Professors Straub (Religion), Wenzel (Chemistry) (on leave, fall semester and Short Term), Costlow (Russian), Chair, and Smedley (Physics); Associate Professors Richter (Political Science) and Lewis (Economics); Assistant Professors Austin (Chemistry), Bohlen (Environmental Studies), Sommer (Biology) (on leave, winter semester and Short Term) and Chessa (Religion); Mr. Rogers (Environmental Studies); Mr. Richard (Environmental Studies) and Mr. Renner (Environmental Studies)

Environmental Studies encompasses a broad range of issues that arise from the interaction of humans with the natural world. To understand these issues, students must think across and beyond existing disciplinary boundaries. The environmental studies major provides a framework for students to study how humans experience, investigate, and interact with their natural environment. The curriculum includes, first, an interdisciplinary core that encourages students to explore the social, aesthetic, ethical, scientific, and technical aspects of environmental questions, and second, a disciplinary-based concentration that allows students to approach these questions with more focused knowledge and methodological tools.

Note: The major requirements listed below differ significantly from the requirements listed in catalogs before 2001-2002. Students who enter Bates College after September 2001 must meet the requirements outlined below. Students who entered Bates College prior to September 2001 may choose to fulfill either the requirements listed below or the requirements listed in the catalog during their first year at the College.

Cross-listed Courses. Note that unless otherwise specified, when a department/program references a course or unit in the department/program, it includes courses and units cross-listed with the department/program.

Major Requirements. Students majoring in environmental studies must fulfill core requirements of six courses, a concentration consisting of five courses, a two-semester thesis, and a 200-hour internship. Students may apply a maximum of one Short Term unit toward fulfilling their major requirements.

Students should note that there may be flexibility in requirements due to changes in the curriculum.

The environmental studies committee recommends that all students interested in environmental studies take a department-designated set in biology, chemistry, or geology during their first year. Chemistry 107B-108B is a set designed specifically for students interested in environmental studies.

Students interested in environmental education are advised to take a secondary concentration in education in addition to their major in environmental studies.

Core Requirements.

A. The following courses are required of all majors:

ENVR 203. Material and Energy Flow in Engineered and Natural Systems.
ENVR 204. Environment and Society.
ENVR 205. "Nature" in Human Culture.
ENVR 457-458. Senior Seminar and Thesis.

B. Each student must take at least one course from two of the following groups of courses. These courses cannot be counted as part of a concentration.

1. 200-level courses focusing on natural sciences:
   BIO 260. Environmental Toxicology.
   BIO 270. Ecology.
   
   CHEM 212. Separation Science.
   
   GEO 240. Low Temperature Geochemistry.
   
   
2. 200-level courses focusing on social sciences:
   ECON 222. Environmental Economics.
   
   ENVR 218. U.S. Environmental Politics and Policy.
   ENVR 225. Comparative Environmental Politics and Policy.
   
   POLS 258. Environmental Diplomacy.
   
   
3. 200-level courses focusing on humanities:
   ENVR 212. Attached to Earth: Writing and Relationship to Place.
   EN/JA 213. Nature, Landscape, and the Literature of Place.
   ENVR 214. Ethics and Environmental Issues.
   ENVR 215. Environmental Ethics.
   ENVR 228. Caring for Creation.
   ENVR 290. Nature in East Asian Literature.

C. Each student must take one 300-level seminar in the environmental studies curriculum. This course cannot count toward the student's concentration.

BIO 323. Plant and Forest Ecology.

ECON 325. Prices, Property, and the Problem of the Commons.

ENVR 302. Wetlands and Social Policy.
ENVR 314. "Nature" in Russian Literature.
ENVR 325. Seminar on World Agriculture.
ES/PL 330. Seminar: Topics in Environmental Philosophy.
ENVR 345. African Wildlife Conservation.
ENVR 365B. Perceptions of Time and Place in High-Latitude Bioregions.
ENVR 365C. Architecture and Sustainability.

REL 310. "Wilderness" in the Religious Imagination.

The Concentration. Concentrations consist of five courses, with the possible addition of another course as a prerequisite, focusing on a particular aspect of environmental studies. Students interested in environmental studies should refer to the program's Web site or to a member of the environmental studies committee for more information regarding the content of these concentrations. The concentrations are:

Ecology.
The Environment and Human Culture.
Environmental Chemistry.
Environmental Economics.
Environmental Ethics.
Environmental Geology.
Global Environmental Politics.
"Nature" in the Literary and Visual Arts.
Regional Perspectives on Environment and Society.
U.S. Environmental Politics.

