Environmental Studies

The central mission of Carleton’s Environmental Studies Program is to educate the next generation of environmental scholars and professionals in the fundamental scientific, ecological, social, ethical, political, and economic forces that govern environmental issues and the long-term quality and viability of society. The complexities of environmental problems dictate that study of the environment be based in multiple disciplines to provide students with skill sets and knowledge bases in the following areas:

• Scientific principles as applied to the environment
• The political, economic, social and cultural dimensions of environmental problems
• The historical and ethical context for environmental problems and policy
• Literary and artistic explorations of the environment

Students who major in Environmental Studies can gain a broad knowledge base in the natural sciences, social sciences and the humanities, which is intended to help them understand the complex environmental issues faced by societies around the world.

The major is designed to help students make connections across these key knowledge bases, while also allowing students to focus their studies within specific interdisciplinary content areas supported by the curriculum. Currently those focus areas include:

• Conservation and Development
• Food and Agriculture
• Energy and Climate
• Environmental Justice
• Landscapes and Perception
• Water Resources

The Environmental Studies major prepares students for meaningful involvement in a wide array of environmental and governmental organizations, as well as for graduate study in many environmental fields, law, public policy, and other areas of inquiry.

Major Requirements – 78 Total Credits

In most cases, majors must complete 78 credits in the course categories listed below, which includes nine credits devoted to a group-based comprehensive exercise. This comprehensive exercise is described in detail on the Environmental Studies website. In exceptional circumstances, majors may do an individual comprehensive exercise for six credits, in which case they must complete 72 credits for the major.

Core Courses – Required 18 credits

• BIOL 210: Global Change Biology
• ECON 271: Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment
• HIST 205: American Environmental History

Required Supporting Courses – Required 12 credits

Required Methods Courses – Required 12 credits

• ENTS 120: Introduction to Geospatial Analysis & Lab
• STAT 120: Introduction to Statistics
  OR STAT 230: Applied Regression Analysis
  OR STAT 250: Introduction to Statistical Inference
  OR MATH 240: Probability

Elective Courses – Required 24 credits

Twelve credits should consist of Society, Culture, Policy electives and twelve credits should consist of Environmental Science electives. Any one of these elective courses may be used to satisfy the 300-level topical seminar requirement in section VI, below.

In addition, students will work with their adviser to develop an interdisciplinary focus within environmental studies, such as food and agriculture, conservation and development, energy and climate, landscapes and perception, environmental justice, or water resources. This focus will be exhibited and explained in an e-portfolio (the “ENTS Profile”), to be completed by the end of Fall term senior year. Electives should be chosen to reflect this focus.

Topical Seminar Course – Required 6 credits

All students must take one 300-level seminar that includes an individual research paper. This course may also count as an elective. Courses that fulfill this requirement are:

• BIOL 321: Ecosystem Ecology (not offered 2025-26)
• BIOL 363: Seminar: Ecomechanics (not offered 2025-26)
• ENTS 307: Wilderness Field Studies: Grand Canyon (not offered 2025-26)
• ENTS 313: Conscious Nature: Towards and Anthropology of Non-Human Beings (not offered 2025-26)
• ENTS 320: Seminar: Listening to the Land
• ENTS 323: Mother Earth: Women, Development and the Environment (not offered 2025-26)
• GEOL 340: Hydrogeology: Groundwater & Lab
• HIST 306: American Wilderness (not offered 2025-26)
• HIST 307: Arctic Environmental History
• HIST 308: American Cities and Nature (not offered 2025-26)
• POSC 333: Global Social Changes and Sustainability (not offered 2025-26)
• POSC 335: Navigating Environmental Complexity–Challenges to Democratic Governance and Political Communication (not offered 2025-26)
• SOAN 313: Conscious Nature: Towards and Anthropology of Non-Human Beings (not offered 2025-26)
• SOAN 323: Mother Earth: Women, Development and the Environment (not offered 2025-26)

Senior Seminar and Integrative Exercise – Required 12 credits

Most students will take a 6-credit senior seminar, which is normally offered fall term, and then pursue a 6-credit group-based comprehensive exercise the following term. In exceptional circumstances, students may pursue an individual comprehensive exercise.

