The minor in Environmental Studies utilizes arts, humanities and social sciences approaches to equip students with vital knowledge, theory, and skills for engaging and contributing to a world in which environmental degradation occupies an increasingly important place in society and intersects with health and well-being, economics, politics, ethics, and human values. Students will learn to situate global and local environmental inequities in historical, social, and political contexts, incorporate the basic sciences of environmental change into their approaches, and conduct research or participate in projects that engage specific communities. Minors may take courses in any of the five core areas of climate studies, environmental justice, environmental governance, environmental humanities, and special topics including community design. 

The Environmental Studies Minor requires 20 units total, including Society, Culture, and the Environment (SEHE 001). The upper-division requirements (4 courses, 16 units) are designed to cover a breadth of environmental topics and approaches in social sciences and humanities. An emphasis is placed on understanding social structures that create environmental disparities and the needs of disadvantaged communities.

Lower-division requirements (1 course, 4 units): 

SEHE 001: Society, Culture, and the Environment 

Upper-division requirements (4 courses, 16 units): 

Climate Studies

• NASC 171/ENGR 171/PBPL 171: Globalization
• SEHE 116: Intersectionality, Climate Emotions, and Mental Health
• SEHE 131: Climate Change Politics and Policy
• SEHE 132: Community Resilience to Climate Change
• SEHE 141: Gender and Climate Change

Environmental Justice

• ETST 179: Race and the Environment: Nature, Colonialism, and Justice 
• SEHE 110: Environmental Health in Southern California
• SEHE 129: Food Justice
• SEHE 135: Environmental War Crimes
• SEHE 137/POSC 137 Environmental Justice and Human Rights

Environmental Governance

• ANTH 132: Cultural Ecology
• MCS 122: Sustainability as the Future of Democracy
• MCS 159: Race, Space, and Identity
• SEHE 130: Environmental Planning
• SEHE 136/POSC 106: Environmental Political Thought
• SEHE 127/POSC 127: Global Environmental Politics
• SEHE 127S/POSC 127S: Global Environmental Politics
• SEHE 139/POSC 139: Environment, Sustainability & Society
• SEHE 139S/POSC 139S: Environment, Sustainability & Society
• SEHE 140/GSST 131: Sustainability, Gender, and Development in the Global South

Environmental Humanities

• ENGL 120A: Native American Literature to 1900
• AST 180/JPN 180/MCS 180 Japanese Documentary
• ENGL 120T Studies in Native American Literature
• SEHE 116 Intersectionality, Climate Emotions and Mental Health
• SEHE 123/GSST 161 Gender and Science
• SEHE 142/GSST 181 Feminisms and Environmentalisms
• SEHE 143/MCS 175/SPN 175 Human and Non-Human: Decolonial and Audiovisual Perspectives on Life on a Diminished Planet
• MCS 108 Electric Earth: Media Ecology Theory Culture
• MCS 117 Posthuman Bodies in Media, Science, and Culture
• MCS 170 Senior Seminar On the Anthropocene 

Special Topics

• SEHE 145 /GSST 145 Intersectionality, Ecology, and Community Design
• SEHE 148/GSST 148 Intersectionality, Ecology, and Design Science
• SEHE 159 Special Topics in Environmental Studies