The Thesis. All students must complete a two-semester thesis. Theses must build in some significant way upon the courses that students take as part of their concentration. Students interested in writing a thesis concerning environmental education also must fulfill a secondary concentration in education.

The Internship. Every student must complete a 200-hour internship in an environmentally-oriented organization off the Bates campus by the end of the fall semester of their senior year. Internships at academic research organizations, those requiring only physical labor, and those at summer camps are generally unacceptable.

Pass/Fail Grading Option. Pass/fail grading may not be elected for courses applied toward the major.

General Education. Students should be aware that courses listed only in environmental studies, without being cross-listed in another department, cannot be counted toward requirements in General Education. There is one exception: 203 may fulfill the quantitative requirement. Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or A-Level credit awarded by the department may not be used towards fulfillment of any general education requirements.

Courses

CH/ES 107B. Chemical Structure and Its Importance in the Environment. Fundamentals of atomic and molecular structure are developed with particular attention to how they relate to substances of interest in the environment. Periodicity, bonding, states of matter, and intermolecular forces are covered. The laboratory involves a semester-long group investigation of a topic of environmental significance. Enrollment limited to 60 per section. Not open to students who have received credit for Environmental Studies 107B or Chemistry 107B. Normally offered every year. T. Wenzel.

CH/ES 108B. Chemical Reactivity in Environmental Systems. A continuation of Chemistry/Environmental Studies 107B. Major topics include thermodynamics, kinetics, equilibrium, acid/base chemistry, and electrochemistry. Biogeochemical cycles provide examples for course topics. The laboratory analyzes the chemistry of marine environments. Prerequisite(s): Chemistry 107A or Chemistry/Environmental Studies 107B. Enrollment limited to 60. Not open to students who have received credit for Chemistry 108B or Environmental Studies 108B. Normally offered every year. R. Austin.

ENVR 203. Material and Energy Flow in Engineered and Natural Systems. An introduction to central concepts in environmental science, the transport and transformation of matter and the generation of use of energy, through the study of specific cases. The laboratory links mathematical modeling of environmental systems to experimental activities. This course serves as the foundation for further study of environmental science at Bates College. Prerequisite(s): one science set: Biology 201 and one of the following: Biology 110, 120, 121, 124, 125, 168, First-Year Seminar 226, or any two of the biology 100-level courses listed above as long as one has a lab; or Chemistry 107A and 108A; or 107B and 108B; or any two geology 100-level courses that include Geology 102, 103, 104, 105, 106; or Physics 107/s25 and 108. Enrollment limited to 40. Normally offered every year. R. Austin, C. Bohlen.

ENVR 204. Environment and Society. This course provides an introduction to the ways in which people interact with the natural environment. It concentrates on two main issues: 1) How do people think about the relationship between the environment and society? 2) What are some key empirical issues in the environment-society relationship that illustrate the various ways of thinking about the environment? Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 40. Normally offered every year. P. Rogers.

ENVR 205. "Nature" in Human Culture. The course aims to introduce students to the dynamics between the natural environment and human culture. First, it seeks a theoretical framework for appreciating how cultural traditions screen human perceptions and hence grant human meaning to the natural world. Second, it studies selected interpretations of nature from the traditions of indigenous peoples, Asian cultures, and the Western experience. Third, the course considers the prospects for moving beyond inherited perspectives to fresh envisagements of the lands, the seas, and living creatures. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 30 per section. Normally offered every year. C. Straub.

ENVR 212. Attached to Earth: Writing and Relationship to Place. How have people of different cultures participated in what Barry Lopez calls "conversations" with the land they inhabit? What are their stories of place, creation, attachment, and estrangement? How are the stories they tell about nature and the world around them shaped by the givens of climate, geography, and culture? How do they respond to the disruptions and new vistas of "modernity"? This course explores writing about connections to place and nature in the Western tradition, focusing on American and European writing of the last two centuries. Essays, fiction, and poetry by (among others) Wordsworth, Clare, Colette, Erdrich, Thoreau, Abbey, Snyder, and Coetzee. Open to first-year students. Normally offered every other year. S. Strong, J. Costlow.

