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 four categories (or alternative pair approved by the DUS):
- Diversity and Evolution
- Ecology and Conservation
- Earth Systems and Planetary Change
- 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.
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 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 340-0 | Global Environments and World History |
| or HISTORY 376-0 | Global Environments and World History |
| ENVR_POL 360-0 | Animal Law |
| or LEGAL_ST 360-0 | Animal Law |
| 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.
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| ENVR_POL 390-0 | Special Topics in Environmental Policy and Culture |
| CIV_ENV 303-0 | Environmental Law and Policy |
| CIV_ENV 309-0 | Climate and Energy - Law and Policy |
| COMM_ST 383-0 | Media, Communication, and Environment |
| ENGLISH 283-0 | Introduction to Literature and the Environment |
| ENGLISH 284-0 | Topics in Literature and the Environment |
| GEOG 211-0 | World Biogeography |
| GEOG 240-0 | Economic Geography |
| GEOG 312-0 | Geography of Chicago & Its Region |
| GEOG 313-0 | North America |
| GEOG 328-0 | The Human Use of the Earth |
| HISTORY 251-0 | The Politics of Disaster: A Global Environmental History |
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 270-0 | Climate Change and Sustainability: Ethical Dimensions |
| or ISEN 230-0 | Climate Change and Sustainability: Ethical Dimensions |
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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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):
Diversity and Evolution
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| BIOL_SCI 103-0 | Diversity of Life |
| BIOL_SCI 336-0 | Spring Flora |
| BIOL_SCI 342-0 | Evolutionary Processes |
| BIOL_SCI 350-0 | Plant Evolution and Diversity Lab |
Ecology and Conservation
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| BIOL_SCI 109-0 | The Nature of Plants |
| BIOL_SCI 333-0 | Plant-Animal Interactions |
| BIOL_SCI 339-0 | Critical Topics in Ecology and Conservation |
| BIOL_SCI 347-0 | Conservation Biology |
| BIOL_SCI 349-0 | Community Ecology |
Earth Systems and Planetary Change
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| EARTH 105-0 | Climate Catastrophes in Earth History |
| EARTH 106-0 | The Ocean, the Atmosphere & Our Climate |
| EARTH 201-0 | Earth Systems Revealed |
| EARTH 203-0 | Earth System History |
| ENVR_SCI 201-0 | Earth: A Habitable Planet |
| ENVR_SCI 202-0 | The Health of the Biosphere |
Sustainability
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| CIV_ENV 203-0 | Earth in the Anthropocene |
| CIV_ENV 368-0 | Sustainability: The City |
| ENVR_SCI 203-0 | Humans and the Environment |
| 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 Environment, Science, and 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.