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Earth Systems
Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability
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  1. Home
  2. Programs
  3. Undergraduate
  4. Earth Systems
  5. Minor

Minor

Minor
  • Earth Systems opens in a new tab
Program Minimum Units
24 Units
University Minimum Units
18 Units
Interests
Ecology & Environment, Sustainability, Social Justice
Academic Areas
Sustainability, Earth & Energy

Overview

Minor in Earth Systems

There are two subplans available for students interested in pursuing a minor in Earth Systems:
1) Sustainability: 28 units
2) Environmental Justice: 24 units

The chosen subplan must also be declared in Axess when declaring the minor. Students declaring a minor in Earth Systems must do so no later than two quarters before their intended quarter of degree conferral; for example, a student must declare a minor before the end of autumn quarter to graduate the following spring quarter.

1) Earth Systems, Sustainability

The minor in Earth Systems, Sustainability subplan, provides students with foundational knowledge, skills, and frameworks needed to understand social-environmental systems and address intergenerational sustainability challenges.

2) Earth Systems, Environmental Justice

The minor in Earth Systems, Environmental Justice subplan integrates diverse academic offerings on environmental justice-related topics. By pursuing the environmental justice minor, students will:

  • Apply a holistic understanding of environmental justice frameworks, histories, and theories to the problematization of socio-environmental challenges across multiple disciplines

  • Develop the capacity to support and integrate environmental justice frameworks within institutions, organizations, and places of employment as part of one’s career

  • Translate and communicate environmental justice knowledge from communities, stakeholders, academia, and others to diverse audiences, including decision-makers

Declaring the Minor

Students must meet with one of our student advisors opens in a new tab and complete the minor program proposal form. You can find the program proposal form here: https://insidesdss.stanford.edu/program-forms-guides opens in a new tab. If you have questions, contact lbreazel@stanford.edu.

Requirements

Subplans

Required
Students must select a subplan to complete this program. A subplan is an officially declared and defined set of requirements that provides a way for students to go deeper into a discipline or focus within a program.

Sustainability Subplan

Foundational Courses

Complete all of the following course(s):
EARTHSYS 10

Introduction to Earth Systems

4 Units
EARTHSYS 111

Biology and Global Change

4 Units
or
GEOPHYS 115

Taking the Pulse of the Planet

3 Units
or
SUSTAIN 101C

Climate 101

3 Units
EARTHSYS 112

Human Society and Environmental Change

4 Units
or
EARTHSYS 115

Science for Sustainable Solutions

4 Units
or
EBS 123

The Social Science of Sustainability

3 Units
or
EARTHSYS 108

Environmental Wayfinding: Cultural, Artistic, and Spiritual Approaches to Life on a Changing Planet

3 Units
EARTHSYS 131

Pathways in Sustainability Careers

1 Units
SUST 210

Pursuing Sustainability: Managing Complex Social Environmental Systems

3 Units

Students may not double count Earthsys 115.

Electives

A minimum of 3 units must be taken in each of the following categories: 1) Earth Systems Science/Engineering; 2) Environmental Justice; 3) Applied Problem Solving; and 4) Skills.

Courses appearing in multiple categories may not be re-used.

Category 1: Earth Systems Science/ Engineering

Complete at least 1 of the following courses:
BIO 35N

Traditional Ecological Knowledge for Land Stewardship

4 Units
BIO 71

Planet Ocean

4 Units
BIO 81

Introduction to Ecology

4 Units
BIO 105A

Ecology and Natural History of Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve

4 Units
BIO 105B

Ecology and Natural History of Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve

4 Units
BIO 115

The Hidden Kingdom - Evolution, Ecology and Diversity of Fungi

4 Units
BIO 144

Conservation Biology: A Latin American Perspective

3 Units
CEE 107A

Understand Energy

3-5 Units
CEE 263C

Weather and Storms

3 Units
CEE 260A

Physical Hydrogeology

4 Units
EARTHSYS 101

Energy and the Environment

3 Units
EARTHSYS 102

Fundamentals of Renewable Energy Processes

3 Units
EARTHSYS 127

Plant EcoEvo in the Field

3 Units
EARTHSYS 150

Wildfires in the Anthropocene

3 Units
EARTHSYS 151

Biological Oceanography

3 Units
EARTHSYS 152

Marine Chemistry

3 Units
EARTHSYS 155

Science of Soils

4-5 Units
EARTHSYS 180

Agroecology

3 Units
EARTHSYS 323

Stanford at Sea

16 Units
ENERGY 177B

Engineering and Sustainable Development: Implementation

3 Units
ESS 233

Mitigating Climate Change through Soil Management

3 Units
HISTORY 107

Introduction to Urban Studies

4 Units
HUMBIO 113

The Human-Plant Connection

3 Units
HUMBIO 116

Climate Perspectives: Climate Science, Impacts, Carbon Markets, Decarbonization Models and Projects

3 Units
HUMBIO 130

Human Nutrition

4 Units
OCEANS 173HA

Marine Conservation Biology - Seminar Only

1 Units
OSPAUSTL 10

Coral Reef Ecosystems

3 Units
OSPAUSTL 32

Coastal Ecosystems

3 Units
OSPSANTG 58

Global Change in Chile

5 Units

Students may apply up to 16 units of Earthsys 323: Stanford at Sea across Categories 1, 3, and 4.

Category 2: Environmental Justice

Complete at least 1 of the following courses:
EARTHSYS 120

Environmental Justice in California

3 Units
EARTHSYS 125

Shades of Green: Exploring and Expanding Environmental Justice in Practice

3-4 Units
EARTHSYS 194

Introduction to Environmental Justice: Race, Class, Gender and Place

4 Units
EARTHSYS 195

Study of the Commons, Commoning, and Cooperative Approaches to Self-Governance and Sustainability

1-3 Units
ENGLISH 172D

Introduction to Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity

5 Units
NATIVEAM 100

Decolonizing Methodologies: Introduction to Native American Studies

5 Units
NATIVEAM 109A

Federal Indian Law

3 Units
NATIVEAM 115

Introduction to Native American History

5 Units
NATIVEAM 17

Indigenous Peacemaking: A Framework for Learning and Practice at Stanford

3 Units

Category 3: Applied Problem Solving

Complete at least 1 of the following courses:
CEE 100

Managing Sustainable Building Projects

4 Units
CEE 146S

Engineering Economics and Sustainability

3 Units
CEE 176G

Sustainability Design Thinking

3 Units
CEE 226

Life Cycle Assessment for Complex Systems

3-4 Units
CEE 243

Intro to Urban Sys Engrg

3 Units
CEE 323A

Infrastructure Finance and Governance

1 Units
EARTHSYS 106

World Food Economy

3-5 Units
EARTHSYS 155

Science of Soils

4-5 Units
EARTHSYS 160

Sustainable Cities

4-5 Units
EARTHSYS 176M

Spatial Planning for Gigascale Renewables & Transmission

3 Units
EARTHSYS 125

Shades of Green: Exploring and Expanding Environmental Justice in Practice

3-4 Units
EARTHSYS 168

Introduction to Land Use Policy and Planning

3 Units
EARTHSYS 171M

Solutions in Human and Planetary Health: Mitigation, Adaptation and Resilience

2-3 Units
EARTHSYS 194

Introduction to Environmental Justice: Race, Class, Gender and Place

4 Units
EARTHSYS 213

Innovating for Climate and Sustainability

3 Units
EARTHSYS 323

Stanford at Sea

16 Units
ENERGY 177A

Engineering and Sustainable Development: Toolkit

1-3 Units
HUMBIO 116

Climate Perspectives: Climate Science, Impacts, Carbon Markets, Decarbonization Models and Projects

3 Units
LAW 2504

Environmental Law and Policy

3 Units
LAW 2520

Climate Law and Policy

3 Units
POLISCI 124A

The American West

5 Units
URBANST 123A

Designing Research for Social Justice: Creating a Community Engaged Research Project

3 Units
URBANST 123B

Community Engaged Research - Principles, