Environmental Studies

Applying for the Environmental Studies Major

Students are accepted into the Environmental Studies major by application only. Applications are evaluated for academic achievement, related coursework, and a personal statement that demonstrates a genuine interest and track record in environmental work. Admission is determined by the Director and Associate Director of the Environmental Studies Program.

The deadline for submitting applications is February 6 during the students’ first year. The application form may be found on Apply for the Major page.

Major Requirements

The ENVS major consists of a minimum of 43 credits, equivalent to at least 14 full-semester courses, as detailed below. ENVS students may choose more than one major, but at least 27 credits for the ENVS major must not be used to fulfill requirements for another major or minor (i.e., up to 16 credits can be shared). Note that all Boston College majors require at least 27 unique credits, so the number of credits that can be shared will be fewer for majors that require fewer courses, such as most departmental majors (i.e., if a major requires 30 credits, only 3 can be shared).

1. ENVS 2240 Ideas and Practices in Environmental Studies (3 credits)

This course is offered in the fall semester for the new cohort of ENVS majors (sophomores). Ideas and Practices in Environmental Studies provides an introduction to the history, ideas, and practices of the field of environmental studies for new ENVS majors. This interactive course will draw on cross-and inter-disciplinary perspectives from the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities to explore different ways of thinking about complex environmental topics. 

2. Environmental Systems courses (6 credits):

• EESC2201 Environmental Systems: The Human Footprint (2 credits)
• EESC2202 Environmental Systems: Ecosystems (2 credits)
• EESC2203 Environmental Systems: Water Resources (2 credits)
• EESC2204 Environmental Systems: Carbon Cycle (2 credits)
• EESC2205 Environmental Systems: Climate Change (2 credits)
• EESC2206 Environmental Systems: Oceans (2 credits)
• EESC2207 Environmental Systems: Earthquakes (2 credits)
• EESC2208 Environmental Systems: Quantitative Methods (2 credits)

These are a series of 2-credit half-semester courses that introduce students to the basic concepts of environmental science from a variety of perspectives and professors, with the specific goal of providing students with a foundation for further interdisciplinary study of environmental issues. Students can take one or more of these courses in any given semester. Approved substitutions include EESC1167 for EESC2201, EESC1170 for EESC2203, EESC1174 or EESC1505 for EESC2205, and EESC1157 for EESC2206.

3. One Environmental History Foundation Course (3 credits)

• HIST2406 This Land Is Your Land: US Environmental History
  • or HIST 1710 Nature & Power: Making the Modern World Making the Modern World (a Core EQ)
  • or HIST 4703 Environmental Histories of Water
  • or HIST 4705 In the Eye of the Hurricane: An Environmental History of Latin America

Students are encouraged to fulfill the history requirement by their sophomore year. A historical understanding of how humans have related to the natural environment allows students to grasp both the specificity and the contingency of our contemporary ideas about the environment and is therefore a core intellectual resource for our work.

4. One Environmental Sociology Foundation Course (3 credits)

• SOCY3562/ENVS3562 Environmental Sociology

Students are encouraged to fulfill the sociology requirement by their junior year. Environmental sociology is a core intellectual resource for thinking through persistent problems in the socially constructed world (like poverty, racism, and migration) and the complex ways these human issues impact and are impacted by the environment and our changing climate.

5. ENVS3360 Research Methods in Environmental Studies

• ENVS3360 Research Methods in Environmental Studies
• ENVS3370 / EESC3070 Geospatial Data Analysis for Environmental Sustainability

Typically in their junior year, students take a course in research methods, where they encounter a variety of methodological approaches used by interdisciplinary scientists formulate questions, collect and analyze data, and draw conclusions within environmental studies research.

6. One elective (3 credits)

The elective can be used to deepen understanding of the student’s concentration, or to encounter a novel perspective in the environmental field.

7. Senior Research Seminar (4 credits) or Senior Thesis (6 credits)

In their senior year, all ENVS students formulate and carry out a research project. This requirement can be met in one of two ways: through enrollment in the senior research seminar or through completion of a senior thesis.

• Senior Research Seminar (4 credits)
  • ENVS4941 Senior Research Seminar [Fall]
  • ENVS4942 Senior Research Seminar II [Spring]

• Senior Thesis (6 credits)
  • ENVS4951 Senior Thesis I [Fall]
  • ENVS4952 Senior Thesis II [Spring]
  • ENVS4961 Senior Honors Thesis I [Fall]
  • ENVS4962 Senior Honors Thesis II [Spring]
    

Alternatively, students can undertake an independent research project under the supervision of a faculty advisor who signs on to the project in spring of the junior year.

