Climate Change & Sustainability Minor

Climate Change and Sustainability is an interdisciplinary minor, under the direction of the UMass Lowell Climate Change Initiative and housed in the Department of Environmental, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. A student enrolled in this minor will gain an understanding of the basic science behind climate change, as well as the social and economic consequences of climate change. Strategies for sustainability and climate adaptation will be addressed through electives and the capstone course. 

A minor in Climate Change and Sustainability requires completion of a minimum of 18 credits. Six of the credits must be at the 3000 level or above. Two courses of the minor cannot be double counted but may be free electives for the student’s major. 

Required Courses (12 cr.)

• POLI.1750 / POLI.2001 Intro to Environmental Politics / Comparative Environmental Politics
• Choose one from the following:
  • ATMO.1410 Weather and Climate¹ 
  • ATMO.1500 The Physical Science of Climate Change¹ 
  • ENVI.2020 Earth Systems: Atmosphere and Oceans¹
• Choose one from the following:
  • ENVI.1100 Global Environmental Studies¹
  • ENVI.1110 Sustainable Solutions for People and the Planet
  • ENVI.1200 Principles of Environmental Science
  • ENVI.2010 Earth Systems: Geosphere¹
  • GEOL.1010 General Geology¹
• ENVI.4160 Climate Change Science, Communication, and Solutions²
• ENVI.4170 Climate Change Science, Communication, and Solutions Lab²

Electives (6 cr.)

Choose two from the following³: 

• ARHI.3150 Modern Architecture
• ARHI.3550 City and the Environment
• ARHI.3650 Art and Environment
• ECON.3060 Urban Economics
• ECON.3190 Public Finance
• ECON.4010  Behavioral and Experimental Economics
• ECON.4130 Climate Change Economics
• ECON.4150 Intro to Environmental Economics
• ENGL.3240 Writing about Place
• ENGL.3245 Writing about the Environment
• FAHS.2200 Designing the Future World
• HIST.2740 Native American History
• HIST.3010  The World of Things: Consumer Culture in the Modern West
• HIST.3151 Food in American History
• HIST.3160 American Environmental History
• HIST.3932 Environmental History of the Middle East and North Africa
• LGST.3670 Environmental Law
• PHIL.3270 Environmental Philosophy
• PLAS.1080 Intro to Polymer Sustainability
• POLI.2001 Comparative Environmental Politics
• POLI.3001 Environmental Security
• POLI.3002 Climate Change Communication
• POLI.3320 The Politics of Food
• POLI.3570 Thoreau in Our Time
• POLI.3580 Global Environmental Policy
• POLI.3630 Politics of China
• POLI.4001 Environment, Racism, & Justice
• PSYC.3370 Community and Social Change
• PSYC.3680 Psychology of Decision Making
• PUBH.2080 Principles of Environmental Health Sciences
• PUBH.2110 Sustainable Development
• SOCI.2110 Sociology of Food
• SOCI.2360 Climate Crisis and Society
• SOCI.3110 Sociological Perspectives on Communication and Social Change
• SOCI.3300 Fast Food, Hot Planet

¹Course has co-requisite lab. Laboratory requirement may be waived with permission of instructor.  

²Capstone course. Directed study or other upper level course may be substituted with permission of program coordinator if capstone is not available. 

³Other courses may count toward elective credit with the approval of program coordinator.

For more information, contact Lori Weeden, program coordinator.