• ENTS 395: Senior Seminar in Environmental Studies (6 credits)
  AND ENTS 400: Integrative Exercise (6 credits)
• OR ENTS 400: Integrative Exercise Individual option (6 credits)

• ENTS 100.01 American Wilderness

  To many Americans, wild lands are among the nation’s most treasured places. Yosemite, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree – the names alone evoke a sense of awe, beauty, naturalness, wildness, and even love. But, where do those thoughts and feelings come from, and how have they both reflected and shaped American cultural, political, and environmental history over the last four centuries?  These are the central issues and questions that we will pursue in an interdisciplinary framework in this Argument & Inquiry Seminar.

  • Offered: Fall 2025
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: AI/WR1, Argument & Inquiry/WR1 IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies
  • Prerequisites:

    Student is a member of the First Year First Term class level cohort. Students are only allowed to register for one A&I course at a time. If a student wishes to change the A&I course they are enrolled in they must DROP the enrolled course and then ADD the new course. Please see our Workday guides Drop or 'Late' Drop a Course and Register or Waitlist for a Course Directly from the Course Listing for more information.

  • Tags: CL: 100 level HIST Environment and Health HIST United States HIST Modern
  • Faculty: George Vrtis 🏫 👤

• ENTS 115 Introductory Methods for Climate Action

  Global climate change manifests in increasingly severe droughts, heat waves, and flooding. Reducing emissions and addressing amplified and unjust impacts requires place-based interdisciplinary solutions that intersect with campus and community development. This course provides a practical toolkit of methods for climate action and justice. Students will learn foundational skills like analyzing climate trends, benchmarking data, and facilitating listening sessions. With tips from campus and regional sustainability experts, and practicums to build skills, students move beyond the analysis of existing climate plans to practicing the strategies required to build or fulfill them.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Liberal Arts Requirements: No Exploration QRE, Quantitative Reasoning
  • Tags: ACE Applied CL: 100 level ENTS Environmental Science

• ENTS 120 Introduction to Geospatial Analysis & Lab

  Spatial data analysis using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing, global positioning, and related technologies are increasingly important for understanding and analyzing a wide range of biophysical, social, and economic phenomena. This course serves as an overview and introduction to the concepts, algorithms, issues, and methods in describing, analyzing, and modeling geospatial data over a range of application areas.

  During registration, students will register for both the lecture and a corresponding lab section, which will appear on the student's academic transcript in a single entry.

  • Offered: Fall 2025, Spring 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: QRE, Quantitative Reasoning SI, Social Inquiry
  • Tags: ARCN Pertinent CL: 100 level DGAH Skill Building SDSC XDept Elective
  • Faculty: Karissa Pepin 🏫 👤

• ENTS 180 Community Engagement and Qualitative Methods

  This course introduces students to community-engaged research and qualitative methods in environmental and social contexts. Students will examine principles of working with communities, ethical research practices, and the role of power, positionality, and cultural humility. Through exercises, workshops, and group projects, students will learn to collect, code, and analyze qualitative data from interviews, focus groups, and observations. The course emphasizes reflective practice and translating research findings into actionable outputs. By the end of the term, students will have the background to plan community-based research projects, critically evaluate existing studies, and understand the challenges and opportunities involved in ethical qualitative research.

  • Offered: Winter 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: SI, Social Inquiry
  • Tags: ACE Theoretical CL: 100 level ENTS Society, Culture and Policy
  • Faculty: Roger Faust 🏫 👤

• ENTS 210 Environmental Justice

  The environmental justice movement seeks greater participation by marginalized communities in environmental policy, and equity in the distribution of environmental harms and benefits. This course will examine the meaning of “environmental justice,” the history of the movement, the empirical foundation for the movement’s claims, and specific policy questions. Our focus is the United States, but students will have the opportunity to research environmental justice in other countries.

