Undergraduate Minor in Environmental Science

School of Environment and Natural Resources

The minor in environmental science provides students with an opportunity to analyze interactions between the physical, chemical, and biological components of the environment with relation to human and ecological health, and to understand many of the most important issues confronting the world today. Environmental issues such as global climate change, safe water quality, wetland reconstruction, environmental sustainability, ecosystem habitat restoration, biological diversity, hazardous contaminant pollution of soil and water, carbon sequestration, and food security are challenging areas of critical importance in environmental science. The EnvironmentalScience minor introduces students to the scientific principles, concepts, and methodologies required to understand the interrelationships of the natural world, to identify and analyze environmental problems both natural and human-made, to evaluate the relative risks associated with these problems, and to examine alternative solutions for resolving and/or preventing them. The ES minor will be useful to students majoring in pure and applied physical sciences including Agricultural Sciences, Earth Sciences, Biological Sciences, and providing a complement to social science programs.

A total of 15 semester units are required for this minor.

Required Environment and Natural Resources Courses (3 units):
ENR 2100Introduction to Environmental Science (3 units)
Controlled Electives: Introductory Coursework (choose at least two):
ENR 3000Soil Science (3 units)
ENR 3300 Introduction to Forestry, Fisheries, and Wildlife (3 units)
ENR 3400 Psychology of Environmental Problems (3 units)

ENR 3500Community, Environment and Development (3 units)
EEOB 3410Ecology (4units)

Controlled Electives: Ecosystem Science (add courses to meet the 15 unit minimum requirement):

ENR/EARTHSC 2155 Energy and Environment (3 units)

EARTHSC 2203 Environmental Geoscience (3 units)

EARTHSC 2204 Exploring Water Issues (3 units)

EARTHSC 2206 Principles of Oceanography (3 units)

GEOG 2800 Physical Geography and Environmental Issues (3 units)

GEOG 2960 Introduction to Physical Geography(4 units)

ENR 3322Forest Ecosystems (3 units)

GEOG 3800 Geographical Perspectives on Environment and Society (3 units)

GEOG 3900 Global Climate Change: Causes and Consequences (3 units)

GEOG 3980 Biogeography: An Introduction to Life on Earth (3 units)

ENR 4260Soil Resource Management (3 units)

EARTHSC 4450 Water, Ice, and Energy in the Earth System (3 units)

ENR 5222Ecological Engineering and Ecosystem Restoration (3 units)

ENR 5280Stream Ecology (4 units)

EARTHSC 5203 Geo-Environment and Human Health (3 units)

ENR 5220Ecosystems of the World: Temperate, Boreal and High Latitude Ecosystems (2 units)
ENR 5225Ecosystem Modeling (3 units)

ENR 5250.01Wetland Ecology andRestoration (3 units)

ENR 5263Biology of Soil Ecosystems (3 units)
ENR 5265Characterization of Soil in the Field and Laboratory: Sampling (2 units)

ENR 5266 Field Soil Investigation: Soil Chemistry, Fertility, and Biology (3 units)

ENR 5273Environmental Fate and Impact of Contaminants in Soil and Water (3 units)
ENR 5279Urban Soils and Ecosystem Services: Assessment & Restoration (3 units)

ENR 5345Methods in Aquatic Ecology (4 units)

ENR 5362 Wildlife Ecology Methods (3 units)

GEOG 5402 Land Use Geography (3 units)

GEOG 5801 Environmental Conservation (3 units)

GEOG 5802 Globalization & Environment (3 units)

GEOG 5900 Climatology (3 units)

Curriculum Draft 4.0

Updated 11/19/12

  1. The minor is not available to student majoring in Environmental Policy and Decision Making; Environmental Science; Natural Resources Management; Forestry, Fisheries and Wildlife.
  2. A minimum overall GPA for courses comprising the minor shall be 2.00.
  3. A minor should be declared at the time a student accumulates 60 hours.
  4. A maximum of one course may overlap between the minor and the GE (Writing and Communication, Foreign Language, Literature, Visual and Performing Arts, Culture and Ideas, Historical Study, Quantitative Reasoning, Data Analysis, Natural Science, Social Science, Cross-Disciplinary Seminar, Service-Learning, Education Abroad).
  5. Courses taken on a pass/non pass basis may not be applied to the minor.
  6. At least six credits must be at the 3000 level or above.