Environment Joint Honours Component (B.A.) (36 credits)
Offered by: Bieler School of Environment
Degree: Bachelor of Arts
Program credit weight: 36
Program Description
The BA; Joint Honours – Environment Component focuses on the fundamentals of interdisciplinary environmental studies, including different approaches, perspectives, and world views that demonstrate the complexity and conflicts that underlie environmental problems and the efforts to address them. Topics include: a systems approach to the study of global climate, socio-economic challenges to sustainability, geological and biological change over time, interdisciplinary research design, and ethical and cultural questions regarding human interactions with the environment. The program includes one to three semesters of research courses, depending on the other Joint Honours Component chosen.
Degree Requirements — B.A. students
To be eligible for a B.A. degree, a student must fulfil all Faculty and program requirements as indicated in Degree Requirements for the Faculty of Arts.
We recommend that students consult an Arts OASIS advisor for degree planning.
Required Courses (21 credits)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| ENVR 200 | The Global Environment. | 3 |
The Global Environment. Terms offered: Fall 2026, Winter 2027 A systems approach to study the different components of the environment involved in global climate change: the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere. The interactions among these components. Their role in global climate change. The human dimension to global change. | ||
| ENVR 201 | Society, Environment and Sustainability. | 3 |
Society, Environment and Sustainability. Terms offered: Fall 2026 This course deals with how scientific-technological, socio-economic, political-institutional and behavioural factors mediate society-environment interactions. Issues discussed include population and resources; consumption, impacts and institutions; integrating environmental values in societal decision-making; and the challenges associated with, and strategies for, promoting sustainability. Case studies in various sectors and contexts are used. | ||
| ENVR 202 | The Evolving Earth. | 3 |
The Evolving Earth. Terms offered: Winter 2027 Formation of the Earth and the evolution of life. How geological and biological change are the consequence of history, chance, and necessity acting over different scales of space and time. General principles governing the formation of modern landscapes and biotas. Effects of human activities on natural systems. | ||
| ENVR 203 | Knowledge, Ethics and Environment. | 3 |
Knowledge, Ethics and Environment. Terms offered: Fall 2026, Winter 2027 Introduction to cultural perspectives on the environment: the influence of culture and cognition on perceptions of the natural world; conflicts in orders of knowledge (models, taxonomies, paradigms, theories, cosmologies), ethics (moral values, frameworks, dilemmas), and law (formal and customary, rights and obligations) regarding political dimensions of critical environments, resource use, and technologies. | ||
| ENVR 301 | Environmental Research Design. | 3 |
Environmental Research Design. Terms offered: Fall 2026, Winter 2027 Techniques used in design and completion of environmental research projects. Problem definition, data sources and use of appropriate strategies and methodologies. Principles underlying research design are emphasized, including critical thinking, recognizing causal relationships, ideologies and bias in research, and when and where to seek expertise. | ||
| ENVR 400 | Environmental Thought. | 3 |
Environmental Thought. Terms offered: Fall 2026, Winter 2027 Students work in interdisciplinary seminar groups on challenging philosophical, ethical, scientific and practical issues. They will explore cutting-edge ideas and grapple with the reconciliation of environmental imperatives and social, political and economic pragmatics. Activities include meeting practitioners, attending guest lectures, following directed readings, and organizing, leading and participating in seminars. | ||
| ENVR 401 | Environmental Research. | 3 |
Environmental Research. Terms offered: Fall 2026 Students work in an interdisciplinary team on a real-world research project involving problem definition, methodology development, social, ethical and environmental impact assessment, execution of the study, and dissemination of results to the research community and to the people affected. Teams begin defining their projects during the preceding summer. | ||
Complementary Courses (15 credits)
Statistics
3 credits of statistics from the following (or equivalent):
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| GEOG 202 | Statistics and Spatial Analysis. | 3 |
Statistics and Spatial Analysis. Terms offered: Fall 2026 Exploratory data analysis, univariate descriptive and inferential statistics, non-parametric statistics, correlation and simple regression. Problems associated with analysing spatial data such as the 'modifiable areal unit problem' and spatial autocorrelation. Statistics measuring spatial pattern in point, line and polygon data. | ||
| MATH 203 | Principles of Statistics 1. | 3 |
Principles of Statistics 1. Terms offered: Summer 2026, Fall 2026, Winter 2027 Examples of statistical data and the use of graphical means to summarize the data. Basic distributions arising in the natural and behavioural sciences. The logical meaning of a test of significance and a confidence interval. Tests of significance and confidence intervals in the one and two sample setting (means, variances and proportions). | ||
| PSYC 204 | Introduction to Psychological Statistics. | 3 |
Introduction to Psychological Statistics. Terms offered: Fall 2026, Winter 2027 The statistical analysis of research data; frequency distributions; graphic representation; measures of central tendency and variability; elementary sampling theory and tests of significance. | ||
Honours Research
0-6 credits from the following:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| ENVR 494 | Joint Honours Research. | 3 |
Joint Honours Research. Terms offered: Summer 2026, Fall 2026, Winter 2027 Honours research and report conducted under the supervision of a member of staff. | ||
| ENVR 495D1 | Honours Research. | 3 |
Honours Research. Terms offered: Summer 2026, Fall 2026, Winter 2027 Preparation of an honours thesis. | ||
| ENVR 495D2 | Honours Research. | 3 |
Honours Research. Terms offered: Summer 2026, Fall 2026, Winter 2027 See ENVR 495D1 for description. | ||
| ENVR 495N1 | Honours Research. | 3 |
Honours Research. Terms offered: Summer 2026, Fall 2026, Winter 2027 Preparation of an honours thesis. | ||
| ENVR 495N2 | Honours Research. | 3 |
Honours Research. Terms offered: Summer 2026, Fall 2026, Winter 2027 See ENVR 495N1 for description. | ||
Note: Students must complete 6 credits of Honours research between their two Joint Honours components. If the second Joint Honours component requires 0 credits of Honours research, the student must take 6 credits of ENVR Honours research. If the second Joint Honours component requires 3 credits of Honours research, the student must take 3 credits of ENVR Honours research. If the second Joint Honours component requires 6 credits of Honours research, the student is not required to take any credits of ENVR Honours research. Students may not count the same Honours research credits towards both Joint Honours components.Note: Students must complete 6 credits of Honours research between their two Joint Honours components. If the second Joint Honours component requires 0 credits of Honours research, the student must take 6 credits of ENVR Honours research. If the second Joint Honours component requires 3 credits of Honours research, the student must take 3 credits of ENVR Honours research. If the second Joint Honours component requires 6 credits of Honours research, the student is not required to take any credits of ENVR Honours research. Students may not count the same Honours research credits towards both Joint Honours components.
Related Courses
6-12 credits selected in consultation with the Program Adviser. A maximum of 3 credits may be at the 200 or 300 level.