  • Offered: Spring 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies QRE, Quantitative Reasoning SI, Social Inquiry
  • Tags: AMST Democracy Activism AMST Space and Place CL: 200 level ENTS Society, Culture and Policy POSI Elective/Non POSC AMST Race Ethnicity Indigeneity PPOL Environmental Policy & Sustainability
  • Faculty: Devavani Chatterjea 🏫 👤

• ENTS 212 Global Food Systems

  The course offers a survey of the world’s food systems–and its critics–from the initial domestication of plants and animals to our day. We will begin by examining the critical theoretical and foundational issues on the subject, and then turn to a series of case studies that illuminate major themes around the world. Topics will include land and animal husbandry, the problem of food security, food politics, the Green Revolution, biotechnology, and the implications of global climate change. Throughout the course, students will assess and seek to integrate differing disciplinary and methodological approaches. The class will include field experiences.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: IS, International Studies QRE, Quantitative Reasoning SI, Social Inquiry
  • Tags: CL: 200 level PPOL Environmental Policy & Sustainability

• ENTS 215 Environmental Ethics

  This course is an introduction to the central ethical debates in environmental policy and practice, as well as some of the major traditions of environmental thought. It investigates such questions as whether we can have moral duties towards animals, ecosystems, or future generations; what is the ethical basis for wilderness preservation; and what is the relationship between environmentalism and social justice. The Academic Civic Engagement aspect of the course for Spring 2024 will involve beaver monitoring in the Arb and participation in planning the BeaverFest campus and community event in May.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry
  • Tags: ACE Applied CL: 200 level ENTS Society, Culture and Policy PPOL Ethics PPOL Environmental Policy & Sustainability

• ENTS 220 Sovereignty and Sustainability

  This course explores the legal, cultural, and environmental foundations of Tribal and Indigenous environmental stewardship and natural resource management. Students will examine the historical significance of treaties, Tribal sovereignty, and federal trust responsibility, as well as key laws that have shaped Tribal resource use. The evolution of Tribal co-management with federal and state agencies will be analyzed through case studies, highlighting challenges and successful partnerships. Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and Indigenous worldviews on land stewardship will complement critical discussions on climate change, environmental justice, and the ongoing balance between economic development and ecological sustainability in Tribal resource use. 

  • Offered: Fall 2025
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies
  • Tags: AMST Space and Place CL: 200 level ENTS Society, Culture and Policy AMST Race Ethnicity Indigeneity
  • Faculty: Roger Faust 🏫 👤

• ENTS 225 Carbon and Climate

  This course will focus on the interconnections between the Earth’s carbon cycle and climate system. Particular interest will be given to how Earth system processes involved in the carbon cycle operate on geologic timescales and how these systems are responding to anthropogenic emissions. Required weekly laboratories will explore carbon cycle processes in local environments and will include outdoor field work, lab analyses, and computer modeling.

  During registration, students will register for both the lecture and a corresponding lab section, which will appear on the student's academic transcript in a single entry.

  • Offered: Fall 2025
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: LS, Science with Lab QRE, Quantitative Reasoning
  • Prerequisites:

    Student must have completed any of the following course(s): One Lab Science course with grade of C- or better.

  • Tags: CL: 200 level GEOL Pertinent Course ENTS Environmental Science
  • Faculty: Dan Maxbauer 🏫 👤

• ENTS 230 Remote Sensing of the Environment & Lab

  The advancement of aerial and satellite technology has allowed humans to view the planet in a unique light. This course dives deeply into the science of remote sensing to analyze Earth's dynamic surface and atmosphere. Students will learn to acquire, interpret, and apply imagery to detect environmental change and uncover spatiotemporal patterns. Topics include sensor systems, image processing, land cover classification, and change detection. Emphasis is placed on real-world applications in environmental studies, including human-environment interactions. Labs and projects build practical skills in remote sensing software and geospatial analysis. Ideal for students in ENTS, Geology, Physics, Biology, and related fields.

  During registration, students will register for both the lecture and a corresponding lab section, which will appear on the student's academic transcript in a single entry.

  • Offered: Winter 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: LS, Science with Lab QRE, Quantitative Reasoning
  • Prerequisites:

    Student has completed any of the following course(s): ENTS 120 with grade of C- or better.

  • Tags: CL: 200 level ENTS Environmental Science
  • Faculty: Karissa Pepin 🏫 👤

• ENTS 244 Biodiversity Conservation and Development

  How can the need for intensive human social and economic development be reconciled with the conservation of biodiversity? This course explores the wide range of actions that people take at a local, national, and international level to address this question. We will use political ecology and conservation biology as theoretical frameworks to examine the role of traditional and indigenous approaches to biodiversity conservation as well as contemporary debates about integrated conservation development across a spectrum of cultures in North America, Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: IS, International Studies QRE, Quantitative Reasoning SI, Social Inquiry
  • Tags: CL: 200 level ENTS Society, Culture and Policy PPOL Environmental Policy & Sustainability

• ENTS 248 Environmental Memoir

  Through close readings of contemporary and classic environmental memoirs, this course explores the connections between nature and identity; race, belonging, and landscape; and memory, justice, and hope. Issues of environmental justice and injustice will serve as a key interpretive lens for approaching the texts. Authors include Robin Wall Kimmerer, Aldo Leopold, Terry Tempest Williams, and J. Drew Lanham.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CL: 200 level ENTS Society, Culture and Policy

• ENTS 249 Troubled Waters

  This course considers the contrast between the ways various religions conceive of water as sacred, and the fact that today’s intersecting environmental crises mean that drought, flooding, sea level rise, and lack of access to clean water and safe sanitation have made the human relationship with water more fraught and complex than ever before. We will look at specific situations of environmental injustice (including Flint, Michigan; Jackson, Mississippi; and the protests at Standing Rock) as well as reading more theoretical and theological takes on water, water justice, and water activism.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies
  • Tags: ACE Theoretical CL: 200 level ENTS Society, Culture and Policy RELG Pertinent Course RELG XDept Pertinent

• ENTS 250 The Socioecological Life of Corn in Oaxaca, Mexico–Food, Forests & Resilience

  The course will explore how the idea of sustainability is complicated when evaluated through a socio-ecological framework that combines anthropology and ecology. To highlight this complexity, the course is designed to provide a comparative framework to understand and analyze sustainable socio-ecological propositions in Minnesota and Oaxaca. Key conceptual areas explored include: coupled human-natural systems, resilience (ecological and cultural), self-determination, and social justice across stakeholders. The course includes a series of fieldtrips to nearby projects of interest. This course is part of the OCS winter break Oaxaca program, involving two linked courses in fall and winter terms. This class is the first class in the sequence.

  • Offered: Fall 2025
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
  • Prerequisites:

    Student Cohorts any in the selection list OCS Socioecological Life – Oaxaca Mexico Program

  • Tags: BIOL Elective CL: 200 level ENTS Society, Culture and Policy LTAM Electives SOAN Elective Eligible
  • Faculty: Daniel Hernández 🏫 👤 · Constanza Ocampo-Raeder 🏫 👤

• ENTS 251 The Socioecological Life of Corn in Oaxaca, Mexico–Field Study in Sustainability in Oaxaca

  A field-based investigation of socio-ecological systems in Oaxaca, Mexico that will allow students to draw comparisons with similar systems in Minnesota. During winter break, we will visit the city of Oaxaca and neighboring villages to document and research systems of agriculture, sustainable forestry, and ecotourism, emphasizing the integration of methodologies in anthropology and ecology. Following the winter break trip, students will complete and present their research projects. This course is the second part of a two term sequence beginning with Environmental Studies 250.

  • Offered: Winter 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
  • Prerequisites:

    Student has completed any of the following course(s): ENTS 250 with grade of C- or better during the immediately preceding term AND at least one term of Spanish or equivalent proficiency.

  • Tags: CL: 200 level ENTS Society, Culture and Policy
  • Faculty: Daniel Hernández 🏫 👤 · Constanza Ocampo-Raeder 🏫 👤

• ENTS 254 Topics in Landscape Ecology

  Landscape ecology is an interdisciplinary field that combines the spatial approach of the geographer with the functional approach of the ecologist to understand the ways in which landscape composition and structure affects ecological processes, species abundance, and distribution. Topics include collecting and referencing spatial data at broad scales, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), landscape metrics, simulating change in landscape pattern, landscape connectivity and meta-population dynamics, and reserve design.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: IS, International Studies QRE, Quantitative Reasoning SI, Social Inquiry
  • Prerequisites:

    Student has completed the following courses: BIOL 125 with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 5 or better on the Biology AP exam or received a score of 6 or better on the Biology IB exam or received a Carleton Biology 125 Requisite Equivalency or completed Biology A Level Test 1 with a grade of B or better AND BIOL 126 with a grade of C- or better or received a Carleton Biology 126 Requisite Equivalency or completed Biology A Level Test 2 with a grade of B or better.