8. Concentration (18 credits):

Biodiversity Conservation

Wild species are going extinct at unprecedented rates due to human activities causing degradation and loss of habitat. But these trends are reversible. It is critical to protect Earth’s intact ecosystems, to rewild degraded land and seascapes and to make our mixed use landscapes hospitable and healthy for people and nature. This concentration is for students who want to deepen their knowledge and skills in conservation ecology, ecosystem restoration, natural resource management, and the legal protection of wild species and whole ecosystems.

Two Social Science Courses:

• ENVS3324 Conservation Policy and Governance
• ENVS3354 Wildlife and Society

Two Ecology Courses:

• BIOL 1440 Sustaining the Biosphere 
• BIOL 2010 Ecology and Evolution 
• ENVS 3372 Field Ecology

One Upper-Level Ecology Course:

• ENVS 3323 Conservation Science
• BIOL4030 Deep Sea Biology
• BIOL4130 Ecology in a Changing Climate
• BIOL4450 Behavioral Ecology

One Humanities Course:

• ARTH/ENVS 4316 History of Scientific Illustration
• ENGL1724 Nature and Power: Reading the American Place
• ENGL2202 Beast Literature
• ENGL 5030 Irish Hybrids: Vampires, Mermaids, and the Eco-Imagination
• PHIL2444/ENVS2445 The Vegetative Soul: The Hidden Life of Plants
• HEO2231 Bible and Ecology

Climate Change and Societal Adaptation

What makes climate change so challenging to solve is that fossil fuels are used in just about every aspect of modern human lives—to heat and cool buildings, to move from place to place, to turn on the lights and run appliances, to grow our food, to extract and distribute freshwater, and to make the many products people consume in the marketplace. In this concentration students gain scientific knowledge of earth system processes behind anthropogenic climate change and explore solutions to mitigate and adapt to climatic changes that have already been set in motion. This concentration is a good choice for students who want to work on the forefront of climate action.

One Introductory Environmental Science Course:

• EESC1174 Climate Change and Society 
• EESC1501 Global Implications of Climate Change
• EESC1704 Climate Change and the Corporation
• EESC1720 Climate & Storytelling in the Age of Climate Change 

One Sociology or History Course:

• ENVS2241 U.S. Partisanship and Climate Policy
• HIST1507 Powering America: Energy, Tech, Environment
• SOCY1501 Global Implications of Climate Change
• SOCY1509/HIST1505 Planet in Peril

Two Upper-Level Environmental Science Courses:

• BIOL3200 Ecology in a Changing Climate
• EESC3311 Earth System Science and Sustainability
• EESC3396 The IPCC Scientific Assessment
• EESC4400 Geomorphology and Landscape Change
• EESC4464 Environmental Data Exploration and Analysis
• EESC4480 Applications of GIS
• EESC5535 Coastal Geomorphology and Processes
• EESC5599 Climate Change Debates

Two Upper-Level Social Sciences or Humanities Courses:

• ARTS2207 Urban Design for Complexity and Sustainability
• CSCI2267 Technology and Culture
• ECON3391 Economics of Energy and the Environment
• ENGL3358 The Great Acceleration: Contemporary Fiction and Climate Change
• ENVS3340 Alternative Energy
• ENVS3355 Sustainable Cities
• ENVS4006 Place Making for a Net Zero Future: Sustainable Architecture and Landscape Design
• PHIL3690 Energy Justice: Ethics, Economics, and the Environment
• PHIL3999 The Ethics of Emerging Technologies
• PHIL5515 How to Save the World: Ethics of Climate Change
• POLI2531 Energy Politics in U.S., Comparative and Global Perspective
• INTL2230/ENVS2230 Geographies of Nature and the Environment

Food and Water Sustainability

People depend on food and water to meet their basic needs for survival and health. These two goods are intricately linked as it takes water to grow food, and agricultural practices affect water quality. But food and water are much more than natural resources for human activity. Food is an expression and experience of culture, tastes, smells, ecosystems, and science. Water is critical to all life on the planet. In this concentration students take a deep dive into the ecological, social, and economic aspects of food production, watersheds, and water resources, exploring pathways to provide food and water sustainably to the human population.

