Environmental Studies
What is Environmental Studies?
As the world's population continues to become a more comprehensive global community, the boundaries that once separated peoples and nations become less significant and the importance of understanding and protecting our environment becomes more evident. Encouraging students to explore and understand the many aspects of their environment is the goal of Otterbein's Environmental Studies program. The Otterbein Environmental Studies program uses a multidisciplinary approach to explore environments to understand environmental issues and to work toward solving environmental problems. The purpose of the program is to foster students becoming responsible global citizens who appreciate the complexity of environmental issues and work toward developing realistic solutions that promote the sustainability of our planet.
Not all environmental problem solving skills are founded in the science and engineering disciplines and the Otterbein Environmental Studies program curriculum emphasizes the holistic approach to environmental understanding. To earn an Environmental Studies minor, students can take a mixture of classes from the environmental studies, humanities, social sciences, earth sciences and life sciences curricula. Samplings of courses are listed below.
What is the value of Environmental Studies minor?
Global environmental issues related to climate, agriculture, resource management and sustainability are in the headlines daily. These issues affect political decisions, business decisions and have far-reaching social impacts. Tomorrow's decision-makers need to understand environmental processes and have critical thinking skills related to the analysis and interpretation of impacts related to environmental policies. These skills will enable students to evaluate both the short-term and long-term implications of human actions that affect the earth's environment. Environmental issues are pervasive in society today; it's a perennial political issue (related to the management of wastes and other resources, global warming, etc.), businesses promote their products' environmental benefits to customers and communities strive to have cleaner and greener surroundings. Otterbein's Environmental Studies program strives to challenge students to look beyond the surface of the issues and explore the complexity of what may seem to be simple solutions. Exploring questions like: when isn't recycling good, or why could ethanol cause social and water resource impacts if it replaces hydrocarbons, help students look not just at technical solutions but also at the far-reaching impacts of environmentally motivated changes. Employers and communities value an individual's ability to critically assess, understand and communicate these difficult issues. It is part of Otterbein's overall mission to develop well-informed citizens.
Curriculum for Environmental Studies Minor
All course descriptions are available on the Registrar's site.
The environmental studies minor consists of at least 5 courses in the following areas of study:
Environmental Studies (take both)
- ENST 101 - Introduction to Environmental Studies
- ENST 401 - Advanced Environmental Studies
Humanities (take at least one)
- PHIL 280 - Environmental Philosophy
- P SC 370 - Environmental Law and Politics
- P SC 370 - Environmental Law and Politics
Natural Sciences (take at least one)
E SC 205 - Environmental Geology
L SC 204 - Environmental Biology
Social Sciences (take at least one)
ECON 425 - Environmental Economics
PSYC 300 - when topic is Environmental Psychology
SOCL 295 - Environmental Sociology
The Life Science major requires 48 hours of Life Science courses consisting of L SC 101, L SC 102, L SC 103, L SC 201, L SC 202, four electives chosen from the 300 level and three seminars. The major also requires Chemistry 140, 141, 150, 151, 160, and 161. Course descriptions are available on the Registrar's site
Life Science Minor minor can be earned by completing at 25 total hours from among any Life Science course. Course descriptions are available on the Registrar's site