  • Tags: CL: 200 level SDSC XDept Elective ENTS Environmental Science

• ENTS 255 Ecology & Anthropology Tanzania Program: Field Methods in Ecology and Anthropology

  This course enables students with interests in both Ecology and Anthropology to conduct studies in partnership with Tanzanian host communities. The challenges facing cultural groups and socio-ecological systems in northern Tanzania are inherently multi-disciplinary, and students must be able to bridge disciplines. This Field Methods course provides students with a common set of skills from both the ecological and anthropological disciplines to be applied in their Independent Study projects. Topics covered in the course include: introduction to research ethics; conducting a literature review; design and implementation of data collection protocols and survey questionnaires; summary, analysis and presentation of qualitative and quantitative data.

  • Offered: Fall 2025
  • Credits: 4
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: No Exploration
  • Prerequisites:

    Acceptance in the Carleton OCS Ecology and Anthropology in Tanzania program.

  • Tags: CL: 200 level
  • Faculty: Anna Estes 🏫 👤

• ENTS 275 The Arts and Environmental Justice

  How are artists today engaging with climate change, pollution, and other aspects of the planet’s environmental crisis? And are their creative works making any difference? In The Great Derangement, novelist and social anthropologist Amitav Ghosh argues that today’s literary fiction has failed to engage climate change in a meaningful and transformative way: we will read several “climate novels” to test his claim. We will also look at visual arts and music, including work by Maya Lin, Patricia Johanson, and collaborative artist/science/community projects such as those led by CALL, City as Living Laboratory.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
  • Tags: CL: 200 level ENTS Society, Culture and Policy

• ENTS 284 Power, Electricity, Environment, and Policy

  Surging demand for electricity from data centers, electric vehicles, and industrial electrification is reshaping energy markets, grid planning, and land use decisions in communities across the country. Meeting that demand requires new generation capacity, transmission infrastructure, and difficult decisions about what to build and where — decisions with profound consequences for the communities that host this infrastructure. This course examines how electricity markets work, who bears the costs of expansion, and how policymakers navigate competing claims. Students will analyze electricity market design and pricing, the environmental impacts of different energy sources, and the justice dimensions of siting decisions that concentrate burdens in some communities while distributing benefits broadly.

  ECON 284 is cross listed with ENTS 284.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Liberal Arts Requirements: QRE, Quantitative Reasoning SI, Social Inquiry
  • Prerequisites:

    Student has completed any of the following course(s): ECON 111 with a grade of C- or better or ECON AL (Cambridge A Level Economics) with a grade of B or better or has received a score of 5 on the AP Microeconomics test or a score of 6 or better on the IB Economics test or received an ECON 111 requisite equivalency.

  • Tags: CL: 200 level ECON Elective ENTS Society, Culture and Policy PPOL Environmental Policy & Sustainability

• ENTS 288 Abrupt Climate Change

  Abrupt climate change is very fast change related to “tipping points” and threshold crossings. Such change is evident in historical climate records going back millions of years. Includes interpretation of historical paleoclimate data and proxy measurement methods, evolving theories for abrupt change, the role of complex earth systems processes, and trends in global climate change today. Link to human concerns will be made by exploring several case studies on past human civilizations affected by abrupt climate change. Includes a final project on the emerging science of abrupt climate change.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: No Exploration QRE, Quantitative Reasoning
  • Prerequisites:

    Student has completed any of the following course(s): BIOL 125 or BIOL 126 or CHEM 123 or CHEM 124 or CHEM 128 or one 100 Level Geology course or 6 credits of Physics from courses 131-165 with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 5 or better on the Biology AP exam or received a score of 6 or better on the Biology IB exam or requisite equivalency.

  • Tags: CL: 200 level ENTS Environmental Science PPOL Environmental Policy & Sustainability

• ENTS 289 Climate Change and Human Health

  This course will survey the relationship between climate change and human health. The course will begin by exploring the science of the Earth’s climate before turning to an exploration of topics that illuminate the intimate relationship between climate change and human health. These include short-lived climate forcers and the climate and health impact of mitigation measures, extreme heat/drought, mosquito-borne diseases, indoor air pollution/biomass combustion/cookstoves, and biodiversity conservation.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: QRE, Quantitative Reasoning SI, Social Inquiry
  • Prerequisites:

    Student has completed any of the following course(s): BIOL 125 or BIOL 126 or CHEM 123 or CHEM 124 or CHEM 128 or one 100 Level Geology course or 6 credits of Physics from courses 131-165 with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 5 or better on the Biology AP exam or received a score of 6 or better on the Biology IB exam or requisite equivalency.