ENVR 213. Nature, Landscape, and the Literature of Place. Many environmental thinkers from Gary Snyder to Wendell Berry have linked environmental responsiveness to localness and to an intimate knowledge of place and home. What role does literature, both oral and written, play in producing, recording, and transmitting such knowledge? How are nature and the landscape around us remembered, imagined, shaped, mourned, and possibly protected by the stories, songs, and poems we humans create? In what ways do writers assign personal or spiritual significance to the landscape? This course uses our own locality of Northern New England and the watershed of the Androscoggin as a base to investigate these questions. Readings include stories from Abenaki oral literature, poems, and stories by contemporary local writers, as well as other selected American writers who have given a strong voice to regionalism in their work. Open to first-year students. Not open to students who have recieved credit for Environmental Studies 212. Normally offered every other year. S. Strong. Former cross-listing with Japanese ended Fall 2002.

ES/PL 214. Ethics and Environmental Issues. A study of selected issues in environmental ethics, including questions about population growth, resource consumption, pollution, the responsibilities of corporations, environmental justice, animal rights, biodiversity, and moral concern for the natural world. The course explores debates currently taking place among environmental thinkers regarding our moral obligations to other persons, to future generations, to other animals, and to ecosystems and the earth itself. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 30. Not open to students who have received credit for Environmental Studies 215 or 214, Philosophy 214, or Religion 215. Normally offered every other year. T. Tracy.

ES/RE 215. Environmental Ethics. Values are important influences on the ways human communities relate to ecological communities, and hence on the character of the interaction between persons and their natural worlds. The course examines a range of environmental issues as moral problems requiring ethical reflection. This ethical reflection takes into account both the cultural and religious contexts that have given rise to what is understood as a technological dominion over nature, and the cultural resources still remaining that may provide clues on how to live in friendship with the earth. Recommended background: one course in philosophy or religion. Open to first-year students. Not open to students who have received credit for Environmental Studies 214 or 215, Philosophy 214, or Religion 215. Normally offered every other year. C. Straub.

ENVR 217. Mapping and GIS. Geographical information systems (GIS) are computer-based systems for geographical data presentation and analysis. They allow rapid development of high-quality maps, and enable sophisticated examination of spatial patterns and interrelationships. This course begins with a consideration of maps and general principles of cartography. Then it introduces GIS software running on the Windows operating system. Students are introduced to common sources of geographic data, learn methods for collecting novel spatial data, and consider data quality. Finally, students learn to extend the capabilities of GIS software to tackle more advanced spatial analysis tasks. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 30. Normally offered every other year. C. Bohlen.

ES/PS 218. U.S. Environmental Politics and Policy. This course examines the development and current state of environmental policy in the United States at the federal, state, and local levels, while at the same time placing the making of this policy in the broader context of American politics, economics, and society. The course begins with a short history of environmentalism, the current state of American environmental politics and policy. Students then take a case study approach to a specific environmental issue relevant to the local area. This case study provides an opportunity for students to meet and interact with stakeholders involved with this issue. Open to first-year students. Not open to students who have received credit for Political Science 218. Offered with varying frequency. P. Rogers.

ENVR 225. Comparative Environmental Politics and Policy. Variations in political forms, economic status, cultural contexts, and the natural environment are significant factors in shaping environmental politics and policy around the world. This course investigates these differences using the framework of political ecology, and explores the potential of comparative analysis between cases. The regions of Western Europe, post-communist Eurasia, East Asia, Latin America, and Africa are examined. Prerequisite(s): Environmental Studies 202 or 204. Open to first-year students. Offered with varying frequency. P. Rogers.

INDS 228. Caring for Creation: Physics, Religion, and the Environment. This course considers scientific and religious accounts of the origin of the universe, examines the relations between these accounts, and explores the way they shape our deepest attitudes toward the natural world. Topics of discussion include the biblical creation stories, contemporary scientific cosmology, the interplay between these scientific and religious ideas, and the roles they both can play in forming a response to environmental problems. Cross-listed in environmental studies, physics, and religion. Enrollment limited to 40. Not open to students who have received credit for Environmental Studies 228, Physics 228, or Religion 228. Offered with varying frequency. J. Smedley, T. Tracy.

ES/JA 290. Nature in East Asian Literature. How have poets and other writers in Japan and China portrayed, valued, and responded to the myriad phenomena that Western tradition calls "nature"? What ideas have they used to construct the relationship between human beings and the environment? Do their views offer the modern world a possible antidote to its environmental ills? Are these views too deeply conditioned by Asian traditions to be understood in the West? This course looks closely at several works from Japanese and Chinese traditions whose authors pay particular attention to the relationship between the self and the physical world the self observes. Specific writers may include Hitomaro, Saigyô, Kamo no Chomei, Bashô, Li Po, and Wang Wei. Open to first-year students. Not open to students who have received credit for Japanese 290 or Environmental Studies 290. Normally offered every other year. S. Strong.

