Program in Environmental Studies

Director

David S. Wilcove

Executive Committee

Steven L. Bernasek, Chemistry

Michael A. Celia, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Lars O. Hedin, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton Environmental Institute

Henry S. Horn, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Emmanuel H. Kreike, History

Michael Oppenheimer, Woodrow Wilson School, Geosciences

Catherine A. Peters, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Burton H. Singer, Woodrow Wilson School

Bess B. Ward, Geosciences

David S. Wilcove, Woodrow Wilson School, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

The Program in Environmental Studies is a multidisciplinary forum for the study of scientific, political, humanistic, and technological aspects of environmental problems. Through this program, students majoring in any discipline can pursue their interests in the environment and receive a certificate by designing and completing their own course of study. The program offers two core survey courses, ENV 201 and ENV 202, which examine a broad range of regional and global environmental problems and the human activities that contribute to them. These courses can be taken with a laboratory component that incorporates a combination of inquiry-based field study and lab exercises to build an understanding of central environmental concepts. When taken with a lab component, ENV 201 and ENV 202 fulfill the Science and Technology distribution requirement. Upper-level ENV courses enable students to explore specific environmental issues and topics in depth through multiple disciplines and perspectives. A senior colloquium is required for seniors pursuing the ENV certificate to provide guidance in the development of their senior theses. Senior thesis funding support is available to students who elect to engage in field research as a component of their independent study. Funding for domestic and international internships with an environmental focus is also available.

The Program in Environmental Studies is part of the Princeton Environmental Institute (PEI), the interdisciplinary center for environmental research, education, and outreach at Princeton University. PEI is committed to advancing knowledge, creating awareness, and developing the next generation of leadership in the environmental field. With more than 65 associated faculty members with disciplinary affiliation across the University, PEI facilitates interdisciplinary research and scholarship in the environmental field. PEI is the center for several high-profile research initiatives including the Cooperative Institute for Climate Science, the Center for Environmental Bioinorganic Chemistry, the Center for Biocomplexity, and the Carbon Mitigation Initiative. Areas of principle research include global change, biodiversity and conservation, biogeochemical cycles, molecular geochemistry, and environmental science and policy.

Preparation and Admission

The Program in Environmental Studies is open to all A.B. and B.S.E. students. Students should plan a tentative course of study as early as possible. Although it is possible to fulfill the formal requirements of the program by choosing courses that have few prerequisites, the number of options is greatly increased by choosing courses in freshman and sophomore years that simultaneously meet the distribution requirements for the A.B. or B.S.E. degree and the prerequisites for courses recommended by the program.

Interested students should take Environmental Studies 201 or 202 as early as possible. Both ENV201b and ENV202b include laboratories that fulfill the distribution area requirement for science and technology (ST).

Program of Study

The following requirements are in addition to those of a student’s department of concentration. By appropriate choice of courses, several of these requirements may satisfy both the program and concentration, as well as University distribution requirements. Core courses and cognate courses must be taken on a fully graded basis.

1. Students must take one core course, either ENV 201 or 202. Under exceptional circumstances, substitutes may be allowed, but any substitution must be approved in advance by the program director. For students who do not have a strong science background, the laboratory options of ENV 201 and 202 are recommended (although not required for the certificate). These courses satisfy the University’s distribution requirement for laboratory science (ST).

2. Students must take four ENV cross-listed and/or cognate courses. Three of these courses must be from three different divisions of the University (that is, natural science, engineering, social science, and humanities) and they should be at the 300 level or above. The fourth course may be any ENV course (including 200-level courses) or any cognate course with a significant environment component (normally at the 300 level). The choice of cognate courses (i.e., courses that do not carry an ENV number) must be approved by the program director. Students are encouraged to discuss cognate choices with the program director early in their planning process.

3. Seniors will participate in the senior thesis colloquium.

4. Independent work in the senior year will normally involve an environmental topic approved by both the director of the program and the undergraduate representative of the student’s department of concentration. The environmental content of the senior thesis will be reviewed as part of the senior thesis colloquium.

Courses

ENV 201A, 201B Fundamentals of Environmental Studies: Population, Land Use, Biodiversity, and Energy — Fall ST (201B)

This course explores how human activities have affected land use, agriculture, fisheries, biodiversity, and the use of energy in the USA and around the world. We examine the fundamental principles underlying contemporary environmental issues, and we use case studies to illustrate the scientific, political, economic, and social dimensions of environmental problems. 201a: two lectures, one preceptorial. 201b: two lectures, one preceptorial, one three-hour laboratory. L. Hedin, D. Wilcove, E. Zerba (201B)

ENV 202A, 202B Fundamentals of Environmental Studies: Climate, Air Pollution, Toxics, and Water — Spring ST (202B)

