Program Overview

---

Environmental Studies

Science @ UWindsor

Program Overview & Highlights

• Honours 4-Year Program
• BES

Sustaining human populations while maintaining environmental quality and diversity is the greatest challenge of our age. Addressing this challenge requires a new generation of multidisciplinary specialists in human-environment interactions. Pursue your diverse environmental interests in one of the first truly multidisciplinary programs of its kind in the country. Combine study of environmental science, law, policy, ethics and management, among others, to produce a unique educational experience with the relevant knowledge and skills required by potential employers.

Environmental Studies is a one-of-a-kind program addressing the diversity of human/environment interactions that prepares students for emerging, high demand professions, such as climate change management.

You will be educated as an environmental professional trained to practice environmental stewardship and management and to promote a more sustainable and healthy living environment.

Admission Requirements

High School Student from Canada

• Course Requirements: English/ENG4U
• Minimum Average: 70%
• Mean Average: 84%

High School Student from Outside Canada and the United States (International)

• Course Requirements: Grade 12 English
• Minimum Average: 70%
• Mean Average: 81%

Career Tracks

• Environmental auditor
• Conservation officer
• Policy analyst/regulator
• Climate change manager
• Environmental health and safety specialist

Plan Your Program

Term: Fall 2025

Important Notes

1. All students using this page are strongly encouraged to attend Head Start or make an appointment with an academic advisor.
2. Email: for direction to an appropriate academic advisor.
3. Open Choice means any course that fulfils the degree requirements. Many students choose to select a Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (FAHSS) course in the first year.

Required Course Notes

• SACR 1000 or POLS 2300
• ESCI 1141*
• ESCI 1100
• ESTU 1100
• Open choice
• Course with lab

Required Courses

ESCI 1100: Environmental Systems – An Introduction to Environmental Science

An introduction to the components of Earth’s environment (geosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere) and the principles and processes defining and influencing environmental systems (energy and matter cycles). Human interactions with, and influences on, the environment will be examined (resource and land use, waste and pollution, development, conservation and sustainability). This course is designed for Science majors. (3 lecture hours a week, optional field trips).

ESCI 1141: Cartography and Digital Mapping

This introductory course focuses on the key elements of map design, representation of spatial data and map interpretation. Topics will include projections, datums and coordinate reference systems, scale properties and unit calculations, map symbology and map accuracy. Different mapping approaches, such as choropleth, isoline and dot mapping will be utilized throughout the course. Web-based mapping will be introduced. Maps will be designed, generated, and interpreted using paper-based media and modern cartographic software in a laboratory setting. (2 lecture, 2 laboratory hours a week.)

ESTU 1100: Humans and the Environment – An Introduction to Environmental Studies

Humans use energy and resources from our natural surroundings to live, and to develop our societies and cultures. This use has an impact on other animals and plants, and on the air, water, and land. Our impact is now so great that we are in danger of depleting or destroying many of the natural systems on which we depend. This course will examine our relationship with, and impact on, the environment:, with reference to the physical, cultural, economic, political, and ethical elements. Sustainable practices will also be discussed. Topics may include: human sustainability and population growth, aquatic and terrestrial sustainability, food and agriculture, water resources, energy production, and climate change. (Can be taken as a Social Science option.) (Three lecture hours per week.)

POLS 2300: Space, Place, and Scale: Foundations of Human Geography

An introduction to foundational concepts and approaches in the study of human geography, emphasizing the way social, political, economic, and environmental systems shape and are shaped by patterns of geographic and spatial organization.

SACR 1100: Foundations of Social Life

This course will introduce students to the key concepts, theories, and methods appropriate to Sociology, and Criminology. Focus will be on application of issues important to studying social life using multiple perspectives while exercising the sociological imagination. Topics may include discussion of culture, gender, social stratification, race and ethnicity, family, and crime and deviance.