessions provide practical exercises on basic earth systems principles and environmental applications. Local field trips to environmental and geological sites are included. Prerequisite: ES 196 or one year of college science.
Introduction to environmental humanities. Using the interdisciplinary lenses of literary studies, history, philosophy, and communication studies, students consider how human beings imagine nature, how they communicate ideas about nature, and the ways in which these understandings affect the material environment. Discussions and assignments emphasize humanities research methods and explore topics such as wilderness, environmental justice, and consumerism, highlighting how language and media shape (and are shaped by) cultural perceptions of the environment.
ES 230Introduction to Geographic Information Systems
ES 400 Environmental Studies Seminar OR ES 460 Honors Thesis Bachelor of Arts Requirements The Bachelor of Arts degree comprises a minimum of 11 courses. In addition to the six core courses listed above, students must take five elective courses at the 200 or 300 level outside the core. Up to two elective courses may be taken off-campus or in other departments, subject to advisor approval. All majors should complete an area of concentration through their choice of electives. Bachelor of Science Requirements The Bachelor of Science degree comprises a minimum of 14 courses. In addition to the six core courses listed above, students will take: Two year-long sequences in different natural science disciplines (pick sequences from two different columns below, 4 courses in total). Bio 111 and Bio 112 Chem 107 and Chem 108 Phy 103 and Phy 104 Bio 111 and Bio 118 Phy 109 and Phy 110 *Physics double majors only. Must also take PHYS211 to complete the introductory sequence. One course in Mathematics and Statistics, chosen from the following: Bio 260 Biostatistics Math 105/Math 106 Calculus w/Precalculus Math 107 Applied Statistics Math 111 Calculus I Pol 215 Political Science Research Methods Those who have already satisfied the Math and Statistics requirement are recommended to take additional math or computer science courses, such as CS 111, DS 256 Data Science Programming, Math 211 Multivariable Calculus, or Math 212 Linear Algebra. Three elective courses at the 200 or 300 level outside the core. Up to two elective courses may be taken off-campus or in other departments, subject to advisor approval. All majors should complete an area of concentration through their choice of electives.
ES 290 or ES 390 Special Topics in Environmental Humanities One of the following: CIMS 218 Global Media Cultures, CIMS 226 Media and Cultural Theory, CIMS 230 Social Media Network Also recommended: Writing Minor, CIMS Major or Minor GIS and Spatial Analysis ES 312 Environmental Applications of GIS or ES 304 Landscape Ecology
Literature as a lens through which to understand contemporary global environmental issues. This courses uses the study of literature to help connect scientific, data-driven approaches to the environment with the aesthetic and affective power of the written-word. By reading both fiction and nonfiction, students consider how different modes and genres of writing produce a wide range of emotional responses to current environmental issues. The result is an understanding of how literature can be a vital tool for effecting change.
Animals in Society, Culture, and Literature. How do we engage with the animals that we encounter in “human” spaces? How do and how should we treat them? These animals might be companions, metaphors, food, tools, characters, objects, friends, or monsters. They are found not only in our homes, on our plates, in the lab, and at the zoo, but in our stories and imaginations. In this course, students consider what it means to be human in relation to nonhuman animals.
Intensive two-week field-based examination of the physical and cultural geography of the Rocky Mountain West. Focusing on the San Juan Mountain Range in Southwest Colorado, students participate in home stays, service-learning activities, and other field-based projects to examine regional social-environmental relations from diverse multi-cultural, institutional, and political-economic perspectives. In this way, students develop a critical place-based understanding of how recent "New West" socio-economic changes are impacting these relations, including new efforts to achieve ecologically sustainable and socially just solutions to land management problems
Intensive two-week field-based examination of the physical and cultural geography of the Rocky Mountain West. Focusing on the San Juan Mountain Range in Southwest Colorado, students participate in home stays, service-learning activities, and other field-based projects to examine regional social-environmental relations from diverse multi-cultural, institutional, and political-economic perspectives. In this way, students develop a critical place-based understanding of how recent "New West" socio-economic changes are impacting these relations, including new efforts to achieve ecologically sustainable and socially just solutions to land management problems
Study of a topic not normally covered in depth in the regular curriculum of Environmental Studies. Topics vary and may include environmental literature, history, philosophy, religion, or art. Offered irregularly.
Analysis of the ecology of marine systems. The open ocean, estuaries, salt marshes, beaches, mud and sand flats, seagrass beds, rocky shores, coral reefs, and deep sea are examined. Problems of pollution, beach erosion, and the management of declining fisheries is also presented. Quantitative field work in a variety of coastal habitats is conducted on a required field trip to Duke University Marine Laboratory and the Outer Banks barrier island chain. Three class hours and laboratory-field work. Alternate years. Prerequisite: ES 211.
