Environmental Humanities, Minor

In addition to University Requirements:

• Complete individual plan requirements.

Students may be able to use some courses to meet more than one requirement. Contact your advisor for details.

No more than fifty percent of the units used to satisfy minor requirements may be used to satisfy major requirements.

Minimum Units for Completion	18
Major GPA	2.0
Fieldwork Experience/Internship	Optional

Purpose Statement

The environmental humanities minor prepares students to understand the cultural, ethical, and aesthetic dimensions of the natural world and environmental challenges. An interdisciplinary field, the environmental humanities combine traditional humanities disciplines such as art, history, literature, and philosophy with scientific knowledge to help recognize, analyze, and ultimately solve current issues like pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate change. These challenges require humanistic knowledge to understand and evaluate the meanings and values that are projected through the natural world.

Students will learn about the social construction of the natural world and the layered realities of environmental history; the history of environmentalism and its relationships to other schools of thought; the relationship between aesthetics, media, and action in environmental arenas. Through these classes, students will become better critical thinkers. They will be able to interpret a wide range of qualitative and quantitative data. They will improve their communication skills across a variety of modalities. They will also develop professional and leadership skills.

The environmental humanities minor is a valuable enhancement for a range of careers. For those in environmentally-oriented careers, such as environmental science, environmental engineering, forestry, public policy, law, and climate science, this minor will provide the tools to reflect on ethical, historical, and cultural issues in their work. These students will be better prepared to think through those complexities and, therefore, able to do their work more thoughtfully and thoroughly. Students aiming towards careers in other fields will likewise benefit from this minor. They will be oriented towards the ethical, historical, and cultural dimensions of pressing environmental issues, and they will be able to use that orientation to help connect their work with these challenges. All students will develop their proficiency in in-demand job skills, including communication, critical thinking, leadership, and equity and inclusion.

Student Learning Outcomes

• Understand the complex relationships between human cultural systems, inclusive perspectives, and the natural world, especially the ways these systems impact each other.
• Analyze a range of human cultural products - art, history, literature, philosophy, and others - in the context of the natural world and environmental values. 
• Synthesize scientific knowledge of the environment and humanities knowledge to better evaluate the relationships between culture and nature.
• Develop new frameworks for understanding the relationship between nature and culture and apply those frameworks to varied professional and civic arenas.

Minor Requirements

• Take the following 18 units with a grade of "C" or better in each course:

  • HUM 175 (3 units)
  • HUM 375 (3 units)
  • Humanities Electives
    • Select from the following (9 units):
      • Students must select a minimum of two different subjects
        • AIS 290, AIS 470
        • ANT 306
        • ARH 145
        • BIO 210
        • CCS 201
        • COM 150, COM 250
        • FOR 230
        • GSP 148
        • HIS 397
        • HIS 405 (Topic selected with your advisor)
        • HUM 180, HUM 371
        • HUM 382 (Topic selected with your advisor)
        • PHI 331
        • WGS 410
  • Science Electives
    • Select from the following (3 - 4 units):
      • BIO 100
      • BIO 226 and BIO 226L
      • CHM 440 or ENV 430
      • ENV 115, ENV 181
      • FOR 101, FOR 255
      • GLG 112 and GLG 112L

   

  The following courses have additional prerequisites:

  • CHM 440, ENV 430

Additional Information

• Some courses may have prerequisites. For prerequisite information, click on the course or see your advisor.

---