Program Overview

Environmental Governance Co-op Program

The Environmental Governance program at the University of Guelph focuses on the processes through which societies make decisions that affect the environment. Governments play a crucial role in this, but they alone cannot manage pressing environmental challenges like climate change, sea level rise, or invasive species. Students in this program learn to coordinate governments, community organizations, and businesses to work collectively towards positive environmental change.

Program Description

Through the completion of courses in geography, political science, agricultural economics, and economics, students gain a solid foundation in the processes and mechanisms of environmental governance. They develop an understanding of geographical, political, and economic factors that shape governance in Canada and around the world. Students are also exposed to innovative approaches to environmental governance that address persistent and emerging societal concerns. They are prepared to conduct research, perform environmental assessments, participate in literature searches, and assist in data collection and analysis in either an office environment or a field setting.

Student Strengths

• Critical Thinking: Ability to apply inquiry, analysis, and problem-solving skills to analyze and address environmental governance issues and corporate social responsibility in a real-world and professional setting.
• Deep Understanding: Understanding of the opportunities and challenges in coordinating multiple stakeholders toward a common goal.
• Effective Communication: Ability to communicate geographical concepts and spatial data related to corporate sustainability, environmental law, environmental policy, and environmental social movements using oral, written, and visual forms.

Co-op Work Term Schedule

The co-op work term schedule for the Environmental Governance program is as follows: | Year | Fall | Winter | Summer | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | One | Academic | Academic | Off | | Two | Academic | Academic | Work | | Three | Academic | Work | Academic | | Four | Work | Work | Off | | Five | Academic | Academic | |

Course Sequencing

Year One

• Fall:
  • Introductory Microeconomics
  • Earth: Hazards and Global Change
  • 3 Electives
• Winter:
  • Explaining Environmental Change
  • Indigenous-Settler Relations
  • 3 Electives

Year Two

• Fall:
  • Introduction to Cooperative Education
  • Environment, Justice and Society
  • Commodity Chains and Cultures of Consumption
  • Public Policy
  • Analysis in Geography or Introductory Applied Statistics I
  • One Of: Economic Growth and Environmental Quality or Survey of Natural Resource Economics or Policy, Economy and Society
• Winter:
  • Climate and the Biophysical Environment
  • 3 Electives
  • One Of: Postcolonial Literatures, Film and Other Media or Environment and History or Philosophy of the Environment
• Summer: Work Term One

Year Three

• Fall:
  • Principles of Responsible Organizations
  • Indigenous Politics in Canada
  • 3 Electives
• Winter: Work Term Two
• Summer:
  • Indigenous-Settler Relationships in Environmental Governance
  • Environmental Politics and Governance
  • 3 Electives

Year Four

• Fall: Work Term Three
• Winter: Work Term Four
• Summer: Off

Year Five

• Fall:
  • Environmental Governance
  • 4 Electives/Restricted Electives
• Winter: 5 Electives/Restricted Electives

Restricted Electives

Electives must be chosen to ensure 2.00 credits are completed from the following lists:

• 1.00 credits from:
  • Local Environmental Management
  • Environmental Impact Assessment
  • Global Environmental Politics
• 0.5 credits from:
  • Protest, Resistance, and Collective Action
  • Global Environmental Change
  • Business-Government Relations in Canada
• 0.50 credits from:
  • Cost-Benefit Analysis
  • Media, Digital Technology and Environment
  • International Political Economy