Environmental Studies

Yes. A major has been offered to all students starting with the class of 2011.

Air and water quality, biodiversity, climate change, energy, environmental art, environmental ethics, environmental literature, water, population dynamics, resource extraction and conservation.

Majors choose to specialize in one of the following six focus areas: Food and Agriculture, Conservation and Development, Landscapes and Perception, Water Resources, Environmental Justice, or Energy and Climate.

Prospective majors are encouraged to take an introductory science course during their first year (an introductory 100-level GEOL, CHEM, or BIOL course with lab). Other courses to consider include:

• HIST 205 – American Environmental History
• ECON 111 – Principles of Microeconomics
• ENTS 120 – Introduction to Geospatial Analysis
• STATS 120 – Introduction to Statistics (waived with a Math/Stat AP score of 4 or 5 or higher level statistics course)

Prospective majors are encouraged to select those courses that would be most relevant to their field of focus and interests.

Yes! There are many off-campus study programs relevant to environmental studies offered by Carleton and other institutions. Carleton also offers four programs with significant field investigation components in environmental studies. You may count up to one 6-credit course taken on either Carleton or non-Carleton OCS programs toward the requirements of the major.

If you wish to receive major credit for courses taken on a non-Carleton OCS program, you should arrange this with the ENTS director prior to the program. In general, you are encouraged to engage in careful planning when considering whether to go on an OCS program.