ENVS Major 2022-23

The ENVS Program continually updates its major to make new opportunities available for students, to ensure that students can smoothly get through major requirements, and to maintain a rigorous academic curriculum.

Below is what will appear in the college catalog effective 2022-23 for the new ENVS major. Unless you are graduating in 2023, we strongly recommend that all current students pursue the new major, by completing this form to adopt the 2022-23 catalog. [By adopting the new catalog, you will need to adopt all requirements, including other majors/minors and graduation requirements. In rare cases, then, this may not be preferable.] 

A set of draft three- and four-year sample plans following this new major (ENVS major requirements only) are also available for view.

Primary changes from the current major include:

• Reduction in the number of required ENVS core courses
• Addition of ENVS breadth courses, and removal of ECON 260 breadth requirement
• Addition of an ENVS/ESS elective requirement
• Addition of a quantitative requirement

Feel free to contact ENVS if any questions.

ENVS Requirements

The major includes core courses in environmental studies, breadth courses in the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities, elective courses, and a quantitative requirement.

Core courses are designed to weave together concepts and skills drawn from breadth course fields, in order to build an intellectually coherent understanding of environmental problems and solutions. The core sequence starts with a broad introductory course followed by development of quantitative and qualitative analytical skills. It culminates in a senior capstone representing original scholarly research on a topic of practical relevance. An additional core course builds communication, cultural competency, and other skills toward successful public engagement.

Breadth courses in fields including biology, chemistry, English, earth system science, economics, political science, sociology and anthropology, international affairs, history, philosophy, and religious studies provide important discipline-specific tools for environmental analysis.

Elective courses in environmental studies and earth system science offer opportunities to explore key topics outside of ENVS core and breadth courses.

The quantitative requirement builds skills in data analysis and modeling, given the significance of these skills in environmental studies.

Majors receive faculty guidance toward areas of interest relevant to their academic and professional goals, and are encouraged to pursue overseas study, ideally related to these areas of interest, during their third year.

Major Requirements

A minimum of 50 semester credits, including the following:

Core Requirements

• ENVS 160 Introduction to Environmental Studies
• ENVS 220 Environmental Analysis
• ENVS 295 Environmental Engagement
• ENVS 400 Senior Seminar

Breadth Requirements

• Two natural science breadth elective courses chosen from the list below. The courses must be taken from different departments.
• Two social science breadth elective courses chosen from the list below. The courses must be taken from different departments.
• Two arts and humanities breadth electives chosen from the list below. The courses must be taken from different departments.

Additional Requirements

• One elective ENVS or ESS course chosen from the list below.
• One quantitative course in math, computer science, or statistics, chosen from the list below.

All Lewis & Clark courses intended to fulfill environmental studies major requirements must be taken for a letter grade.

Minor Requirements

A minimum of 25 semester credits (six courses), distributed as follows:

• ENVS 160 Introduction to Environmental Studies
• ENVS 220 Environmental Analysis
• ENVS 295 Environmental Engagement
• One social science breadth course chosen from the list below.
• One natural science breadth elective chosen from the list below.
• One arts and humanities breadth course chosen from the list below.

All Lewis & Clark courses intended to fulfill environmental studies minor requirements must be taken for a letter grade.

Natural Science Breadth Courses

BIO 201 Biological Core Concepts: Systems

CHEM 100 Perspectives in Environmental Chemistry

CHEM 110 General Chemistry I

ESS 150 Environmental Geology

ESS 170 Climate Science

Social Science Breadth Courses

ECON 260 Environmental and Natural Resource Economics

ENVS 460 Topics in Environmental Law and Policy

IA 257 Global Resource Dilemmas

IA 340 International Political Economy

POLS 346 State and Local Politics

SOAN 265 Critical Perspectives on Development

SOAN 305 Environmental Sociology

Arts and Humanities Breadth Courses

ENG 276 Animals and Animal Rights in Literature

HIST 239 Constructing the American Landscape

HIST 261 Global Environmental History

HIST 388 What’s for Dinner

PHIL 215 Philosophy and the Environment

RELS 102 Food and Religion in America

RELS 105 Apocalyptic Imagination

ENVS or ESS Electives

ENVS 311 (Un)Natural Disasters

ENVS 350 Environmental Theory

ENVS 490 Topics in Environmental Studies

ESS 270 Issues in Oceanography

ESS 280 The Fundamentals of Hydrology

ESS 290 Topics in Earth System Science

ESS 340 Spatial Problems in Earth System Science

Quantitative Requirement Courses

MATH 131 Calculus

MATH 123 Calculus & Statistics for Modeling the Life Sciences

CS 171 Computer Science I

DSCI 140 Introduction to Data Science

ECON 103 Statistics

POLS 201 Research Methods in Political Science

PSY 200 Statistics I