This course will focus on the environmental consequences of human activities and their interactions with natural systems on global scales, focusing on four main areas of current environmental concern: climate and global change; the atmosphere and air pollution; toxics in the environment; and water resources exploitation and pollution. Underlying principles will be explored for each topic, with examples and case studies used to highlight interconnections between the scientific, technological, political, economic, and social dimensions of environmental issues. 201a: two lectures, one preceptorial. 201b: two lectures, one preceptorial, one three-hour laboratory. B. Ward, E. Zerba (202B)

ENV 303 Introduction to Environmental Engineering (see CEE 303)

ENV 305, 306 Topics in Environmental Studies — Fall, Spring

Special topics courses related to the broad field of environmental studies. F. Popper, D. Popper (305, fall); Staff (spring)

ENV 307 Agriculture and Food: A Foundation for Living — Fall

Agriculture and food provide all people with a foundation for living. Our land and water resources provide food, fiber, medicines, industrial commodities, fuel, and more. Students investigate and analyze specific topics in agriculture and food, and evaluate the environmental impact of our current practices. In this course, students will focus on agriculture and look at the challenges farmers face to produce enough food for a growing world population. The course looks critically at the controversies over technologies used to address these challenges, and to consider whether, and how, farming can be done in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way. Two lectures, one preceptorial. X. Morin

ENV 309 Historic American Gardens and Designed Landscapes: Art Meets Environmentalism — Fall

To understand the history of environmentalism, one must look to gardens and parks, where many important ideas were first broached. This course examines the design of landscapes in America from the colonial period to the present, giving equal emphasis to art ideas and environmental thought, in true interdisciplinary spirit. Students will read treatises by leading theorists and designers as well as accounts by travelers and other visitors. Specific places will be studied in detail, including the great gardens and parks of the Mid-Atlantic, such as Longwood Gardens and Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park. One three-hour seminar. W. Maynard

ENV 310 Environmental Law and Moot Court — Spring SA

Examining the relationship between law and environmental policy, this course focuses on cases that have established policy principles. The first half of the seminar will be conducted using the Socratic method. The second half will allow students to reargue either the plaintiff or defendant position in a key case, which will be decided by the classroom jury. One three-hour seminar. G. Hawkins

ENV 312 Marine Biology (see EEB 312)

ENV 319 Environmental Economics (see ECO 329)

ENV 322 Biogeochemical Cycles and Global Change (see GEO 322)

ENV 326 Environmental Regulation: Law, Economics, and Public Policy (see WWS 326)

ENV 328 Energy for a Greenhouse-Constrained World (see MAE 328)

ENV 331 Introduction to Environmental Geochemistry: Chemistry of the Natural Systems (see GEO 331)

ENV 333 Oil to Ozone: Chemistry of the Environment (see CHM 333)

ENV 334 Global Environmental Issues (see WWS 334)

ENV 339 Climate Change: Scientific Basis, Policy Implications (see GEO 339)

ENV 399 Environmental Decision Making (see GEO 399)

ENV 401 Environmental Policy Workshop — Fall

The workshop will focus on currently unresolved environmental policy questions from the perspective of the scientific evidence available to support alternative interventions and the accompanying social, economic, and political trade-offs and conflicts that require adjudication. Prerequisite: 201 or permission of instructor. B. Singer

ENV 406 Energy and Form (see ARC 406)

ENV 417A, 417B Ecosystems and Global Change (see EEB 417A, 417B)

Humanities Cognates

These include courses with environmental relevance from departments such as art and archaeology, English, and philosophy, as well as the School of Architecture and the environmental studies program. Examples include ARC 304 The Historical Development of Urban Form; ART 332 The Landscape of Allusion: Garden and Landscape Architecture, 1450–1750; ENG 373 Forms of Nonfiction; ENV 305 American Land Use and Environmental Policy; ENG 380 Literature and Environment; and ENV 402 Darwin in Our Time.

Social Science Cognates

These include courses with environmental relevance from departments such as anthropology, economics, history, politics, and the Woodrow Wilson School, as well as the environmental studies program. Examples include ECO 339/SOC 351 Introduction to Population Problems; HIS 374 History of the American West; WWS 304 Science, Technology, and Public Policy; and ENV 310 Environmental Law and Moot Court.

Natural Science Cognates

These include courses with environmental relevance from departments such as chemistry, ecology and evolutionary biology, geosciences, physics, and molecular biology. Examples include CHM 333 Oil to Ozone: Chemistry of the Environment; EEB 321 Introduction to Population and Community Ecology; and GEO 425 Introduction to Physical Oceanography.

Engineering Cognates

These include courses with environmental relevance from departments such as civil and environmental engineering, chemical engineering, and mechanical and aerospace engineering; for example, CEE 303 Introduction to Environmental Engineering.

Certificate of Proficiency

Students who meet the requirements of the program and of their department will receive a certificate of proficiency in environmental studies upon graduation.