Requirements

Environmental Studies Coordinate Major

Students coordinate their study of the environment with any department/program at Bowdoin that offers a major. To satisfy the requirements for the coordinate major in environmental studies, students must complete the eight credits detailed below as well as the major requirements within their coordinated department/program. 

Environmental Studies Minor

The minor consists of five courses.

Additional Information and Program Policies

• A grade of C- or better must be earned in a course to fulfill the major or minor requirements, and no courses taken Credit/D/Fail may be applied to the major or minor.
• Students with a score of five on the Environmental Science AP exam can earn one general credit if the student completes ENVS 2201 Perspectives in Environmental Science with a minimum grade of B-. In order to receive credit for advanced placement work, students must have their scores officially reported to the Office of the Registrar by the end of their sophomore year at Bowdoin.
• Majors may count up to three courses cross-listed with ES and the students’ departmental or program majors to fulfill the environmental studies major requirements. Minors may count up to two courses cross-listed with ES and the students' departmental or program minors to fulfill the environmental studies minor requirements. 
• With Environmental Studies Program approval, one off-campus study course may be used toward fulfilling the cohesive theme requirement for the major or toward fulfilling the intermediate course requirements for the minor.
• ENVS core courses ENVS 1101 Introduction to Environmental Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches, ENVS 2201 Perspectives in Environmental Science, ENVS 2330 Environmental Policy and Politics, ENVS 2403 Environment and Culture in North American History, and Advanced Seminar must be taken at Bowdoin College.
• Students may not declare a coordinate major in environmental studies with any of the following: a second departmental major, a student-designed major, or an interdisciplinary major. (See the Interdisciplinary Majors.)
• Students may engage in independent study at the intermediate (2970–2979) or advanced (4000–4051) level. Only one semester of independent study or honors work may count toward the major or the minor.

Information for Incoming Students

As part of the Environmental Studies (ES) Program at Bowdoin, you will join a community of students and faculty passionate about learning how to engage the environment from an interdisciplinary perspective.  Environmental challenges are often complex and require knowledge and skills drawn from all parts of campus--the natural sciences, social sciences, and the arts and humanities.  Integrating these perspectives helps students understand environmental challenges in a deeper way and become more effective problem solvers.

ES students and faculty explore a number of questions related to a changing environment: What are environmental problems?  Why do they arise?  What kinds of knowledge do we need to explore them?  How can we assess environmental impacts? How do we think about solving environmental challenges?  In what kind of world do we ultimately want to live?

The ES Program provides many opportunities for engaging coursework and research on some of the most interesting environmental challenges of our time:  climate change, sea level rise, environmental justice, food and agriculture, environmental pollution, energy, conservation, and sustainability, with Maine being a great place to explore and learn about these topics.  ES students also have the opportunity to participate in the ES summer fellowship program in partnership with local municipalities and nonprofits to explore a wide range of projects.  Recent examples include climate action planning, renewable energy development, urban planning and design, environmental education, political action, local advocacy, sustainable farming, community-based science, and conservation.

First-year students interested in environmental studies are encouraged to take the gateway course ENVS 1101 Introduction to Environmental Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches in the fall. ENVS 1101 Introduction to Environmental Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches is an interdisciplinary introduction to the environment as framed by perspectives from the natural sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities. This course does not meet the INS (Inquiry in the Natural Sciences) distribution requirement, nor is it a science course, but it does meet the DPI (Difference, Power, and Inequality) distribution requirement. Students in ENVS 1101 Introduction to Environmental Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches meet in a small group discussion section with an instructor once a week for 55 minutes. Discussion sections are listed as separate labs in the Classfinder, but they are not labs. This course is offered every fall.

In the spring, students should consider taking the environmental science core course ENVS 2201 Perspectives in Environmental Science, or the environmental social science core course ENVS 2330 Environmental Policy and Politics

Students with a score of 5 on the Environmental Science AP exam can earn one general credit if the student completes ENVS 2201 Perspectives in Environmental Science with a minimum grade of B-. To receive credit for advanced placement work, students must have their scores officially reported to the Registrar’s office by the end of their sophomore year at Bowdoin.