ENVR 302. Wetland Science and Policy. This course is an introduction to wetland ecosystems, wetland management, and current controversies over wetland policy. The course emphasizes hydrological, geological, and ecological processes that structure wetland ecosystems, the connections between wetlands and adjacent ecosystems, and how those ecological relationships affect wetland management. The emphasis is on wetlands as dynamic components of a complex landscape that may itself be changing in response to human actions. Prerequisite(s): One natural science set except physics sets. Enrollment limited to 20. Normally offered every year. C. Bohlen.

ES/RU 314. "Nature" in Russian Culture. How does a given culture understand and represent its relationship to the specific geography of its place in the world? This course explores the cultural landscape of Russia through a broad range of literary works, visual images, and ethnographic studies. Students examine some of the following issues: the relationship between geography and national identity; the political uses of cultural landscape; the interaction of agriculture, official religion, and traditional belief in peasant culture; and the role of class and revolutionary reimaginings of nature in the Soviet era. Conducted in English. Prerequisite(s): one course in Russian literature or Environmental Studies 312. Not open to students who have received credit for Environmental Studies 314 or Russian 314. Normally offered every other year. J. Costlow.

ENVR 315. Biodiversity. The study of "biodiversity" has become a dominant theme in ecological research. Simultaneously, protection of biodiversity has risen as a policy goal for government agencies and non-governmental organizations. This seminar takes a close, critical look at the concept of biodiversity. Topics include an introduction to biodiversity and its measurement, review of the history of the idea of biodiversity, and examination of related controversies in ecological research. While readings are drawn primarily from the scientific literature, the course is suitable both for students with an interest in ecology and those interested in the interplay of science, policy, and culture. Prerequisite(s): Biology 270 and either Environmental Studies 203 or 204. C. Bohlen. New course beginning Winter 2004.

ES/JA 320. Haiku and Nature In Japan. The concise, seventeen-syllable verse form known today as haiku rose to prominence in the popular culture of seventeenth-century Japan. With its emphasis on the experience of the present moment and its use of clear natural imagery, haiku is seen by many as defining the way generations of Japanese have perceived and related to the natural world. This seminar examines the poetics of haiku and linked verse (renku) and looks at the expression of their aesthetics in recent Japanese literature and culture from architecture to the novel to Zen. The final section of the seminar investigates the apparent inability of this nature aesthetic to influence Japanese government policy on the environment. Recommended background: courses in Japanese or English literature or human culture and the environment. S. Strong. New course beginning Winter 2004.

ENVR 325. Seminar on World Agriculture. This seminar introduces students to the history of agriculture, the manner in which contemporary agriculture is practiced around the globe, and the ever-changing nature of agriculture and its relationships to the broader social and natural worlds. Two important themes are emphasized in this seminar. The first is the continuing, though often overlooked, importance of agriculture in the modern world. The second is that agriculture is a multidimensional activity with social, cultural, political, economic, and environmental elements. There is a field component where students engage in on-farm research using farming system theories and participatory research techniques. Prerequisite(s): two of the following: Environmental Studies 203, 204, and 205. Enrollment limited to 15. Not open to students who have received credit for Environmental Studies 216. Normally offered every other year. P. Rogers.

ES/PL 330. Seminar: Topics in Environmental Philosophy. This seminar focuses on advanced topics in environmental philosophy and environmental ethics. A seminar from this topic is offered every other year. Staff.

ES/PL 330A. Nature and Intrinsic Value. Would it be wrong for the last person on earth to pollute a beautiful river? Many environmentalists answer with a resounding "Yes!" and thereby align themselves with some version of the claim that nature has intrinsic value. This course investigates the meaning and plausibility of that claim. Insights from ecology, political science (policy analysis), and economics augment the philosophical treatment of the topic. Prerequisite(s): One of the following: Environmental Studies 205, 212, 214, 215, 228, Philosophy 211, 212, 214, 256, 258, or 324. Open to first-year students. Offered with varying frequency. F. Chessa.

