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

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 the 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:

Environmental Studies 203. Material and Energy Flow in Engineered and Natural Systems.
Environmental Studies 204. Environment and Society.
Environmental Studies 205. "Nature" in Human Culture.
Environmental Studies 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:

Biology 260. Environmental Toxicology.
Biology 270. Ecology.

Chemistry 212. Separation Science.

Geology 240. Low Temperature Geochemistry.

2) 200-level courses focusing on social sciences:

Economics 222. Environmental Economics.

Environmental Studies 218. U.S. Environmental Politics and Policy.
Environmental Studies 225. Comparative Environmental Politics and Policy.

Political Science 258. Environmental Diplomacy.

3) 200-level courses focusing on humanities:

Environmental Studies 212. Nature, Literature, and the Cultural Imagination.
Environmental Studies 214. Ethics and Environmental Issues.
Environmental Studies 215. Environmental Ethics.
Environmental Studies 228. Caring for Creation.
Environmental Studies 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.

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

Environmental Studies 302. Wetlands and Social Policy.
Environmental Studies 314. "Nature" in Russian Literature.
Environmental Studies 325. Seminar on World Agriculture.
Environmental Studies 345. African Wildlife Conservation.

Religion 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 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, except for the quantitative requirement. The following courses may fulfill the quantitative requirement: Environmental Studies 181 and Environmental Studies 203.

Courses
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. This course is the same as Chemistry 107B. Enrollment limited to 60 per section. Not open to students who have received credit for Chemistry 107. T. Wenzel.

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. This course is the same as Chemistry 108B. Enrollment limited to 60 per section. Not open to students who have received credit for Chemistry 108. R. Austin.

181. Working with Environmental Data. This course uses lectures, problems, and projects to introduce students to experimental design, data collection, and data analysis. The course introduces basic principles of statistical thinking and trains students to be informed consumers of statistics commonly encountered in environmental science and policy contexts. The course covers basic concepts in probability and statistics, principles of experimental design, measures of location and dispersion, statistical estimation, and testing of hypotheses. Recommended background: a working knowledge of algebra. C. Bohlen.

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 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 which include Geology 102, 103, 104, 105, 106; or Physics 107/s25 and 108. Enrollment limited to 40. R. Austin, C. Bohlen.

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. P. Rogers.

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. C. Straub.

212. Nature, Literature, and the Cultural Imagination. This course gives students a broad introduction to the range of ways in which writers have represented humans' relationships with the natural world. Students read a variety of genres of writing, from different cultures and historical periods. Students consider issues of both text and context: how novels and poems present self, community, and the natural world; human interactions with animals; "cultural landscape" and its manipulation to political ends; the relevance of race and gender in narratives of human/natural relationships. Texts are drawn from the Western "canon" and from the work of contemporary, emerging voices. Open to first-year students. S. Strong, J. Costlow.

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. This course is the same as Philosophy 214. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 30. Not open to students who have received credit for Environmental Studies/Religion 215. T. Tracy.

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. This course is the same as Religion 215. Open to first-year students. Not open to students who have received credit for Environmental Studies/Philosophy 214. C. Straub.

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 introduces GIS software running on Windows computers. Students are introduced to common sources of geographic data, methods for collecting novel spatial data, and consideration of data quality. Finally, students learn to extend the capabilities of GIS software to tackle more advanced spatial analysis tasks. Recommended background: Computer Science 101. Open to first year students. C. Bohlen. New course beginning 2002-2003.

218. U.S. Environmental Politics and Policy. This course introduces students to critical historical and contemporary issues in the politics and policy of the natural environment in the United States. It 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 in the United States. The middle part of the course is a general overview of the current state of American environmental politics and policy. The last section of the course takes a case study approach to a specific environmental issue relevant to the local area. This case study provides an opportunity for students to apply the knowledge developed earlier in the course and to meet and interact with stakeholders involved with this issue. Prerequisite(s): Environmental Studies 202 or 204. This course is the same as Political Science 218. Open to first-year students. P. Rogers.

225. Comparative Environmental Politics and Policy. While virtually all the peoples of the earth face important environmental issues, the form and content of these human-nature interactions differ widely from place to place. 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. Concerns specific to each region receive attention. Prerequisite(s): Environmental Studies 202 or 204. Open to first-year students. P. Rogers.

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. This course is the same as Religion 228 and Physics 228. Enrollment limited to 40. T. Tracy, J. Smedley.

