Environmental Policy and Culture Adjunct Major
The adjunct major in Environmental Policy and Culture provides an intellectual home for those students interested in studying environmental questions from the perspective of the social sciences and humanities.
Students must also complete the Undergraduate Registration Requirement and the degree requirements of their home school.
NOTE: This Catalog describes Weinberg College BA requirements that pertain to students who matriculated at Northwestern after spring quarter 2023. Refer to the Archives if you are following BA requirements described in the 2018-2019 through 2022-2023 editions.
EPC adjunct major requirements (11 units)
- 4 Core Courses
- 1 Ethics Course
- 1 Methods Course
- 2 Natural Science courses, both selected from one of the following two categories (or alternative pair approved by the DUS):
- Biodiversity and Conservation
- Planetary Change and Sustainability
- Field Experience requirement (may or may not have an academic credit component)
- 3 Elective Course units (any combination from the Electives list, additional Core Courses, additional Ethics Courses, or academic credit associated with the Field Experience requirement)
Lists of courses that fulfill described requirements can be found below. Check website for quarterly updates about additional options.
All adjunct majors require completion of a stand-alone major as well. At most 2 of the 11 required units may be double-counted toward both the environmental policy and culture adjunct major and another major.
Core Course List (students in the EPC adjunct major choose 4):
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| ENVR_POL 211-0 | Food and Society: An Introduction |
| or SOCIOL 211-0 | Food and Society: An Introduction |
| ENVR_POL 212-0 | Environment and Society |
| or SOCIOL 212-0 | Environment and Society |
| ENVR_POL 251-0 | The Politics of Disaster: A Global Environmental History |
| or HISTORY 251-0 | The Politics of Disaster: A Global Environmental History |
| ENVR_POL 283-0 | Introduction to Literature and the Environment |
| or ENGLISH 283-0 | Introduction to Literature and the Environment |
| ENVR_POL 284-0 | Topics in Literature and the Environment |
| or ENGLISH 284-0 | Topics in Literature and the Environment |
| ENVR_POL 309-0 | American Environmental History |
| or HISTORY 309-0 | American Environmental History |
| ENVR_POL 337-0 | Hazard, Disaster and Society |
| or GBL_HLTH 337-0 | Hazard, Disaster and Society |
| ENVR_POL 339-0 | Silent but Loud: Negotiating Health in a Cultural, Food, Poverty, Environ. Caste |
| or GBL_HLTH 339-0 | Silent but Loud: Negotiating Health in a Cultural, Food, Poverty, Environ. Caste |
| ENVR_POL 340-0 | Global Environments and World History |
| or HISTORY 376-0 | Global Environments and World History |
| ENVR_POL 351-0 | Land, Identity and the Sacred |
| ENVR_POL 353-0 | Introduction to Ethnobiology: Theories of Human, Plant and Animal Interactions |
| ENVR_POL 354-0 | Introduction to Cultural Resource Management and Environmental Policy |
| ENVR_POL 360-0 | Animal Law |
| or LEGAL_ST 360-0 | Animal Law |
| ENVR_POL 370-0 | Climate Change Law and Policy |
| ENVR_POL 372-0 | Ocean Law and Policy |
| ENVR_POL 373-0 | International Wildlife Law and Policy |
| ENVR_POL 375-0 | Contemporary Issues In Energy |
| ENVR_POL 383-0 | Environmental Anthropology |
| or ANTHRO 383-0 | Environmental Anthropology |
| ENVR_POL 384-0 | Political Ecology |
| or ANTHRO 382-0 | Political Ecology |
| ENVR_POL 385-0 | Archaeologies of Sustainability and Collapse |
| or ANTHRO 326-0 | Archaeologies of Sustainability and Collapse |
Elective Course List (students in the EPC adjunct major complete a total of 3 elective units):
This is a sample of courses offered for credit as electives. See the EPC website for further offerings each term. Students may also take additional Core Courses, additional Ethics Courses, or apply academic credit associated with the Field Experience.