ENVR 345. Seminar in African Wildlife Conservation. This seminar explores three periods of sub-Saharan African history-precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial—in order to assess the changing fortunes of wildlife, habitat, and communities during these eras. Unlike popular views of Africa as an Eden untouched by human activity, the seminar emphasizes the long history and continuing importance of interrelationships between human communities and wildlife in sub-Saharan Africa. While the empirical focus is most definitely on Africa, broader theoretical and policy issues that are applicable to wildlife conservation elsewhere in the world also play a prominent role in the course. Prerequisite(s): two of the following: Environmental Studies 203, 204, and 205. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 15. Not open to students who have received credit for Environmental Studies 245. Normally offered every other year. P. Rogers.

ENVR 360. Independent Study. Students, in consultation with a faculty advisor, individually design and plan a course of study or research not offered in the curriculum. Course work includes a reflective component, evaluation, and completion of an agreed-upon product. Sponsorship by a faculty member in the program/department, a course prospectus, and permission of the chair are required. Students may register for no more than one independent study per semester. Open to first-year students. Normally offered every semester. Staff.

ENVR 365B. Perceptions of Place and Time in High-Latitude Bioregions. This interdisciplinary course introduces students to the environmental organizing principle "bioregion" through geography and visual aids. Through field work and seminar discussion, students examine features of higher latitude bioregions by focusing the senses and then expressing these features as either photographs, drawings, or paintings. Discussions introduce the bioregions of the High Arctic of Canada and the Antarctic. Field work extends from central Maine into northern Maine, western New Brunswick, and the Gaspé Peninsula of Québec. The route of the International Appalachian Trail (IAT) is used as a cross-border connector of Maine, Québec, and Atlantic Canada. Enrollment limited to 15. Not open to students who have recieved credit for an Environmental Studies 365 seminar. One time offering. W. Richard.

ENVR 365C. Architecture and Sustainability. Using readings, class discussion, a field trip, case studies, and a design exercise, this seminar investigates why buildings should be more environmentally responsive and responsible, how that can be done, and what factors affect success or failure. It also focuses on the humanistic dimension of architecture and how the qualitative issues of human use, habitation, place, and community are critical components of good sustainable design. Enrollment limited to 15. Not open to students who have recieved credit for an Environmental Studies 365 seminar. One time offering. R. Renner.

ENVR 365D. Principles of Town Design. Faced with the gradual transformation of once-distinctive communities into sprawling agglomerations of subdivisions, shopping centers, and highway commercial uses, citizens are taking a growing interest at the beginning of the twenty-first century in physical aspects of community and town design. Only if we understand some of the basic principles underlying the form and function of traditional towns will we be able to successfully redevelop existing developments and fit new developments harmoniously into our communities to reinforce their "sense of place." This course analyzes how the physical scale and arrangement of buildings, open spaces, and streets can contribute to the function and perception of a community as a workable and livable place. Enrollment limited to 15. Staff. New course beginning Fall 2003.

ENVR 365E. Marine Resource Policy And Management In The Twenty-first Century. The coasts and oceans are "the last frontier" of natural resource and public lands policy-making. As our technological abilities, population, and desire to use coastal and ocean resources have expanded exponentially in the last century, our management policies have lagged behind, rooted in an open access commons theory. This course examines the resulting, complex tension in the Gulf of Maine and around the world as scientists, managers, fishermen, conservationists, and many other stakeholders grapple with increasingly complicated issues of science, socioeconomics, and regulations, and we shift among open access, public lands, and private ownership management schemes. Enrollment limited to 15. S. Farady. New course beginning Winter 2004.

ENVR 457-458. Senior Thesis. Research for and writing of the senior thesis, under the direction of a faculty member. Guidelines for the thesis are published on the environmental studies Web site (www.bates.edu/acad/depts/environ), or are available from the program chair. Students register for Environmental Studies 457 in the fall semester and for Environmental Studies 458 in the winter semester. Normally offered every year. Staff.

Short Term Units

ENVR s11. Ecological Restoration. This unit examines ecological restoration, rehabilitation, and recovery within a broad environmental management context. Field trips, case studies, and a class project planning a restoration effort are used to explore why restoration is undertaken, how it is carried out, how one can assess the value or benefits of restoration, and how it fits into larger environmental and social contexts. Students examine restoration and natural recovery processes primarily in the context of Maine ecosystems, especially wetlands and aquatic ecosystems. Recommended background: Biology 270, Geology 103, or 106. Enrollment limited to 16. Offered with varying frequency. C. Bohlen.

