Environmental Sustainability Minor

Department of Natural Sciences

The Department of Natural Sciences, the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences, and the Zicklin School of Business offer a joint interdisciplinary program in environmental sustainability. This minor is suitable for both business and liberal arts students who have an interest in developing a critical understanding of interactions between human society and the broader global ecosystem. The program emphasizes economic, legal, and philosophical issues of environmental sustainability.

The prerequisite to this minor is completion of one of the following options: 1) completion of a course that satisfies the Scientific World CUNY Pathways requirement and a one-semester college natural science course that fulfills the Pathways Life and Physical Sciences requirement; or 2) Declaration of a Biological Sciences major; or 3) Departmental Permission.

Note completion of ENV 1003 and 1004 is the recommended entry route to the minor for those with majors outside of the natural sciences.

To complete the minor in environmental sustainability (11–12 credits) students must take one course at the 3000-level or above in environmental studies (ENV) offered by the Department of Natural Sciences, any other course from the electives listed below, and a required capstone course (ENV 4005, ENV 4900, or IDC 4010/H).

This minor is not open to students majoring in environmental science or environmental studies.

Requirements for the Minor

Program Prerequisite

Choose one (Scientific World course or STEM variant course):

BIO 1011	Fundamentals of Biology: Human Biology Lecture	3 credit
BIO 1015	Fundamentals of Biology – Genetics, Evolution, and Ecology	3 credit
CHM 1003	Fundamentals of Chemistry	3 credit
ENV 1003	Fundamentals of Ecology	3 credit
PHY 2002	Fundamentals of Physics: Theory and Practice	3 credit
PSY 1001	General Psychology	3 credit
BIO 2010	Principles of Biology I	4 credit
CHM 2003	General Chemistry I	4 credit
PHY 2003	General Physics I	4 credit
PHY 3010	Quantitative Physics I	4 credit

AND choose one (Life and Physical Sciences course or STEM variant course):

BIO 1012	Fundamentals of Biology: Human Biology Laboratory	3 credit
BIO 1016	Fundamentals of Biology – Laboratory Research in Genetics, Evolution, and Ecology	3 credit
CHM 1004	Fundamentals of Chemical Laboratory Techniques	3 credit
ENV 1004	Fundamentals of Ecological Research	3 credit
PHY 2001	Fundamentals of Experimental Physics	3 credit
BIO 2010	Principles of Biology I	4 credit
CHM 2003	General Chemistry I	4 credit
PHY 2003	General Physics I	4 credit
PHY 3010	Quantitative Physics I	4 credit
or
Departmental Permission

Required Capstone Course

Choose one of the following:

ENV 4005	Ecosystem Sustainability	4 credits
ENV 4900	Environmental Sciences Capstone (formerly Topics in Environmental Science)	4 credits
IDC 4010/ IDC 4010H	The Susan Locke Interdisciplinary Capstone in Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change	3 credits

Natural Science Electives

At least one course from this list:

BIO 3009	Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development (ENV 3009)	4.5 credits
BIO 3016	Environmental Modeling (ENV 3016)	4 credits
BIO 3020	Biology of Invertebrates (ENV 3020)	4 credits
BIO 3030	Principles of Evolution: Processes, Patterns, and the History of Life (ENV 3030) formerly History and Evolution of Life	4 credits
BIO 3032	Animal Behavior (ENV 3032), (PSY 3032)	4 credits
BIO 3040	Plants in Action	4 credits
BIO 3050	Freshwater Ecology (ENV 3050)	4 credits
ENV 3001	Introduction to Environmental Science	4 credits
ENV 3002	Energy Conservation	4 credits
ENV 3003	Human Conservation	4 credits
ENV 3005	Economic and Legal Aspects of Ecology	4 credits
ENV 3008	Air and Water Pollution	4 credits
ENV 3015/ ENV 3015	Tropical Reef Ecology (Lecture and Lab)	4 credits
ENV 3060	Earth Systems (PHY 3060)	4 credits
ENV 3062	Astrobiology (BIO 3062) (PHY 3062)	4 credits
ENV 3070	Agroecology	4 credits
ENV 3400	Special Topics in Environmental Sciences	4 credits

Electives

One course from this list or a second Natural Sciences electives from the list above:

BLS 3200	Climate Justice (LTS 3200, PAF 3200)	3 credits
CIS 3700*	Green IT	3 credits
ECO 3511*	Contemporary Economic Development	3 credits
GEOG 3009	Introduction to Human Geography (ANT 3009)	3 credits
GEOG 3036	World Regional Geography (ANT 3036)	3 credits
JRN 3800	Covering Climate Change (formerly Environmental Reporting)	3 credits
LAW 3122*	Law and the Environment	3 credits
LAW 3400*	Law, Business and Sustainability	3 credits
MGT 3800*	Management and Society	3 credits
PAF 3442	Cities and Sustainability (formerly The Environment, Political Choices, and Public Policy)	3 credits
PHI 3200	Environmental Ethics, Law, and Public Policy	3 credits
POL 3317	The Politics of Energy and the Environment	3 credits
PSY 3185	Environmental Psychology	3 credits

*For the purposes of this program, this course counts as an Arts and Sciences course.

Students are expected to complete the minor requirements in place at the time they are officially accepted into their programs. Please review the College Bulletin for the relevant academic year.