Environmental Analysis

What You'll Learn

1. The complex and interconnected aspects of environmental issues.
2. The ability to apply interdisciplinary analysis to your understanding of the subject.
3. The ability to understand scholarly and popular arguments surrounding the subject and be able to explain these ideas to various communities.
4. How to craft well-researched, informative, and interesting presentations.
5. Create and share knowledge and become active in addressing environmental issues through service learning, internships, community-based research, and other activities.

Major Requirements

The Environmental Analysis major offers four Tracks:

1. Environment and Society
2. Environmental Policy
3. Sustainability and the Built Environment
4. Environmental Science

In addition to the above listed tracks, students have the ability to create a self-designed track within the major that consists of a minimum of 11 courses.

All EA major tracks consist of three sets of requirements:

1. A core set of courses (EA 10, EA 86, EA 30 plus an additional natural science course) and the Capstone Seminar (EA 150)
2. A track with course plan
3. An environmental Internship for the Environment and Society, Environmental Policy, and Sustainability and the Built Environment tracks

A minimum of 11 courses is required for the Environment and Society and Environmental Policy tracks,12 courses for the Sustainability and Built Environment track, and 14 courses for the Science track. Students in the Environment and Society, Environmental Policy, and Sustainability and the Built Environment tracks will find that their major has considerable structure but also allows for flexibility in the selection of courses within the track. It is essential that majors and prospective majors proactively work with their advisers to select courses, both within the major and outside the major, that will help meet the student’s educational, personal and professional goals.

A senior thesis is not required for the Environment and Society, Environmental Policy, and Sustainability and the Built Environment tracks. The Science track requires either a one semester thesis in science (EA 191 KS) or a two semester thesis in Science which can be completed in Fall and Spring (e.g., EA 188L KS + EA 190L KS) or in Summer + Fall (EA 189L KS + 190L KS). Unless completing the EA-Science track, students who wish to write a senior thesis must enroll in an additional course, EA 197 PZ EA Senior Thesis Seminar. 

For those who choose to undertake a senior project, sometimes referred to as a “capstone” project, a senior project is a substantial work, such as an exhibition, website, blog, film/video, performance, curriculum, design project, or other hands-on or creative endeavor is required. The process and outcome of the project should be digitally documented in an appropriate format (audio, video, pdf, web url, and so forth). Normally students will write a 20-30 page paper that describes the work and that anchors it in scholarly literature in order to build a critical framework around the project. 

Projects are usually undertaken over the course of one semester and are assigned a course number (EA 199 or EA 999). Some can be undertaken as part of EA 197, the senior thesis class. All senior theses and senior projects require two readers with, at least, one reader from the Pitzer Environmental Analysis Field Group. Please consult with your adviser to see what is appropriate for you.

Honors
 

In order to be a candidate for Honors, students must meet the following criteria.  Students must

1. Have a minimum GPA of 3.6, and
2. Engage in a senior thesis or senior project, which receives a minimum grade of A-. The field group members will confer Honors to students who have met these two baseline requirements, and who
3. have displayed (as determined by the members of the Pitzer EA Field Group) an exemplary commitment to Pitzer’s core values of environmental sustainability and social responsibility as manifested through service, internships, and other relevant experience.

Environment and Society Track

Requirements for the Environment & Society Track

1. Five Core Courses and One Internship:
   • EA 010 PZ – Introduction to Environmental Analysis 
   • EA 086 PZ – Environmental Justice or POLI 136 PO – Politics of Environmental Justice 
   • EA 030L KS – Science and the Environment   
   • One additional natural science course (e.g., BIOL 044L KS, EA 055L KS, EA 100L KS, EA 103L KS, EA 104 KS)
   • Capstone Seminar: EA 150 PZ – Critical Environmental Analysis 
   • One Environmental Internship (See guidelines for internship above)
2. Track Requirements (Six Courses)
   • One environmental policy course

Course Plan of Five Environment and Society courses from the following options such as these.