  • Tags: CL: 200 level ENTS Environmental Science PPOL Environmental Policy & Sustainability

• ENTS 294 Directed Research in Environmental Studies

  Students work on a research project related to a faculty member's research interests, and directed by that faculty member. Student activities vary according to the field and stage of the project. The long-run goal of these projects normally includes dissemination to a scholarly community beyond Carleton. The faculty member will meet regularly with the student and actively direct the work of the student, who will submit an end-of-term product, typically a paper or presentation.

  • Offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026, Spring 2026
  • Credits: 1 – 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: No Exploration
  • Tags: CL: Faculty Research

• ENTS 305 Sustainable Water Management

  Access to clean, reliable freshwater is essential for ecosystems and human societies. This project-based course introduces the fundamentals of surface and groundwater hydrology, emphasizing how human activities shape water systems through infrastructure, land use, policy, and management. Students explore challenges including water scarcity, contamination, and climate-driven hydrologic change. Using geospatial analysis and GIS tools, students will develop a sustainable water management plan for a region of their choosing, integrating scientific, social, and climate considerations to evaluate strategies for resilient and equitable water futures.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Liberal Arts Requirements: No Exploration QRE, Quantitative Reasoning
  • Prerequisites:

    Student has completed any of the following course(s): ENTS 120 with grade of C- or better.

  • Tags: CL: 300 level ENTS Environmental Science

• ENTS 307 Wilderness Field Studies: Grand Canyon

  This course is the second half of a two-course sequence focused on the study of wilderness in American society and culture. The course will begin with an Off-Campus Studies program at Grand Canyon National Park, where we will learn about the natural and human history of the Grand Canyon region, examine contemporary issues facing the park, meet with officials from the National Park Service and other local experts, conduct research, and experience the park through hiking and camping. The course will culminate in spring term with the completion and presentation of a major research project.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Prerequisites:

    Student has completed any of the following course(s): HIST 306 with a grade of C- or better during the immediately preceding term.

  • Tags: ACE Applied AMST Democracy Activism AMST Space and Place CL: 300 level ENTS Society, Culture and Policy ENTS Topical Seminar HIST Environment and Health AMST Production Consumption of Culture HIST United States PPOL Environmental Policy & Sustainability

• ENTS 313 Conscious Nature: Towards and Anthropology of Non-Human Beings

  The core of anthropological thought has been organized around the assumption that the production of complex cultural systems is reserved to the domain of the human experience. While scholars have contested this assumption for years, there is an emerging body of scholarship that proposes expanding our understandings of culture, and the ability to produce meaning in the world, to include non-human beings (e.g. plants, wildlife, micro-organisms, mountains). This course explores ethnographic works in this field and contextualizes insights within contemporary conversations pertaining to our relationship with nature, public health, and social justice movements that emerge within decolonized frameworks.

  Recommended preparation: SOAN 110 or SOAN 111.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: ACE Theoretical CL: 300 level ENTS Topical Seminar GWSS Elective LTAM Electives

• ENTS 318 Trees, Forests, and Climate Justice

  Will planting one trillion trees save us from climate change? Will deforestation and wildfires doom us? This course will examine the ways that contemporary worries, hopes, and dreams about forests and the ways their fate is entangled with that of humanity are rooted not only in science and practical policy choices, but in the folklore, sacred stories, and great literature that have long shaped our engagement with “the deep dark woods.” The course is constructed as a multi-disciplinary approach to forests in the Anthropocene; each student will pursue an original, interdisciplinary research project leading to a ca. 25-page research paper.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies QRE, Quantitative Reasoning
  • Tags: CL: 300 level ENTS Society, Culture and Policy

• ENTS 320 Seminar: Listening to the Land

  For many Indigenous peoples, land is a relative, a teacher, and a source of knowledge. This seminar examines Indigenous relationships with land through the writings of Native authors, scholars, and activists, exploring Traditional Ecological Knowledge, stewardship, and environmental challenges. We will consider how Indigenous knowledge informs responses to climate change, land use, biodiversity loss, and other environmental threats, while also recognizing land and non-human beings as active participants in cultural and ecological systems. Through a reading-group format, discussions will foster critical reflection and connections to broader environmental issues. Students will also conduct an independent research paper, applying course themes to a focused topic of inquiry.