Three Courses on Agricultural systems and Watersheds:

• EESC1170 Rivers and the Environment
• EESC3310 Agroecology
• ENVS3315 Sustainable Agriculture

One Environmental Science Course:

• EESC2297 Environmental Hydrology
• EESC3380 Environmental Oceanography
• EESC4400 Geomorphology and Landscape Change

One Social Science Course:

• COMM2229 Food, Media, Culture
• COMM4470 Communication, Capitalism, Consumerism
• ENVS3331 Geopolitics of Water
• ENVS3345 Environment and Public Health
• ENVS3355 Sustainable Cities
• ENVS3356 Seminar in Environmental Law
• SOCY3132/ENVS3132 Sociology of Natural Resources

One Humanities Course:

• ARTS2207 Urban Design for Complexity and Sustainability
• HIST2044 A Material and Cultural History of Food in China
• HIST4703 Environmental Histories of Water
• PHIL5534 Environmental Ethics
• SOCY/AADS3400 Food Justice Across the African Diaspora
• THEO2231 The Bible and Ecology

Environmental Communication

Craft Courses (at least 6 credits drawn from the courses listed below):

• ARTS1161 Photography I or ARTS1163 Introduction to Digital Photography
• COMM2204 Digital Media Fundamentals or COMM2221 Digital Media Field Production
• COMM2213 Fundamentals of Audio I
• ENGL4201 Science Writing
• FILM1171 Filmmaking I
• FILM2230 Video Art
• JOUR2225 Journalism and New Media
• JOUR2232 Investigative Journalism
• JOUR2246 Podcasting: The Art and Craft of Digital Storytelling
• JOUR2261/ENVS2261 Environmental Journalism: Science, Society, Solutions

Critical Courses (at least 6 credits drawn from the courses listed below):

• ARTH/ENVS4316 History of Scientific Illustration
• COMM2203 Image as Communication
• COMM2265 Theory, History and Practice of Talk Media
• COMM2278 Social Media
• COMM3377 Visual Communication Theory
• COMM4470 Communication, Consumerism, Capitalism
• ENGL3358 The Great Acceleration: Contemporary Fiction and Climate Change
• ENGL4028 Climate Fiction
• ENGL4280 Beast Literature
• ENGL6045 Seminar: Animal Worlds in the Middle Ages

Environmental Entrepreneurship

Economics is at the heart of this curriculum, which is complemented with sociology, humanities, and management classes that provide perspectives on sustainable development, business ethics, and social entrepreneurship. This concentration is for students who are interested in business solutions, corporate social responsibility, impact investing, and market innovations to mitigate carbon emissions, protect biodiversity, reduce food waste, and manage freshwater resources. Students choosing this concentration are typically preparing to start their own green enterprise, to help institutions and corporations achieve their sustainability goals, or to participate in climate finance.

Principles of Economics:

• ECON1101 Principles of Economics Core

Two Environmental Economics Courses:

• ECON2212 Geographic Information Systems for Planning and Decision-Making
• ECON2278 Environmental Economics OR ECON2277 Environmental Economics & Policy
• ECON3391 Economics of Energy & the Environment (ECON2201 and ECON2228 are prerequisites)

One Sociology Course:

• SOCY1072 Inequality in America
• SOCY3322 Consumption, Health, and the Environment
• SOCY3661 Urban Sociology

One Humanities Course:

• COMM2275 Communication, Consumerism, Capitalism
• HIST2702 Colonial Pasts/Global Presents
• HIST2703 Is All Commerce Capitalism?
• PHIL5901 The Ethics and Politics of Capitalism

One Management Course:

• BSLW3345 Managing for Social Impact & the Public Good
• MGMT2137 Managing Diversity
• MGMT2139 Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship
• MGMT2265 Globalization, Culture, & Ethics

Environmental Health

The health of people is intricately connected to the health of the environment. Ecosystems that flourish with healthy populations of plants, animals, fungi, and microbes also support healthy human populations. Many anthropogenic pollutants such as plastic, NOX and SOX gases, carbon monoxide, soot, and pesticides, reduce both environmental and human health. The hazards generated by factories, power plants, and waste facilities have been disproportionately sited in low-income neighborhoods, concentrating their negative health impacts in communities of color. Students in this concentration are interested in addressing the underlying environmental causes of human disease and illness and are typically preparing for careers in public health or sustainable development.

One Environmental Health Course:

• ENVS3345 Environment and Public Health

One Ethics Course:

• PHIL5534 Environmental Ethics
• THEO3223 The Ethics of Global Public Health and the Common Good

One Nursing Course:

• MCPH1210/PHCG1210 Public Health and Global Society
• NURS5350 Global Health Care: Meeting Challenges and Making Connections
• PHCG2130 Global Public Health Law
• PHCG3210 Contemporary Issues in Public Health

One Biology Course:

• BIOL1480 Pathogens and Plagues
• BIOL3090 Foundations of Microbiology (requires BIOL2000)
  
• PHCG4140 Children’s Health and the Environment

One History Course:

• AADS4485/HIST4485 History of Medicine and Public Health
• ENGL2212 Introduction to Medical Humanities
• HIST2230 Science before the Scientific Revolution

One Social Science Course:

• PHCG2130 Global Public Health Law
• SOCY1002 Introduction to Sociology for Healthcare Professions
• SOCY1078 Sociology of Health and Illness
• SOCY3322 Consumption, Health, and the Environment
  

Environmental Justice and Policy

The legal framework protecting our natural environment and the policies that shape our progress toward environmental justice are both critical components of the effort to restore and improve environmental and human flourishing. While laws provide a regulatory framework safeguarding the human population, as well as that of other species and our water, soil, and atmosphere, policies drive action toward environmental goals like adoption of renewable energy and investment in green infrastructure. Students in this concentration are interested in addressing environmental problems and restoring social justice through law and policy, and are typically preparing for careers in government or law.

One Introductory Environmental Law & Policy Course:

• ENVS/UNAS2256 Environmental Law and Policy

• ENVS2241 Partisanship and Climate Policy
• POLI2338 Environmental Politics and Policy
• POLI2441 Comparative Politics of Development
• POLI2446 Natural Resource Politics
• POLI2531 Politics of Energy and Climate in U.S. and International Perspectivess

• ENVS3324 Conservation Policy and Governance
• ENVS3356 Seminar in Environmental Law
• ENVS4408 Democracy and the Environment

• INTL2230/ENVS2230 Geographies of Nature and the Environment
• INTL2260 International Environmental Science and Policy
• INTL2533 Global Climate Politics
• INTL3340/ENVS3341 Environmental Politics of the Middle East

• SOCY1072 Inequality in America
• SOCY1501 Global Implications of Climate Change Core

• ECON 2208 Economic Justice (requires ECON1101)
• SOCY3346/ENVS3347 Environmental Justice
• SOCY3400/AADS3400 Food Justice across the African Diaspora

Minor Requirements

The ENVS minor consists of 19 credits, with at least 15 credits being used solely for the ENVS requirements.

A. EESC2201 Environmental Systems: The Human Footprint (plus lab; 2 credits)

B. One of the following courses (plus lab; 2 credits):

• EESC2202 Environmental Systems: Ecosystems
• EESC2203 Environmental Systems: Water Resources
• EESC2204 Environmental Systems: Carbon Cycle
• EESC2205 Environmental Systems: Climate Change
• EESC2206 Environmental Systems: Oceans
• EESC2207 Environmental Systems: Earthquakes
• EESC2208 Environmental Systems: Quantitative Methods

C. Two foundation courses (6 credits)

One in Research Methods:

• ENVS3360 Research Methods in Environmental Studies

One in the Social Sciences or Humanities:

• ECON2277 Environmental Economics and Policy
• ECON2278 Environmental Economics
• ENVS/UNAS2256 Environmental Law and Policy
• HIST2406/ENVS2406 The Land Is Your Land: U.S. Environmental History
• INTL2260 International Environmental Science and Policy
• MGMT2145 Environmental Management
• SOCY1031 Society and Environmental Transformations
• SOCY1501 Global Implications of Climate Change
• SOCY1509 Planet in Peril: History and Future of Human Impact
• SOCY2200 Statistics (or a different statistics course)
• SOCY3562 Environmental Sociology
• PHIL3690 Energy Justice: Ethics, Economics, and the Environment
• PHIL5515 How to Save the World: Ethics of Climate Change

D. At least 6 credits (two courses) of electives.

At least 3 credits must be from courses numbered 3000 and above.

E. ENVS4943 Environmental Seminar, a 3-credit senior seminar offered every spring semester

 To register for the minor, contact the Environmental Studies Program at envstudy@bc.edu, or stop by the program office in Devlin 213. For more information see the program website at https://www.bc.edu/content/bc-web/schools/mcas/sites/envstudies.html.

Information for First-Year Students

First-year students who are considering applying to become Environmental Studies majors should consider taking University Core courses with an environmental focus.

Information for Study Abroad

ENVS majors are encouraged to take advantage of study abroad opportunities. Studying outside of the U.S. provides a global perspective on environmental and sustainability issues and educational opportunities not available at BC. ENVS students are allowed 3–6 credits (one to two courses) per semester abroad to count toward the major or minor requirements. If a student is doing a program specifically designed for Environmental Studies, more than 6 credits (two courses) may be approved. Students must meet with their academic advisor and the ENVS Director or Associate Director prior to leaving for their study abroad experience.

For further information see the program website at bc.edu/envstudies, contact the Environmental Studies Program at envstudy@bc.edu, or stop by the program office in Devlin 213.