• ANTH 009 PZ – Food, Culture, Power 
• ANTH 012 PZ – Native Americans and Their Environments 
• ANTH 110 PZ – Nature and Society in Amazonia  
• EA 031 PZ – Restoring Nature 
• EA 068 PZ – Ethnoecology 
• EA 074 PZ – California’s Landscapes: Diverse Peoples and Ecosystems 
• EA 098 PZ – Urban Ecology 
• EA 107 PZ – Design Workshop: A Sense of Place 
• EA 108 PZ – Natural History and Naturalists: History and Practice  
• EA 124 PZ – Protecting Nature: Parks, Conservation Areas & People 
• EA 130 PZ – Environment, People and Restoration in Costa Rica 
• EA 135 PZ – NatureWorks: Aesthetics & Praxis in the Anthropocene  
• EA 140 PZ – The Desert as a Place 
• EA 141 PZ – Progress and Oppression: Ecology, Human Rights, and Development 
• EA 144 PZ – Visual Ecology: Revealing Animals, Creating Art, and Making Symbols 
• EA 146 PZ – Environmental Education  
• EA 162 PZ – Gender, Environment & Development 
• EA 165 PZ – Resource Depletion and Ghost Towns: The Built Environment and Natural Resources 
• EA 171 PO – Water in the West 
• EA 172 PO – Crisis Management: National Forests and American Culture  
• HIST 016 PZ – Environmental History 
• HIST 100AI PO – Indian Ocean World 
• HIST 100T PO – Global Environmental Histories 
• CASA 101 PZ – Critical Community Studies
• ONT 105 PZ – Research Methods for Community Change  
• RLST 166 PO – Religion, Ethics and Social Practice 
• EA–approved Natural Science courses in consultation with adviser
• Other appropriate courses or independent study as determined by adviser

Environmental Policy Track

Requirements for the Environmental Policy Track

1. Five Core Courses and One Internship
   • EA 010 PZ – Introduction to Environmental Analysis 
   • EA 086 PZ – Environmental Justice or POLI 136 PO – Politics of Environmental Justice 
   • EA 030L KS – Science and the Environment  
   • One additional natural science course
   • Environmental Internship
   • Senior Seminar: EA 150 PZ – Critical Environmental Analysis 
2. Track Requirements (Six Courses)
   • One statistics course (e.g., MATH 052 PZ, Economics Statistics, Quantitative Methods in Sociology, or other appropriate statistics course as approved by student’s adviser)

Course Plan of Five Environmental Policy Courses from options such as: 

• EA 052 PZ – Environmental Science, Policy, & Politics 
• EA 095 PZ – U.S. Environmental Policy 
• EA 096 PZ – Hustle & Flow: CA Water Policy   
• EA 146 PZ – Environmental Education  
• EA 162 PZ – Gender, Environment & Development 
• EA 171 PO – Water in the West 
• EA 172 PO – Crisis Management: National Forests and American Culture  
• ECON 052 PZ – Principles of Microeconomics 
• ECON 118 CM – Processes of Environmental Policy Making 
• ECON 127 PO – Environmental and Natural Resource Policy 
• ECON 128 PO – Energy, Economics and Policy 
• ECON 171 CM – Environmental Economics  
• ONT 105 PZ – Research Methods for Community Change 
• POLI 060 PO – Global Politics of Food and Agriculture 
• POLI 061 PO – The Global Politics of Water 
• POLI 135 SC – Political Economy of Food 
• POLI 178 PO – Political Economy of Development 
• POST 114 HM – Comparative Environmental Politics 
• POST 140 HM – Global Environmental Politics 
• SOSC 180 HM – Tropical Forests: Policy and Practice 
• EA-approved Natural Science courses in consultation with adviser
• Other appropriate courses or independent study as determined by adviser.