ES/RU s20. Environment and Culture in Russia. This unit introduces a broad range of environmental issues in contemporary Russia, and invites students to consider those issues in cultural and historical context. Students spend three and one-half weeks at different locations in European Russia and the Urals, visiting sites ranging from newly privatized farms and peasant markets to industrial centers and conservation areas. A period of intensive preparation at Bates is followed by visits and conversations in Russia that acquaint students with ecologists, activists, governmental officials, and ordinary Russian citizens. Recommended background: one course in Russian studies or environmental studies. Enrollment is limited to 12. Written permission of the instructor is required. J. Costlow. New unit beginning Short Term 2003.

INDS s21. Writing a Black Environment. This unit studies the response of Black writers and intellectuals of the Spanish-speaking world to issues related to the natural environment. In countries and regions of Afro-Hispanic majority the presence of the oil industry has brought serious challenges to notions of economic progress, human rights, and national sovereignty, as well as individual and communal identity. Writers from Esmeraldas, Ecuador, and Equatorial Guinea chronicle the contradictory discourses present in their societies between modernity, tradition, the idea of progress, and the degradation of the ecosystem. Recommended background: Spanish 202. Cross-listed in African American Studies, Environmental Studies, and Spanish. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 15. Not open to students who have received credit for African American Studies s21, Environmental Studies s21, or Spanish s21. Offered with varying frequency. B. Fra-Molinero.

ENVR s26. Using the Land. Land use is one of the most significant environmental issues we face today. This unit examines the relationship between humans and land, as well as issues such as the ability of current land management practices to ensure the survival of human and other species, and the relative rights of human and other species to the land. Readings represent an American perspective and include Walden, Wilderness and the American Mind, Sand County Almanac, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, and Desert Solitaire. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 14. Offered with varying frequency. T. Wenzel.

EC/ES s27. Sustaining the Masses. Students in this unit investigate the contradictions and complementarities between economic development and global economic integration on the one hand and environmental protection on the other. Students spend up to four weeks in China visiting farming communities, large and small scale industrial enterprises, reforestation sites, nature reserves, and pollution control facilities. They also meet with villagers, workers, and government officials. Linkages between local and international economics, politics, history, culture, and the environment are explored using China as a case study. Recommended background: one or more of the following: Economics 101, 222, 227, 229, or Environmental Studies 202. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 10. Written permission of the instructor is required. Not open to students who have received credit for Economics s27 or Environmental Studies s27. Offered with varying frequency. M. Maurer-Fazio, J. Hughes.

ENVR s28. Contemporary Maine Environmental Issues. This field research unit gives students an opportunity to explore important local environmental issues and to begin the development of social science field research skills. Student research focuses on identifying relevant stakeholders and describing relations between stakeholders in terms of a specific environmental issue. Examples of relevant issues include, but are not limited to, urban planning and sprawl, wildlife management, impacts of recreational use, water quality, and brownfields redevelopment. During the first week, the unit introduces students to topics and research methods. Student groups undertake research under the supervision of the instructor. Research results and methodological lessons learned occupy the last week. Prerequisite(s): Environmental Studies 202 or 204. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 15. Written permission of the instructor is required. Offered with varying frequency. P. Rogers.

CH/ES s34. Chemical Pollutants: Science and Policy. On what basis are chemicals in the environment regulated? How are acceptable levels of exposure determined? This unit examines how these sorts of public policy decisions are made by studying a few chemicals as examples. Topics covered include chemical structures and toxicity, the notion of "risk" and who defines it, and the role of scientific information in the legal process. Prerequisite(s): Chemistry 108A or Chemistry/Environmental Studies 108B or Environmental Studies 203. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 30. Not open to students who have received credit for Chemistry s34 or Environmental Studies s34. Offered with varying frequency. R. Austin.

ENVR s46. Internship in Environmental Studies. Projects may include hands-on conservation work, environmental education, environmental research, political advocacy, environmental law, or other areas related to environmental questions. Specific arrangement and prior approval of the Committee on Environmental Studies is required. Normally offered every year. Staff.

ENVR s50. Independent Study. Students, in consultation with a faculty advisor, individually design and plan a course of study or research not offered in the curriculum. Course work includes a reflective component, evaluation, and completion of an agreed-upon product. Sponsorship by a faculty member in the program/department, a course prospectus, and permission of the chair are required. Students may register for no more than one independent study during a Short Term. Open to first-year students. Normally offered every year. Staff.

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