Environmental Literacy Certificate

**Certificate Effective Fall 2012

Summary

The Certificate in Environmental Literacy (CEL) addresses the need for undergraduate students from a broad range of disciplines to have a basic understanding of the complexity and interdisciplinarity of environmental issues. It seeks to introduce students to physical, ecological, and social perspectives on the environment, with emphasis on the functioning of physical and ecological systems and how many activities have affected and are affected by such systems over time. Typically, the CEL will also provide students with knowledge of environmental issues as they pertain to their own field of study.

For more information, please contact our Academic Advisor:

Rebecca Ho
Academic Advisor
Faculty of Environment
778-782-9396
env-advisor@sfu.ca

Drop in advising hours are Tuesdays and Fridays 9-11AM and 1:30-3:30PM, TASC2 8800.

Program Requirements

The CEL will require students to complete a total of 21 units, comprised of 12 lower division units and a minimum of 9 lower and/or upper division units depending upon electives taken. These requirements include three introductory environmental courses (one physical, one ecological, and one social science); one course introducing students to the complexity and interdisciplinarity of the environmental issues, and a minimum of 9 units of electives chosen from one of the three elective groups: the Social and Historical Cluster, the Natural Science Cluster, and the Environmental Management Cluster.

Earned units may be applied to the student's major or minor programs, and to a bachelor's degree. However, units earned in the certificate cannot be applied to another Simon Fraser University certificate or diploma.

Students in the following environmental specialty programs will be ineligible to receive the CEL:

       Environmental Science major (B.Sc.)
       Geography and Economics - environmental specialty major (B.A.)
       Geography - environmental specialty major (B.A.)
       Geography - environmental specialty honours (B.A.)

Core Courses

Students complete a minimum of 21 units, including all of the following:

GEOG 215-3 Biogeography or BISC 204-3 - Introduction to Ecology
ENV 222-3 - Environmental Controversy: An Interdisciplinary Study of Environmental Issues
GEOG 102-3 - World Problems in Geographic Perspective or REM 100-3 Global Change
GEOG 111-3 - Earth Systems

Electives

Students complete a minimum of 9 units from one of the groups of electives:

Social and Historical Cluster (Group A)

ARCH 329 - Special Topics in Environmental Archaeology
ARCH 340-5 - Zooarchaeology
ARCH 365-3 - Ecological Archaeology
ARCH 390-5 - Archeobotany
FNST 212-3 - Indigenous Perceptions of Landscape
FNST 332-3 - Ethnobotany - BC First Nations
FNST 403-3 - Indigenous Knowledge
FNST 433-4 - Indigenous Environmental Activism
GEOG 322W-4 - World Resources
GEOG 362-4 - A Geography of Urban Built Environments
GEOG 377-4 - Environmental History
GEOG 385-4 - Agriculture and Environment
GEOG 389W-4 - Nature and Society
HIST 377-4 - Environmental History
HSCI 216-3 - Human Ecology and Health
HSCI 304-3 - Environmental Health
HSCI 309-3 - Health and Built Environment
HUM 325-4 - The Humanities and the Natural World
PHIL 328-3 - Environmental Ethics
SA 326-4 - Ecology and Social Thought
SA 371-4 - Environment and Society

The Natural Science Cluster (Group B)

BISC 304-3 - Animal Ecology
BISC 309-3 - Conservation Biology
BISC 313-3 - Environmental Toxicology
CHEM 191-3 - Living in Materials World
CHEM 192-3 - Chemistry in your Home, Work, and Environment
CHEM 317-2 - Analytical Environmental Chemistry
CHEM 371-3 - Aqueous Environment
CHEM 372-3 - Chemistry of the Atmospheric Environment
EASC 104-3 - Geohazards-Earth in Turmoil
EASC 107-3 - Economic Geological Resources
EASC 303W-3 - Environmental Geoscience
EASC 304-3 - Hydrogeology
EASC 314-3 - Principles of Glaciology
EVSC 100-3 - Introduction to Environmental Science
GEOG 213-3 Introduction to Geomorphology
GEOG 214-3 - Climate and Environment
GEOG 312-4 - Geography of Natural Hazards
GEOG 313-4 - River Geomorphology
GEOG 314-4 - Weather and Climate 
GEOG 315-4 - World Ecosystems
GEOG 316-4 - A Global Biogeochemistry and Water Cycles
GEOG 318-4 - Soils in Our Environment
PHYS 346-3 - Energy and Environment

The Environmental Management Cluster (Group C)

BUS 453-3 - Sustainable Innovation
BUS 489-3 - Management Practices for Sustainability
DEVS 201-3 - Introduction to Development and Sustainability 
DEVS 401-4 - Issues Concepts and Cases in Development and Sustainability
ECON 260-3 - Environmental Economics
ECON 362-4 - Economics of Natural Resources
ECON 460-3 - Seminar Environmental Economics
ENV 321-3 - Ecological Economics
GEOG 322W-4 - World Resources
GEOG 385-4 - Agriculture and Environment
POL 452W-4 - Energy Policy
REM 201-3 - Introduction to Sustainable Community Development
REM 301-4 - Sustainable Community Development Theory and Practice
REM 321-3 - Ecological Economics
REM 356-3 - Institutional Arrangements for Sustainable Environmental Management
REM 445-3 - Environmental Risk Assessment
REM 471-3 - Forest Ecosystem Management
SCD 201-3 - Introduction to Sustainable Community Development
SCD 301-4 - Sustainable Community Development Theory and Practice