21 courses with the subject ENVS H, 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.
ENVS H101CASE STUDIES IN ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES: CONCEPTS, CONTEXTS, & CONUNDRUMS1.0
The course offers a cross-disciplinary introduction to environmental studies. Tracing an arc from historical analysis to practical engagement, distinctive approaches to key categories of environmental inquiry are presented: political ecology, earth science, energy, economics, public health, ecological design, sustainability, policy, and environmental ethics. Basic concepts, such as thermodynamics, biodiversity, cost-benefit analysis, scale, modernization, enclosure, the commons, and situational ethics, are variously defined and employed within specific explorations of environmental challenges in the modern world. Prerequisite(s): Not open to students who have taken ENVS 101 at Bryn Mawr or Swarthmore
ENVS H203ENVIRONMENTAL HUMANITIES: STORIES OF JUSTICE AND INJUSTICE1.0
Bringing the traditional focus of the humanities–questions of meaning, value, ethics, justice and the politics of knowledge production–into environmental domains calls for a radical reworking of a great deal of what we think we know about ourselves and our fields of inquiry. Inhabiting the difficult space of simultaneous critique and action, this course will re-imagine the proper questions and approaches of the humanities, asking how our accumulated knowledge and practice might be refashioned to meet current environmental challenges, to productively rethink ‘the human’ in more than human terms. In order to resituate the human within the environment, and to resituate nonhumans within cultural and ethical domains, we will draw on a range of texts and films, and engage in a range of critical and creative practices of our own. Pre-requisite ENVS B101 or ENVS H101 or instructor's permission.
ENVS H204PLACE, PEOPLE AND COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH IN ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES1.0
This course focuses on the ethics and practice of community collaboration and community based research in the context of environmental challenges. Students will gain grounding in both theory and practice incorporating themes related to race, class, gender and environmental justice. Students will complete 4-5 hours of fieldwork per week. Prerequisite(s): ENVS 101 and at least one of ENVS 201, 202, 203 or instructor’s permission.
ENVS H207ART, ECOLOGY, ACTIVISM: AESTHETICS & RESISTANCE IN THE CLIMATE CRISIS1.0
This course explores art and activism by contemporary visual, sound, and performance artists in response to the climate crisis. Drawing on precedents from Land Art and eco-art to intersectional feminism, anti-colonialism to Indigenous sovereignty, and grassroots organizing and mutual aid to public science, students will engage with forms of cultural and political resistance that challenge prevailing narratives of capitalism, colonialism, corporatism, and extractive industries, and create platforms for recalibrating social, political, economic, and ecological values. Pre-requisite(s): ENVS 101
This course will be offered in conjunction with 2025-26 thematic programming in the Kim Institute for Ethical Inquiry and Leadership on the subject of heat. The climate crisis is an existential threat that demands technical, political, financial, legal, and cultural responses. Hurricanes, wildfires, floods, and droughts capture popular attention, and heatwaves occasionally make the headlines–particularly when they turn deadly. But framing heat waves as events, as an episodic rather than chronic threat, misses the relentlessness with which heat impacts physical and mental health, learning and cognition, productivity, public safety, social cohesion, energy consumption, and infrastructure. The lived experience of heat is highly stratified: its effects are felt most acutely by the poor. The burden of heat is an injustice that, in the words of social epidemiologist Nancy Krieger, “structures chances” for surviving and thriving, for social and financial mobility, for engaged citizenship and political participation, and for collective flourishing. Making sense of heat–its uneven effects and the activities that contribute to warming–requires ethical frameworks to motivate and guide individual, institutional, and collective action. Philadelphia’s built environment, vibrant artist communities, and dynamic civil society afford Haverford students a unique opportunity to learn about the drivers and consequences of extreme heat and to engage in collaborative design for ethical action. This transdisciplinary and community-engaged course focuses on challenges of responding to extreme heat in Philadelphia. Site visits, guest speakers, readings, and community-driven research will deepen students’ understanding of the intertwined social, economic, health, and environmental challenges facing Philadelphia in a warming world. Central to the course is a collaboration between artists, community partners, students, and faculty to generate “social practice art” that motivates individual and collective action in response to the health impacts of extreme heat and the historical roots of heat-related inequities. This course will be taught in Philadelphia as part of the Tri-Co Philly Program. Prerequisites: Priority in registration will be given to students participating in the Tri-Co Philly Program (https://www.haverford.edu/philly-program), Kim Institute Student Fellows; HLTH minors and ENVS majors and minors; and Anthropology majors and minors. Remaining seats are available to other Tri-Co students, by lottery, if demand exceeds remaining spaces in the course. If you are interested in the program, you must fill out the application, which is due on Friday, April 4 by 11:59 pm. This program includes registering for two of three of the program’s courses, which include this course or Contemporary Art & Film in Philadelphia (HART B334) or Philadelphia the Global City: the Italian Legacy across Time (ITAL B240). Those not participating in the Philly program do not need to complete the application and can simply pre-register for the class
This course examines how law shapes human relationships with the environment. Students will analyze how legal systems regulate the treatment of nonhumans, control pollution, and respond to environmental crises across international jurisdictions. Topics include the legal status of animals, global plastic regulation, corporate responsibility for pollution, and the evolving concept of environmental rights. Through case studies, statutes, and policy debates, students explore how law reflects competing ethical frameworks, economic interests, and ecological realities. Crosslisted: ENVS, POLS.
ENVS H281NATURE/CULTURE: AN INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY1.0
An introduction to the ideas and methods central to environmental anthropology. Topics covered will include political ecology, crises and uncertainty, indigeneity and community management.
ENVS H302DEATH AND POLITICS: THE POLITICAL, ETHICAL, AND ENVIRONMENTAL DIMENSIONS OF DEATH1.0
This course explores the intersections of death, politics, and the environment across literature, philosophy, political theory, and cultural studies. From classical tragedies to contemporary environmental humanities, students will examine how societies reckon with mortality, how death shapes political life, and how ecological crises reframe our relationship with extinction and regeneration. The course also engages with the paradoxical possibilities of death, both as loss and as a condition of renewal, especially in the face of climate change and environmental degradation. Crosslisted: ENVS, POLS Lottery Preference: Seniors
ENVS H303ITERATIVE DESIGN, FOOD, AND THE ENVIRONMENT1.0
[Note: this course will be part of the forthcoming Entrepreneurship program.] This course will explore the process of iterative design using cooking as a vehicle. In the first half of the semester, students will learn about the iterative design process in theory, and apply the process to a home cooked product. In the second half of the semester students will apply what they’ve learned about this process to an environmental food challenge. Pre-requisite(s): ENVS 101 or permission of instructor Lottery Preference: Seniors ENVS majors and minors Juniors ENVS majors and minors Other ENVS majors and minors
ENVS H312BLACK & ASIAN FOODWAYS: AN EXPLORATION1.0
This course will examine environmental and social histories of Black and Asian foods and cuisines in the US, including an introduction to environmental food studies, US Black and Asian migration histories, conflict, and solidarity, and case studies of specific foods. Prerequisite(s): ENVS 101 and at least one of ENVS 201–204; or permission of instructor
A study of the function, origins, and history of photosynthesis on Earth, from bacteria to plants. This course will begin with a survey of photosynthetic metabolisms, explore photosynthetic microbial diversity, and investigate the evolution of terrestrial plants through the fossil record. Prerequisites: BIOL 200 or instructor consent
ENVS H317ECOLOGIES OF COOPERATION: PARTICIPATION AND PRAXIS IN PHILLY ARTS, CULTURE, AND ENVIRONMENTAL ORGS1.0
Ecologies of Cooperation is an interdisciplinary TriCo Philly course that explores how visual arts, the humanities, and cooperative organizing shape contemporary ecological thought and practice in an urban context. Students will engage directly with Philadelphia’s networks of artist-run organizations, cooperative businesses, community gardens, and mutual aid formations to investigate how environmental awareness, care, and stewardship is not only represented, but actively reproduced through participatory and collective practices. Philadelphia is a rich terrain for studying and practicing the social production of ecological thought and action. Through readings, expert guest and site visits, cooperative engagements, and arts-based research, students will immerse themselves in the living networks of people, places, and practices shaping the city’s environmental future(s). Combining seminar discussion with field-based research in Philadelphia as part of the Tri-Co Philly Program, students will draw on environmental humanities, political ecology, social practice art, and urban studies to analyze how collective structures emerge, endure, and transform. The city will serve as our primary text, offering grounded examples of how shared ownership, collective decision-making, and cultural production can help imagine more just and resilient ways of living together in a time of environmental precarity. This course will be taught in Philadelphia. Crosslisted: VIST. Pre-requisite(s): ENVS 101 or equivalent (or instructor permission) and at least one 200 or 300 level social science or laboratory science course, or equivalent. Priority in registration will be given to students participating in the Tri-Co Philly Program (https://www.haverford.edu/philly-program). Remaining seats are available to other Tri-Co students, by lottery, if demand exceeds remaining spaces in the course. If you are interested in the program, you must fill out the application, which is due on Sunday, April 5, by noon. This program includes registering for two of three of the program’s courses, which include this course or MATH B195 Biostatistics: Data, Health and Ethics in Philadelphia or ARTH061/ENVS056 Art and Culture of Indigenous Philadelphia: From Shackamaxon to the Present. Those not participating in the Philly program do not need to complete the application and can simply pre-register for the class. Lottery Preference: Tri-Co Philly Program students, Majors, Minors >> Seniors, Juniors, in ENVS or VIST
ENVS H319RAD OPS: LEARNING FROM MISSION-DRIVEN OPERATIONS WORK1.0
Operations is the management, coordination and administration of systems, people, and resources: all of the work that keeps an organization running. This praxis course explores the possibilities and challenges embedded in mission-driven operations. This course will explore a real-life case study in operations each week; each student will also be assigned an internship with the ops department at an environmental organization (3-6 hrs per week). This course is part of the Haverford Entrepreneurship Program. F-1 students interested in taking this course must consult with the ISS Office. Pre-requisite(s): ENVS 101 or permission of the instructor Lottery Preference: Senior ENVS majors and minors, then Junior ENVS majors and minors. First-year students are not eligible.