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. This course is the same as Japanese 290. S. Strong.

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. C. Bohlen.

305. Global Warming: Development of the Hot Debate. Over the past century, temperatures at the earth's surface have been steadily increasing. Concurrently, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, combustion of fossil fuels for energy and transportation purposes has also steadily increased, resulting in greater emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Many scientists—though far from all—attribute global warming to higher concentrations of greenhouse gases as a result of fossil fuel use. This course traces the development of the greenhouse concept, examines studies offered as evidence of global warming, reviews arguments by skeptics, investigates potential impacts, and explores efforts to reduce atmospheric CO2. The interplay among science, policy, and technology is explored through assigned readings, class discussions, and documentary films. Prerequisite(s): two of the following: Environmental Studies 203, 204, or 205. Enrollment limited to 20. Staff.

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 explore 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 212. This course is the same as Russian 314. J. Costlow.

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 multi-dimensional 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. P. Rogers.

330. Seminar: Topics in Environmental Philosophy. This seminar focuses on advanced topics in environmental philosophy and environmental ethics. New topic series beginning 2002-2003.

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 the claim that nature has intrinsic value. Insights from ecology, political science (policy analysis), and economic 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. This couse is the same as Philosophy 330A. F. Chessa. New course and cross-listing beginning 2002-2003.

345. Seminar in African Wildlife Conservation. This seminar examines wildlife and its habitat in sub-Saharan Africa, and the manner in which populations and ecosystems have been affected by human activity. It explores three periods of African history—precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial—in order to assess the changing fortunes of wildlife, habitat, and African 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. Students are expected to take an active role in the course, with each taking a turn organizing and leading discussion. 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. P. Rogers.

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 is required. Students may register for no more than one independent study per semester. Open to first-year students. Staff.

365A. Working the Land: Thirty Years of Labor and Discovery on a Small Farm in Maine. For the past fifty years the number of family farms has declined precipitously in the American landscape. In contrast to these cultural changes, the seminar instructors have attempted to recreate a viable diversified farm on an early nineteenth century homestead. The seminar focuses on issues of reclaiming agricultural lands, finding seeds and plants, building and operating greenhouses, garden design, crop selection, organic growing methods and the development of local farm markets. Particular emphasis is on the evolution of a farming system that remains small, flexible, and sensitive to preserving the health of the natural environment. Prerequisite(s): One course in biology. Not open to seniors. Enrollment limited to 18. M Silber, T. Silber. New course beginning Winter 2002 semester.

365B. Perceptions of Place and Time in High Latitude Bioregions. This interdisciplinary course introduces students to the environmental organizing principle of "bioregion" through geography and visual arts. Through field work and seminar discussion, students examine features of higher latitude bioregions by focusing the senses and then expression the features as either photographs, drawings, or paintings. The bioregion examined in the field includes Maine and eastern Canada. Discussions introduce the bioregions of the High Arctic of Canada and the Antarctic. Field work expands 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, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada. Enrollment limited to 15. Please note: there is a five-day field trip during the October break for this course. W. Richard. New course beginning 2002-2003.

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. Staff.

Short Term Units
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 see restoration efforts for forests, wetlands, lakes, estuaries, and flowing waters, as well as sites at which recovery processes are occurring without human intervention. Landscape-scale restoration efforts from the Chesapeake Bay and Mississippi watersheds are also examined. Recommended background: Biology 270, Geology 103 or 106. Enrollment limited to 15. C. Bohlen.

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. Enrollment limited to 15. This unit is the same as African American Studies and Spanish s21. B. Fra-Molinero. New unit beginning Short Term 2002.

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 Solitare. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 14. Not open to students who have received credit for Chemistry s26 or First-Year Seminar 201. T. Wenzel.

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. This unit is the same as Economics s27. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 10. Written permission of the instructor is required. M. Maurer-Fazio, J. Hughes.

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. It takes a "stakeholder" perspective on environmental problems and concerns: 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. The first week of the unit introduces students to topics and research methods. During the second, third, and fourth weeks, 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. Written permission beginning Short Term 2002. P. Rogers.

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. This unit is the same as Chemistry s34. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 30. R. Austin.

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. Staff.

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 is required. Students may register for no more than one independent study during a Short Term. Open to first-year students. Staff.

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Last Modified: 2/22/02 by mkm