The Environmental Humanities curriculum is designed around three intersecting areas of knowledge: Environmental Literatures and Cultures, Environmental Research, and Environmental Collaboration and Community. It draws on courses from across the university to create a curriculum that trains students to approach environmental problems and solutions from mulitple angles.
Course Requirements for Minor: 6 courses (24 units)
Lower Division (3 classes; 12 units)
1: Intro to Environmental Communications (EH 001) (4 Units)
Introduces students to the basics of ecology and climate change; scientific methods; environmental racism and justice; and principles of effective environmental communications, including attention to audience. Students will also be introduced to emotional resources for caring for themselves and others when dealing with heavy issues like environmental injustice and climate change. Course will feature guest speakers from environmental law, business, activism, the National Park Service, and government. Students will conduct both group and individual projects.
2: One Lower Division Environmental Literature Course (4 Units)
These literature courses introduce students to the basic principles of environmental literature and to beginning to develop their own rhetorical and creative voice on environmental topics. Courses include:
ENG 019: Animals and Literature
ENG 058: Nature Writing and the Environment
ENG 059: Apocalyptic Literature
ENG 067: Environmental Justice in Beast Fables
ENG 060: Science Fiction & Climate Disaster
3: One Environmental Science or Engineering Course (4 Units)
COGS 013: Scientific Thinking
ENGR 096: Human-Centered Research & Design
ESS 002: Sustainability Science
ESS 010: Earth Resources and Society
ESS 015: Weather, Climate, and the Environment
ESS/BIO 034: Introduction to Marine Science
ESS/BIO 043: Biodiversity and Conservation
ESS 050: Ecosystems of California
ENVE 010: Environment in Crisis
ENVE 020: Introduction to Environmental Science and Technology (if student meets pre-reqs)
ENVE 030: Evaluating Sustainable Spaces: Leadership in Energy, Environment & Design (LEED)
PHYS 001: Physics for Future Leaders
Upper Division (3 classes, 12 units)
1: English 130: Writing to Save the Planet (4 units)
This class features both group and individual projects asking students to create professional and creative pieces of environmental writing, after studying the effectiveness of various environmental communications (literature, journalism, and media). Students read and synthesize professional scientific and social scientific environmental research carried out by UC Merced researchers, and then turn it into communications (accessible essays, stories and poems, op-eds, films, etc) for various audiences.
2 & 3: Two Upper Division Seminars on Environmental Literature (8 units)
These courses develop reading and writing skills as students analyze and respond to environmental literature and theatre. Courses include:
ENG 108: Romanticism and Apocalypse
ENG 122: Nature Writing and the Environment
ENG 123: Literature and Animal Studies
ENG 125: Ecology and Indigenous Religious Traditions
ENG 167/GASP 103R: Theatre and Ecology
ENG 168: Shakespeare and Ecology
ENG 183: Literature and Queer Ecology
SPAN 181: Special Topics (Latin American Environmental Literature)
SPAN 181: Special Topics (Central American Indigenous Literature)
WRI 114: Environmental Writing
