Environmental Studies

Courses

Students on junior seminar fieldtrip.

Environmental Studies 200 - Intro to Environmental Studies Research

Full course for one semester. This course is designed to provide an introduction to environmental studies research methods and design, including widely used techniques in natural and social sciences. Specific topics include spatial analysis, statistical modeling, document coding, case study, and archival research; students will also learn about and practice field study design and oral and visual data presentation. Prerequisites: completion of one semester of either Biology 101, 102, or Chemistry 101; and one semester of Humanities 110.

Environmental Studies 220 - Geology

Full course for one semester. An introduction to the composition of the earth and the physical forces acting upon it. The course will focus on minerals and rocks and the processes that affect their micro- and macroscopic structure. Topics will include the formation of the earth, plate tectonics, mountain building, volcanism, erosion and earth history as revealed through the geological record. Prerequisite: Chemistry 202. Lecture-conference. Cross-listed as Chemistry 220.

Environmental Studies 300 - Junior Seminar 

Full course for one semester. This course for ES majors explores the way environmental themes can be analyzed from interdisciplinary perspectives. Course topics may change from year to year; the course may be repeated for credit when topics vary. Prerequisites: Completion of or concurrent enrollment in all of the ES-HSS requirements and both a and b of the ES-MNS requirements.

See some examples of ES300 class projects: Bringing Negawatts Home: a weatherization program proposal for the Portland Climate Action Plan (2013); Biomass to Boardman: a feasibility assessment of replacing coal with agricultural waste (2014); Reed College Climate Impact Assessment: reducing Reed's carbon footprint, one watt at a time (2015) (GIS data files), Vulnerability and Climate Change Adaptation Planning: Heat and Floods in Portland, Oregon (2017), Green Infrastructure Distribution in Portland, Oregon (2018), A Two-Part Investigation: Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Portland's Urban Forests (2019)

2017 fieldtrip to the Boardman power plant and wind energy farms.2017 fieldtrip to the Boardman powerplant and wind energy farms.

2017 fieldtrip to the Boardman power plant and wind energy farms.

Environmental Studies 470 - Thesis

Full course for one year.

The following courses are not offered every year; students should check current course listings and consult faculty advisors when planning their program of study. Any course that has satisfied ES major requirements in the past does going forward, unless otherwise indicated.

2023-24 Environmental Courses that Satisfy ES Major Requirements

Anthropology (catalog)

Anthropology 380 - Anthropology of Risk and Uncertainty (Dinç)
Anthropology 378 - Nature, Culture, and Environmentalism (Dinç)
Anthropology 379- Resources in the Mediterranean (Dinç)

Biology (catalog)

Biology 303- Leaves to Landscapes (Ramirez)
Biology 313- Forest Canopy Ecophysiology (Prather/Ramirez)
Biology 332 - Vascular Plant Diversity (Karoly)
Biology 431- Forest Canopy Research (Ramirez)

Chemistry (catalog)

Chemistry 201 - Organic Chemistry I
Chemistry 202 - Organic Chemistry II
Chemistry 212 - Inorganic Chemistry (Bowring)
Chemistry 230 - Environmental Chemistry (Gratz)
Chemistry 311 - Analytical Chemistry (Gratz)
Chemistry 315- Physical Chemistry Laborary (James)
Chemistry 316- P-Chem Lab: Diatomic Spectra (Gerrity)

Economics (catalog)

Economics 352 - Natural Resource Economics (Netusil)
Economics 371 - Law and Economics (Netusil)

History (catalog)

History 240 - World Environmental History (Howe)
History 317 - The American Earth (Howe)
History 345 - Whole Earths, Globalizations, and World Pictures (Lazier)
History 338 - Crisis and Catastophe in 18th- and 19th-Century Europe (Miller)

Political Science  (catalog)

Political Science 362 (formerly 331) - State and Local Politics (Koski)

Past Environmental Courses that have Satisfied ES Major Requirements

Anthropology (catalog)

Anthropology 201- Topics: Global Polit Ecology (Sullivan/Vaidya)
Anthropology 360 - Country & City in Latin America (Sullivan)
Anthropology 377- Labor, Value, Land in India (Vaidya)
Anthropology 378 - Nature, Culture, and Environmentalism (Brightman, Sullivan)
Anthropology 442 - Ontological Politics (Sullivan)

Biology (catalog)

Biology 263 - Molecular Ecology (Karoly)
Biology 301 - Ecology (Fey)
Biology 303- Leaves to Landscapes (Ramirez)
Biology 308- Restoration Ecology (Michaels)
Biology 315 - Evolution (Schlenke)
Biology 332 - Vascular Plant Diversity (Karoly)
Biology 342 - Animal Behavior (Renn)
Biology 366 - Population Ecology and Evolution (Kaplan)
Biology 431- Global Change Ecology (Fey)
Biology 431- Socio-Ecology of Wildfire & Drought (Ramirez)
Biology 431- Forest Canopy Research (Ramirez)

Chemistry (catalog)

Chemistry 201 - Organic Chemistry I
Chemistry 202 - Organic Chemistry II
Chemistry 212 - Intro to Inorganic Chemistry (Bowring)
Chemistry 230 - Environmental Chemistry (Fry/Grieman)
Chemistry 311 - Analytical Chemistry (Fry/Grieman)
Chemistry 315- Physical Chemistry Laborary (Ahuja)
Chemistry 316- P-Chem Lab: Diatomic Spectra (Gerrity)

Economics (catalog)

Economics 348 - Economics of the Public Sector (Netusil)
Economics 353- Ecological Economics (Klain)
Economics 351- Environmental Economics (Netusil)
Economics 352 - Natural Resource Economics (Netusil)
Economics 358 - Urban Economics (Rork)
Economics 371 - Law and Economics (Netusil)

History (catalog)

History 240 - World Environmental History (Howe)
History 270 - Nature, Culture, and Society in American History (Howe)
History 302 - Indigenous People and Environmental Change (Dougherty)
History 310 - Water and the American West (Howe)
History 311 - Food in American History (Venit-Shelton)
History 312 - The Environmental History of the American West (Venit-Shelton)
History 313 - Wildlife in America (Tyrell)
History 314 - Health, Disease, and Medicine in American Society (Finger)
History 317 - The American Earth (Howe)
History 323- Rice in East Asia (Fix)
History 338 - Crisis and Catastophe in 18th- and 19th-Century Europe (Miller)
History 345 - Whole Earths, Globalizations, and World Pictures (Lazier)
History 398 - Animals: An Intellectual and Cultural History (Lazier)
History 421- Topics in Historiography: The Power of American Things (Howe)
History 516- American Things (Howe)

Political Science (catalog)

Political Science 336 - Natural Resource Politics (Musthaq)
Political Science 362 (formerly 331) - State and Local Politics (Koski)
Political Science 368 (formerly 338) - Environmental Politics and Policy (Koski)
Political Science 344 (formerly 372) - International Environmental Politics (Montgomery)
Political Science 375- Disaster Politics & Policy (Manson)
Political Science 469 (formerly 420) - Food Politics and Policy (Koski)

Other Environmental Courses

Philosophy 211 - Environmental Ethics (Bedau) 
English 201- Eco-Lit (Leibman)
English 341 - American Pastoral (Wagner-McCoy)

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