A discipline comprising pure and applied science, which focuses on the preservation of biological diversity. Focus implicitly recognizes that preserving the genetic and ecological features of a species requires preservation of that species' niche. Topics include food web organization, spatial heterogeneity and disturbance, consequences of small population size and inbreeding, captive propagation, demographics of population growth, and species reintroduction and management. Prerequisite: Environmental Studies 211 or BIO 111. BIO 316 and ES 316 are cross-listed.
ES 317Chesapeake Bay: Science, Policy and Environmental Issues
Examines the ecology of the Chesapeake Bay region in the context of society's exploitation of a natural system. We will trace the settlement of the region with an emphasis on how the Bay affected the society that developed along its shores and, in turn, how the Bay was affected by this human development. Readings from the scientific literature will be combined with those from history, sociology, and economics to form a coherent portrait of the interplay between society and the environment. Prerequisite: Environmental Studies 211. Alternate Years
Introduction to glacial geology and records of climate change over the last 2 million years. Course examines basic glaciology, glacial erosion and depositional processes. Analysis of landforms is used to make interpretations of climatic variability. Climate records from ice cores and sediment cores are evaluated. Natural and human induced climate change is discussed. Alternate Years. Prerequisite: Environmental Studies 223 or permission of instructor.
Study of environmental films and their role in shaping environmental imaginations and actions in contemporary life. Applies fundamentals of film analysis to critical stylistic, textual and contextual (historical and political-economic) investigations of both fictional and documentary environmental films. Topics include Hollywood films about wildlife, wilderness, land use, technology and pollution, and documentaries on wildlife conservation, wilderness-adventure, and socio-nature themes. Alternate Years. Prerequisite: ES 225 and any 200 level Environmental Studies course or permission of the instructor.
ES 240 Energy Production and Use OR ES 251/252 Rocky Mountain West OR ES/Bio 316 Conservation Biology OR ES 334 Global Environment and Development or ES 309 Marine and Freshwater Fisheries Also recommended: ES 241, ES 309, Anth 223, Econ 258, Econ 341, Econ 344, PP 221 Environmental Science. Completion of the BS degree plus… Two ES Natural Science Electives: ES 251, ES 302, ES 304, ES/Bio 306, ES/Bio 316, ES 318, ES 323, ES 391 Environmental Writing and Popular Communication
ES 333 Environmental Policy OR ES 240 Energy Production and Use OR ES 335 Gender and Environment Also recommended: AFS 274, Anth 223, Hist 371, Pol 203, Soc 247 Environment, Society, and Justice Wildlife and Conservation Biology. Completion of the BS degree plus…
Introduction to the interdisciplinary field of gender, environment, and development. A theoretically grounded, historical approach is taken to study of relevant debates in ecofeminism, feminist political ecology, queer ecologies, masculinity studies, and gender/development. Topics will be explored through classic and contemporary case studies and may vary depending on student interest. Sample topics: Gender issues in natural resources management; Gender and environmental activism; Gender-based strategies for sustainable development; Gender mainstreaming policy initiatives; Gender, disasters, and climate change. Alternate Years.
One course in statistics (see list under BS core requirements) Also recommended: Data Science Minor (the above three courses plus 3 more) Landscape Ecology and Land Use ES 312 Environmental Application of GIS or ES 304 Landscape Ecology ES 333 Environmental Policy or ES 252 The Rocky Mountain West: Cultural Geography Also recommended: ES 302, ES/Bio 306, ES 363 Marine and Freshwater Ecology. Completion of the BS degree plus… ES/Bio 306 Marine Ecology
Study of an advanced topic not normally covered in depth in the regular curriculum of Environmental Studies. Topics vary and may include environmental literature, history, philosophy, religion, or art. Offered irregularly. Prerequisite: ES 196 and ES 225
Study of an advanced topic not normally covered in depth in the regular curriculum of Environmental Studies. Topics vary and may include environmental geography, sociology, policy, anthropology, and psychology. Offered irregularly. Prerequisite: ES 196 and ES 225.
Advanced study of an important national or global environmental issue. Interdisciplinary approach is used to analyze the problem from a variety of viewpoints in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Students are responsible for a major term paper involving independent research. Topics differ each semester. Prerequisite: Senior standing as a minor or major in environmental studies or permission of instructor; and ES 196, 211, 223, 225, and 230.
Independent investigation of an environmental topic of interest to the student. In conjunction with a faculty member, the student writes a research proposal due the tenth week of the spring semester of the junior year for a project to be conducted in the senior year. Student usually defines a research question and collects data to test a hypothesis. Such work may be done in the laboratory or field or with a computer database. A substantial paper is written and presented orally. Studio, performance, and writing projects may also be appropriate individualized study activities.