This course will cover the diversity of physiological mechanisms and biochemical strategies that help organisms, from microbes to mammals, adapt to various environmental conditions. Emphasis put on biochemical evolution in response to changing environmental conditions. Crosslisted: Biology, Environmental Studies Prerequisite(s): BIOL H200 and H201 with a grade of 2.0 or above, or instructor consent.
This course is a multidisciplinary approach to the biology of plants through their development, physiology, anatomy, and growth and their consequent effects on human society. Course topics include plant biology, anatomy, diversity, morphology, physiology, and ecology, followed by case studies of plants, from cacao to apples. Pre-requisite(s): ENVS 101 and ENVS 201 or ENVS 101 and 200-level ENVS, GEO, BIO or ENVS 101 and permission of instructor. Lottery Preference: Senior ENVS majors, junior ENVS majors, senior ENVS minors, junior ENVS minors, then seniors, followed by juniors, followed by all other students. If this course is tied to a 360 or study tour, that section will be closed to further enrollment.
ENVS H338CREATIVE ENVIRONMENTALISMS: FIELD EXPERIMENTS FOR PERFORMING NATURE1.0
This course explores creative process within the context of environmental interventions. It offers multi-disciplinary creative exercises to help students become the innovative and creative environmental professionals.The course unfolds as hands-on workshop through a series of micro-experiences, helping students evolve into fully-conscious, creative environmental professionals who approach communities empathically and connect to Nature profoundly, ethically facilitating the voices of humans and non-humans, as part of researching, assisting, protecting, and promoting fragile places under threat. Crosslisted: ENVS,PEAC,VIST. Lottery Preference: ENVS majors
This experiental courses introduces students to a range of design thinking and practices in the context of the planetary ecological crisis. Students will meet with local entrpreneurs, community activists and artists working at the nexus of entrepreneurship and complex socio-environmental challenges. Building on readings and experiences students will then develop their own projejects to be presented at the end of the semester. Crosslisted: ENVS, ANTH. Pre-requisite(s): ENVS 101 (or the equivalent) and at least one 200 level social science or humanities course.
ENVS H381GARBAGE: THE POLITICS, PROBLEMS, AND POSSIBILITIES OF POLLUTION1.0
What if waste—something we often overlook as mere garbage—held significant political and social power? This course invites an exploration of waste as a complex and deeply political subject, examining how pollution and discarded materials impact ecological and social systems in ways that are both profound and frequently unnoticed. We will critically engage with issues such as plastic and food waste, nuclear waste, waste colonialism, and the concept of “wasteland.” Crosslisted: POLS. Lottery Preference: #1 - Senior ENVS and POLS majors; #2 - Junior ENVS and POLS majors; #3 - ENVS minors
ENVS H397SENIOR SEMINAR IN ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES1.0
This capstone Environmental Studies course is designed to allow Environmental Studies seniors to actively engage in environmental problem solving by bringing the perspectives and skills gained from their majors and applying them to collaborative, interdisciplinary projects. Enrollment Preference(s): Limited to seniors
ENVS H456ADVANCED TOPICS IN BIOLOGY OF MARINE LIFE0.5
Exploration of marine metazoan evolution through the lens of behavioral, morphological, biochemical, and physiological adaptations to various ocean regimes. Readings from primary literature will cover physio-chemical properties of seawater, abiotic/biotic organismal interactions, symbiosis, energy production, human impacts, and phylogenetic relationships. Crosslisted: Biology, Environmental Studies Prerequisite(s): BIOL H300 and BIOL H301 with a grade of 2.0 or above, or instructor consent