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| ASIAN_LC 393-0 | Asian Environmental Humanities |
| CIV_ENV 303-0 | Environmental Law and Policy |
| CIV_ENV 309-0 | Climate and Energy - Law and Policy |
| COMM_ST 373-0 | Environmental Art and Advocacy |
| COMM_ST 383-0 | Media, Communication, and Environment |
| ECON 371-0 | Economics of Energy |
| ECON 372-0 | Environmental Economics |
| ECON 373-0 | Natural Resource Economics |
| ENGLISH 384-0 | Studies in Literature and the Environment |
| ENVR_POL 290-0 | Special Topics in Environmental Policy and Culture |
| ENVR_POL 390-0 | Special Topics in Environmental Policy and Culture |
| ISEN 390-0 | Special Topics in Energy and Sustainability |
Ethics Course List (students in the EPC adjunct major choose 1):
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| CIV_ENV 308-0 | Environmental Justice |
| ENVR_POL 338-0 | Environmental Justice |
| or GBL_HLTH 338-0 | Environmental Justice |
| PHIL 268-0 | Ethics and the Environment |
| PHIL 275-0 | Climate Change and Sustainability: Ethical Dimensions |
| or ISEN 230-0 | Climate Change and Sustainability: Ethical Dimensions |
| PHIL 375-0 | Issues in Environmental Philosophy |
| or ISEN 375-0 | Issues in Environmental Philosophy |
| RELIGION 261-0 | Topics in Religion, Nature, and Ecology |
Methods Course List (students in the EPC adjunct major choose 1):
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| ANTHRO 324-0 | Archaeological Survey Methods |
| ANTHRO 389-0 | Ethnographic Methods and Analysis |
| COMP_LIT 200-0 | Introduction to Literary Theory |
| EARTH 360-0 | Instrumentation and Field Methods |
| ENGLISH 300-0 | Seminar in Reading and Interpretation |
| GBL_HLTH 318-0 | Community-based Participatory Research Course |
| POLI_SCI 210-0 | Introduction to Empirical Methods in Political Science |
| POLI_SCI 211-0 | Introduction to Interpretive Methods in Political Science |
| POLI_SCI 312-0 | Statistical Research Methods |
| SESP 260-0 | Community Based Research Methodologies: Educational Justice |
| SOCIOL 226-0 | Sociological Analysis |
| SOCIOL 303-0 | Analysis and Interpretation of Social Data |
| SOCIOL 329-0 | Field Research and Methods of Data Collection |
| STAT 202-0 | Introduction to Statistics and Data Science |
| or STAT 210-0 | Introduction to Probability and Statistics |
Natural Science Course Lists (students in the EPC adjunct major choose 2 from one of the following lists):
Biodiversity and Conservation
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| ANTHRO 358-0 | Primate Behavior and Ecology |
| BIOL_SCI 103-0 | Diversity of Life |
| BIOL_SCI 109-0 | The Nature of Plants |
| BIOL_SCI 333-0 | Plant-Animal Interactions |
| BIOL_SCI 336-0 | Spring Flora |
| BIOL_SCI 339-0 | Critical Topics in Ecology and Conservation |
| BIOL_SCI 347-0 | Conservation Biology |
| BIOL_SCI 349-0 | Community & Population Ecology |
| BIOL_SCI 350-0 | Plant Evolution and Diversity Lab |
| EARTH 212-0 | Ecology & Environmental Change |
| EARTH 213-0 | Decision-Making in the Anthropocene |
| EARTH 373-0 | Microbial Ecology |
Planetary Change and Sustainability
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| CIV_ENV 203-0 | Earth in the Anthropocene |
| CIV_ENV 368-0 | Sustainability: The City |
| EARTH 101-0 | Earth Science for the 21st Century |
| EARTH 105-0 | Climate Catastrophes in Earth History |
| EARTH 106-0 | The Ocean, the Atmosphere & Our Climate |
| EARTH 210-0 | Earth Systems Science and Climate Change |
| EARTH 213-0 | Decision-Making in the Anthropocene |
| EARTH 214-0 | Physical Earth Science |
| EARTH 215-0 | Physics of the Earth's Interior |
| EARTH 341-0 | Quaternary Climate Change: Ice Ages to the Age of Oil |
| EARTH 342-0 | Contemporary Energy and Climate Change |
| EARTH 344-0 | The Scientific Foundations of Decarbonization |
| ISEN 210-0 | Introduction to Sustainability: Challenges and Solutions |
| ISEN 220-0 | Introduction to Energy Systems for the 21st Century |
Field Experience for the EPC adjunct major - projects as approved by the program. Examples listed here.
- ENVR_POL 399-0 Independent Study.
- Northwestern University grant-supported relevant research projects (URAP, AYURG, SURG)
- Relevant Study Abroad field courses/experiences.
- Relevant Chicago Field Studies internships such as CFS 387-0 Field Studies in the Environment & Sustainability
- Relevant Engage Chicago Summer Field Study; CFS 397-0 Field Studies in Civic Engagement
Academic units of credit earned in the process of completing a field experience, if posted to the Northwestern University transcript, may be directed to the elective course requirement.