Program Overview

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Program in Environmental Policy and Culture

The Program in Environmental Policy and Culture (EPC) at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences provides students with an intellectual home for studying environmental questions from the perspective of the social sciences and humanities. This program of study facilitates students' exploration of environmental issues through the disciplinary frameworks of fields such as anthropology, art history, economics, film, history, law, literature, philosophy, political science, and sociology.

Adjunct Major Requirements

The adjunct major in Environmental Policy and Culture requires students to complete 11 credits, including:

• 4 core courses
• 3 elective courses
• 1 ethics course
• 1 methods course
• 2 natural sciences courses (in a recommended or approved pairing)
• An approved field experience

Core Courses

Students must choose 4 core courses from the following selection:

• ENVR POL 211 Food and Society: An Introduction
• ENVR POL 212 Environment and Society
• ENVR POL 251 The Politics of Disaster: A Global Environmental History
• ENVR POL 283 Introduction to Literature and the Environment
• ENVR POL 284 Topics in Literature and the Environment
• ENVR POL 309 American Environmental History
• ENVR POL 337 Hazards, Disasters and Society
• ENVR POL 339 Silent But Loud: Negotiating Health in a Cultural, Food, Poverty, and Environmental Caste
• ENVR POL 340 Global Environments and World History
• ENVR POL 351 Land, Identity and the Sacred
• ENVR POL 353 Introduction to Ethnobiology
• ENVR POL 360 Animal Law
• ENVR POL 370 Climate Change Law and Policy
• ENVR POL 372 Ocean and Coastal Law and Policy
• ENVR POL 373 International Wildlife Law and Policy
• ENVR POL 375 Contemporary Issues in Energy
• ENVR POL 383 Environmental Anthropology
• ENVR POL 384 Political Ecology
• ENVR POL 385 Archaeologies of Sustainability and Collapse

Elective Courses

Students must choose 3 elective courses from the following selection:

• ENVR POL 290 Special Topics in Environmental Policy and Culture (relevant sections; see quarterly course schedules for more details)
• ASIAN LC 393 Asian Environmental Humanities
• CIV ENV 303 Environmental Law and Policy
• CIV ENV 309 Climate and Energy Law and Policy
• COMM ST 333 Media, Communication, and Environment
• COMM ST 373 Environmental Art and Advocacy
• ECON 371 Economics of Energy
• ECON 372 Environmental Economics
• ECON 373 Natural Resource Economics
• ENGLISH 283 Introduction to Literature and the Environment
• ENGLISH 284 Topics in Literature and the Environment
• ENGLISH 384 Studies in Literature and the Environment
• ISEN 390 Special Topics in Energy and Sustainability

Ethics Course

Students must choose 1 ethics course from the following selection:

• ENVR POL 338 Environmental Justice
• CIV ENV 308 Environmental Justice
• ISEN 230 Climate Change and Sustainability: Ethical Dimensions
• ISEN 375/PHIL 375 Issues in Environmental Philosophy
• PHIL 268 Ethics and the Environment
• RELIGION 261 Religion, Nature and Ecology

Methods Course

Students must choose 1 methods course from the following selection:

• ANTHRO 324 Archaeological Survey Methods
• ANTHRO 389 Ethnographic Methods and Analysis
• BIOL SCI Quantitative Methods for Ecology and Conservation
• COMP LIT 200 Introduction to Literary Theory
• EARTH 360 Instrumentation and Field Methods
• ENGLISH 300 Seminar in Reading and Interpretation
• ENVR SCI 390 Special Topics in Environmental Sciences (relevant sections; see quarterly course schedules for more details)
• GBL HLTH 318 Community Based Participatory Research
• POLI SCI 210 Introduction to Empirical Methods in Political Science
• POLI SCI 211 Introduction to Interpretive Methods in Political Science
• POLI SCI 312 Statistical Research Methods
• SESP 260 Community Based Research Methodologies
• SOCIOL 303 Analysis and Interpretation of Social Data
• SOCIOL 329 Field Research and Methods and Data Collection
• STAT 202 Introduction to Statistics and Data Science
• STAT 210 Introduction to Probability and Statistics

Natural Sciences Courses

Students must choose 2 natural sciences courses from the following pairings:

• Biodiversity and Conservation (pick any 2)
  • ANTHRO 358 Primate Behavior and Ecology
  • BIOL SCI 101 Values of Biodiversity (First-Year Seminar)
  • BIOL SCI 103 Diversity of Life
  • BIOL SCI 109 The Nature of Plants
  • BIOL SCI 333 Plant-Animal Interactions (pre-req: EARTH 212)
  • BIOL SCI 336 Spring Flora (pre-req: EARTH 212 or 213)
  • BIOL SCI 339 Critical Topics in Ecology and Conservation (pre-req: EARTH 212)
  • BIOL SCI 347 Conservation Biology (pre-req: ENVR SCI 202 and (1) statistics course)
  • BIOL SCI 349 Community and Population Ecology (pre-req: EARTH 212)
  • BIOL SCI 350 Plant Evolution and Diversity (pre-req: EARTH 212)
  • EARTH 212 Ecology & Environmental Change
  • EARTH 213 Decision-Making in the Anthropocene
  • EARTH 373 Microbial Ecology
• Planetary Change and Sustainability (pick any 2)
  • EARTH 101 Earth Science in the 21st Century
  • EARTH 102 Climate Change: The Scientific Evidence (First-Year Seminar)
  • EARTH 105 Climate Catastrophes in Earth History
  • EARTH 106 The Ocean, the Atmosphere, and Our Climate
  • EARTH 108 Geological Impacts on Civilization
  • EARTH 210 Earth Systems Science & Climate Change
  • EARTH 213 Decision-Making in the Anthropocene
  • EARTH 214 Physical Earth Science
  • EARTH 215 Earth's Interior
  • EARTH 341 Quaternary Climate Change (pre-req: EARTH 210 or 214 or 215)
  • CIV ENV 203 Earth in the Anthropocene
  • CIV ENV 368 Sustainability: The City (pre-req: 3rd or 4th year student)
  • CIV ENV 395 Water in Arid Lands: Israel and the Middle East
  • ISEN 210 Introduction to Sustainability: Challenges and Solutions
  • ISEN 220 Introduction to Energy Systems for the 21st Century

Field Experience

An approved field experience is a requirement of the EPC adjunct major. In addition to the 11-course curriculum for the EPC adjunct major, field experience gives students a sense for what environmental policy and politics look like outside the classroom. It is an opportunity to obtain hands-on training and develop community-specific knowledge about the consequences of environmental change. Opportunities to fulfill this experiential component of the EPC adjunct major are open to students in all schools and include:

• ENVR POL 399: Independent Study
• URAP, AYURG and SURG research projects
• Study Abroad field courses/experiences
• Chicago Field Studies internships
• School of Communication Internship for Credit
• Engage Chicago summer field study

Popular Northwestern study abroad programs for EPC students have included:

• DIS Study Abroad Copenhagen, Denmark: Sustainability
• IES Galapagos Islands, Ecuador (GAIAS)
• SIT Study Abroad Ecuador: Comparative Ecology and Conservation
• Arcadia Abroad University of New South Wales, Australia: Environmental Humanities
• Arcadia Abroad University of Sydney, Australia: Sustainability and Environment

Students can secure qualifying field experiences outside of the selection of options above, including research, volunteer, and internship opportunities. Interested students should contact the EPC Director of Undergraduate Studies for more information and approval.