Environmental Sustainability Requirements

Bio 113 Sustainable Horticulture
Identify native and cultivated plants used in horticulture, landscaping, and restoration. Apply the principles of sustainability to the propagation, growth, and use of these plants in horticultural settings. Topics include plant form and function, soil fertility, propagation, biotechnology, and integrated pest management.

Bio 107 Environmental Science
Investigate major issues in contemporary environmental science with special emphasis on scientific reasoning and the skills needed to resolve contemporary problems. Perform field and laboratory exercises focused on ecosystem dynamics, habitat assessment, pollution, resource, management and environmental restoration.

Bio 108 Ecosystems and the Environment
Explore the natural functioning of Earth’s major systems: the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere and examine how human activity influences these natural systems. Examine the interrelationships among science, technology, politics, and history that govern past environmental policy, and consider how these disciplines will help shape the environment of the future.

ENVS 101 Introduction to Environmental Science
Explores the inter-relationships between humans and the Earth’s ecosystems. Fundamentals of ecology, water resources, populations, energy, climate, and nutrient cycling will be covered, as well as the impact of human use and management of the earth’s land, water, and air resources. For students needing a lab, ENVS 102 serves as the accompanying lab.

BI 202 Human Ecology
Investigates physical environments of human beings and the effect of technologies on the environment. Emphasizes small group investigations of air, water and soil pollution and the rapidly expanding population as it affects the natural ecosystem within Frederick County and the Eastern seaboard.

ENV 111 Introduction to Environmental Science
This course is a basic human ecology course for the general student, presenting the basic principles of ecology as related to use and misuse of the environment. Environmental problems and proposed solutions are studied and discussed.

ENST 105 Environmental Science
This course involves the study of ecosystem and community ecology, population dynamics, climate, biomes, species diversity and natural selection, species interactions, agriculture, toxicology, air and water pollution, and energy resources. This course is designed for non-science majors and science majors alike, and introduces students to the basics of scientific inquiry and basic chemistry.

ENST 233 Introduction to Environmental Health
This course examines the impact that environmental factors such as air, water and food have on human health and well-being, and how people influence the quality of their environment. Students will learn about how human evolution and prosperity results in challenges associated with pollution, overpopulation, health economics, environmental policy, and other issues. Environmental health tools, such as epidemiology, toxicology, policy, and regulation will be applied to current issues of concern.

GEOG 101Introduction to World Geography

This course will focus on the effects of spatial relationships on the earth's human population. We will study the location of people, relative to each other. The student will examine the physical environment and how it influences spatial decision-making processes. We will analyze the geo-economic relationships which influence the earth's settlement patterns. The student will develop an understanding of the increasingly interdependent and interconnected world in which we live, and the relationship between the actions of the individual and the impact which these actions have on other places in the world.

CHEM 105 Chemistry and Society

Students will apply knowledge of chemical concepts and ethics to think critically about current environmental, consumer, health, industrial, and technological issues. Students will gain an understanding of basic chemical concepts in the everyday world and knowledge of the role chemistry plays in personal and professional lives. Basic chemical concepts will be introduced and their impact on society will be discussed

Biol 105 Environmental Biology
This course is designed for non-science majors and emphasizes environmental problems facing society. Topics include ecological principles, human population dynamics, energy sources, land and soil use, air pollution, water pollution, and endangered species. This course satisfies the General Education three-credit natural sciences distribution requirement. To satisfy the natural sciences lab distribution requirement, BIOL 105 and BIOL 106 must be taken concurrently.

Biol 217 Ecology
Study of the relationships of organisms to their environment, with emphasis on classic studies and on recent advances in the field. Topics include evolutionary ecology, population growth and regulation, interspecific relationships (e.g., competition, predation), behavioral ecology, community ecology, systems ecology (e.g., energy flow, biogeochemical cycles), and ecological effects of human activities.