This 1-credit lecture series introduces students to theory and practice in fields related to the environment, sustainability and climate change. Students gain insight into how their liberal arts education and skills in critical thinking and analysis apply to a variety of environmental issues and sustainability contexts. Speakers, including distinguished alumnae, are drawn from the five colleges, the Pioneer Valley and beyond. S/U only. This course can be repeated for credit.

This course is designed to develop a student’s abilities as an environmental problem solver through practice. The problems come in two forms: a campus or local problem related to environmental sustainability or resilience, and the problem of what to do with one’s life. To address each, students engage in a semester-long group project that addresses a real-world environmental issue or question (projects vary from year to year) and a more individualized examination of the student’s own values, career aspirations and skills.

This course focuses on the interpretation and communication of environmental issues and solutions from multi- and interdisciplinary perspectives. Using contemporary environmental topics as a foundation, this course emphasizes careful assessment of both message and audience to design effective communication strategies for complex topics.

Offered as ANT 224 and ENV 224. Anthropology seeks to understand human life in all its complexity, but what constitutes the human is far from straightforward. This course examines the changing ways that Anthropos is being understood in an era of rapid global climate change and our planet’s sixth mass extinction event, both driven by human activities. We review perspectives on the relationship between humans and their environment from various cultural perspectives, considering how they engage notions of race, class, and gender, and what they imply for nature conservation.

This course offers an introduction to the methods and key debates in environmental history, the history of the relationship between humanity and the “rest of nature,” including climate, water, soils, landscapes, plants, animals, microbes, and others. “What is environmental history?” is in fact easier to answer than “What isn’t environmental history?” Since the 1970s, environmental historians have used an environmental lens to examine topics like politics, economy, religion, gender, race, migration, art, music, literature, and culture.

In this laboratory complement to 201, students use a variety of methods to gather and analyze different types of environmental data (quantitative, qualitative, spatial). Corequisite: ENV 201. Prerequisite: ENV 101. Enrollment limited to 18.

While focusing on topical environmental issues, students learn how to gather, analyze and present data using methods from the natural and social sciences. Data are drawn from multiple sources, including laboratory experiments, fieldwork, databases, archival sources, surveys and interviews. Emphasis is on quantitative analysis. Environmental topics vary in scale from the local to the global. Corequisite: ENV 202. Prerequisite: ENV 101. Enrollment limited to 18.

Offered as GEO 150 and ENV 150. A geographic information system (GIS) enables data and maps to be overlain, queried and visualized in order to solve problems in many diverse fields. This course provides an introduction to the fundamental elements of GIS and applies the analysis of spatial data to issues in geoscience, environmental science and public policy. Students gain expertise in ArcGIS--the industry standard GIS software--and online mapping platforms, and carry out semester-long projects in partnership with local conservation organizations. Enrollment limited to 20.

Earth has entered a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, characterized by the accelerating impact of human activities on the Earth’s ecosystems. All over the globe, humans have transformed the environment and have sometimes created catastrophic dynamics within social-ecological systems. Scientists have studied these phenomena for decades, alerting both the general public and policy-makers of the consequences of our actions. However, despite convincing evidence of environmental degradation, humans continue to radically transform their environment.

Earth has entered a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, characterized by the accelerating impact of human activities on the Earth’s ecosystems. All over the globe, humans have transformed the environment and have sometimes created catastrophic dynamics within social-ecological systems. Scientists have studied these phenomena for decades, alerting both the general public and policy-makers of the consequences of our actions. However, despite convincing evidence of environmental degradation, humans continue to radically transform their environment.