  • Offered: Spring 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies
  • Tags: AMST Space and Place CL: 300 level ENTS Topical Seminar AMST Race Ethnicity Indigeneity
  • Faculty: Roger Faust 🏫 👤

• ENTS 323 Mother Earth: Women, Development and the Environment

  Why are so many sustainable development projects anchored around women’s cooperatives? Why is poverty depicted as having a woman’s face? Is the solution to the environmental crisis in the hands of women the nurturers? From overly romantic notions of stewardship to the feminization of poverty, this course aims to evaluate women’s relationships with local environments and development initiatives. The course uses anthropological frameworks to evaluate case studies from around the world. 

  Recommended preparation: SOAN 110 or SOAN 111

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CL: 300 level ENTS Society, Culture and Policy ENTS Topical Seminar GWSS Elective LTAM Electives LTAM Pertinent Courses POSI Elective/Non POSC PPOL Environmental Policy & Sustainability

• ENTS 355 Ecology & Anthropology Tanzania Program: Ecology and Conservation of Savanna Ecosystems in Northern Tanzania

  This course focuses on the foundational principles necessary to understand the ecology and conservation of savanna ecosystems in northern Tanzania, and the important roles that people and protected areas play within them. The course is based on the premise that a thorough understanding of Tanzania’s ecosystems and the challenges facing them cannot be achieved without understanding the human and political contexts in which they exist. The course incorporates primary literature, frequent guest lecturers, stakeholder interactions and student-facilitated discussions. The experiential, site-based approach allows students to gain insight into the practical application of ecological concepts in monitoring and maintaining savanna ecosystems.

  • Offered: Fall 2025
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: No Exploration
  • Prerequisites:

    Acceptance in the Carleton OCS Ecology and Anthropology in Tanzania program.

  • Tags: CL: 300 level
  • Faculty: Anna Estes 🏫 👤

• ENTS 394 Directed Research in Environmental Studies

  Students work on a research project related to a faculty member's research interests, and directed by that faculty member. Student activities vary according to the field and stage of the project. The long-run goal of these projects normally includes dissemination to a scholarly community beyond Carleton. The faculty member will meet regularly with the student and actively direct the work of the student, who will submit an end-of-term product, typically a paper or presentation.

  • Offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026, Spring 2026
  • Grading: S/CR/NC
  • Credits: 1 – 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: No Exploration
  • Tags: CL: Faculty Research
  • Faculty: Roger Faust 🏫 👤 · Devavani Chatterjea 🏫 👤

• ENTS 395 Senior Seminar in Environmental Studies

  This Fall seminar will focus on the planning and design of ENTS senior comprehensive exercise projects.  Students will prepare a final project proposal in collaboration with campus and/or community partners as applicable, including background research and literature review, detailed study design and methodology, and, if applicable, preliminary assessments and analyses for the project to be completed in Winter with a public presentation in Spring.

  Recommended Preparation: Complete all required ENTS core courses.

  • Offered: Fall 2025
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: SI, Social Inquiry
  • Prerequisites:

    Programs of Study any in the selection list Environmental Studies Major And Student Cohorts any in the selection list SR10 Student Class Level, SR11 Student Class Level, SR12 Student Class Level, SR13 Student Class Level, SR14 Student Class Level

  • Tags: CL: 300 level ACE Applied
  • Faculty: Devavani Chatterjea 🏫 👤

• ENTS 400 Integrative Exercise

  In this course, ENTS majors will work on a team project designing environmental interventions for a real-world setting.

  • Offered: Winter 2026
  • Grading: S/NC
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: No Exploration
  • Prerequisites:

    Student has completed the following course: ENTS 395 with grade of C- or better.

  • Tags: ACE Applied
  • Faculty: Devavani Chatterjea 🏫 👤