Sustainability and the Built Environment Track
 

Requirements for the Sustainability and the Built Environment Track

1. Seven Core Courses and One Internship
   • EA 010 PZ – Introduction to Environmental Analysis 
   • EA 086 PZ – Environmental Justice or POLI 136 PO – Politics of Environmental Justice 
   • EA 030L KS – Science and the Environment 
   • EA 133 PZ – Case Studies in Sustainable Built Environments 
   • EA 134 PZ – Sustainable Places in Practice: Studio/Lab (Students must take a course in area of Representation as prerequisite for enrollment)
   • One additional natural science course
   • One Environmental Internship
   • Senior Seminar: EA 150 PZ – Critical Environmental Analysis 
2. Track Requirements (Five Track Courses)
   1. One course in Representation
      • Studio art or production-based media studies course as approved by adviser (e.g., ART 011 PZ – Drawing, ART 012 PZ – Painting, ART 015 PZ – Beginning Wheel Throwing, ART 016 PZ  – Beginning Ceramic Sculpture, ART 020 PO – Black and White Photography, ART 021 PO – Foundations of 2D Design, ART 057 PZ – Mixed Media/Sculpture, ART 075 PZ – Watercolor*, ART 113 PZ – Drawing Workshop*; ART 125 PZ – Intermediate B&W Photography*, MS 093 PZ  – Experimental Media Practice*, MS 182 HM – Introduction to Video Production*)
      • EA 101 PO – GIS in Environmental Analysis 
      • GEOL 111A PO – Introduction to GIS
        *Courses have prerequisites
   2. Four electives, generally no more than two from each group, from options such as:
      1. History, theory and ecology of the built environment
         • ARHI 155 SC – The History of Gardens, East and West 
         • ARHI 179 PO – Modern Architecture, City, Landscape, Sustainability 
         • ARHI 188 SC – Representing the Metropolis 
         • EA 032 PZ – (re) Making American Metropolis 
         • EA 055L KS – Physical Geography and Geomorphology 
         • EA 085 PO – Food, Land & the Environment  
         • EA 098 PZ – Urban Ecology 
         • EA 108 PZ – Natural History and Naturalists: History and Practice 
         • EA 140 PZ – The Desert as a Place 
         • EA 165 PZ – Resource Depletion and Ghost Towns: The Built Environment and Natural Resources 
         • EA 171 PO – Water in the West 
         • HIST 016 PZ – Environmental History 
         • HIST 017 PZ – History and Political Economy of Natural Resources 
         • CASA 101 PZ – Critical Community Studies 
         • SOC 124 AF – Race, Place and Space 
         • SOC 136 AF – Framing “Urban” Life 
         • EA–approved Natural Science course in consultation with adviser

      2. Design

         • EA 130 PZ – Design Process Studio 
         • ART 135 PZ – Sculptural Objects Functional Art (SOFA) 
         • EA 031 PZ – Restoring Nature 
         • EA 034 PZ – Environmental Art/Public Art  
         • EA 107 PZ – Design Workshop: A Sense of Place 
         • EA 124 PZ – Protecting Nature: Parks, Conservation Areas & People 
         • EA 132 PZ – Practicum in Exhibiting Nature 
         • EA 143 PZ – Concerning Landscape 
         • EA 135 PZ – NatureWorks: Aesthetics & Praxis in the Anthropocene  
         • EA 144 PZ – Visual Ecology: Revealing Animals, Creating Art, and Making Symbols  
         • EA 180 PZ – Green Urbanism 
         • ENGR 004 HM – Introduction to Engineering Design/Manufacturing 

