The Urban Environmental Studies Major

The Urban Environmental Studies major provides students with an opportunity to study the problems and potential solutions related to the accelerated degradation of our environment, including water and air quality decline, increasingly unhealthy urban landscapes, loss of forests and farmlands, growing numbers of imperiled species, and climate change. Birmingham in the distance

Such problems pose a threat to human health, safety, prosperity, and well-being in complex and pervasive ways. Students in this major will develop the skills necessary to understand the complex interrelationships between human welfare and environmental sustainability.

Major Requirements

The following courses are required (10-12 units):

UES 150 Introduction to Urban Environmental Studies
UES 160 Environmental Earth Sciences
UES/PS 210 Environmental Problems and Policy
EC 202 Principles of Microeconomics
BI 225 Evolutionary Ecology
PL 307 Environmental Ethics or RE 320 Religion and the Natural World or EH 325 Natural, Wild, and Free: American Environmental Literature
three elective units from BI 314 Conservation Biology, BI 411 General Ecology, EC 340 Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment, PH 103 Energy and the Environment, UES 206 Special Topics in Urban Environmental Studies
UES 470 Senior Seminar in Environmental Studies
BI 314, BI 411, EC 340, EH 325, PL 307, and UES/PS 210 have prerequisites not included in major requirements.

With approval of the UES faculty committee, students may repeat UES 206 when the focus or methodology differs. Transfer, study abroad, or environmentally themed courses not currently listed among UES requirements may also be approved for fulfillment of major requirements. Students should seek prior approval when possible.