          Policy/Planning

         • EA 052 PZ – Environmental Science, Policy, & Politics 
         • EA 095 PZ – U.S. Environmental Policy 
         • EA 096 PZ – Hustle & Flow: CA Water Policy  
         • EA 100 PO – Urban Planning and Environment  
         • ECON 118 CM – Processes of Environmental Policy Making 
         • GEOL 112 PO – Remote Sensing of Earth’s Environment 
         • POLI 060 PO – Global Politics of Food and Agriculture 
         • POLI 061 PO – The Global Politics of Water 
         • POLI 135 PO – Policy Implementation and Evaluation 
         • POLI 135 SC – Political Economy of Food  
         • POLI 139 PO – Politics of Community Design 
         • POLI 153 SC – Environmental Policy in the U.S. 
         • POST 114 HM – Comparative Environmental Politics 
         • POST 140 HM – Global Environmental Politics 
         • PP 325 CGU – Urban Political Economy
         • PP 338 CGU – Policy Implementation
         • SPE 318 CGU – Cost-Benefit Analysis
           *Contact CGU professors directly regarding prerequisites for courses listed as fulfilling each requirement are subject to change and other courses may be counted toward those requirements with approval of academic advisers.

Environmental Science Track

Requirements for the Environmental Science Track

1. Five Core courses:

• EA 010 PZ – Introduction to Environmental Analysis
• EA 020 PO – Nature, Culture and Society, EA 086 PZ – Environmental Justice, or POLI 136 PO – Politics of Environmental Justice
• EA 030L KS – Science and the Environment
• One course in economics, government, or environmental policy approved by an EA adviser
• Senior thesis/Capstone (2 courses) to include one of the following options:
•  
  • A one–semester thesis, EA 191 KS
  • A two–semester thesis, either: EA188L KS and EA190L KS Fall and Spring) or EA 189L KS – EA 190L KS (Summer and Fall)

2. Track Requirements

• Introductory Biology: BIOL 044L KS, Introductory Chemistry: CHEM 014L KS, Introductory Earth Science course: EA 055L KS or GEOL 020C PO or alternate approved in consultation with the Keck Science Department Environmental Science faculty.
• Six upper-division EA science courses selected in consultation with the Keck Science Department Environmental Science faculty, including one or more in Ecology (e.g., BIOL 135L KS , BIOL 138L KS /BIOL 138 KS , BIOL 146L KS , BIOL 169L KS , and others) and one or more that emphasizes Earth Science (e.g., EA 100L KS , EA 103 KS , EA 104 KS , and others). Three of the courses must have a laboratory requirement.  These six courses may be cross-listed but normally may not double-count for another science major.
• Students must take at least one class in statistics or the application of quantitative methods to environmental problems. This requirement may be satisfied by taking an approved class with a quantitative focus as one of the six upper-division EA science courses. Alternatively, students may take an approved non-science course in statistics in addition to the other major requirements.
• An environmentally focused study abroad semester is strongly recommended.

Requirements for a Combined Major with Environmental Science (e.g., Environmental Analysis – Science Track)

Students pursuing a combined major with the science track of Environmental Analysis must complete all of the requirements for the EA-science track major with the following modifications: (1)) there is no separate Policy/Economics/Government course requirement, (2) combined majors only need to complete four upper level environmental science elective courses instead of six, and (3) if a specific statistics course is required by the other discipline as part of the combined major (e.g., ECON 91 PZ – Economic Statistics), then BIOL 174L KS/BIOL 175 KS – Applied Biostatistics cannot be counted as one of the upper division science electives.

Upper-level courses should be selected to engage as much as possible with issues at the intersection of the two disciplines being combined, and must satisfy all of the laboratory, ecology, and earth science stipulations of the environmental analysis science track major. Subject to approval, the environmental science thesis may also be expanded to address a topic intersecting with the second discipline. Combined majors with Environmental Science must be approved by a Department of Natural Sciences adviser.

A minor in Environmental Analysis will be awarded upon completion of a minimum of seven courses, including EA 010 PZ , EA 086 PZ   (EA 086 PZ can be substituted with EA 136 PZ  OR ANTH 144 PO – Anthropology of Environmental Justice OR EA 098 PZ ), and EA 030 PO  OR EA 030L KS . A relevant internship or field research project is also required. Please see the information on Internships above. In accordance with College policy, there normally should be no overlap between the courses comprising a student’s major and minor.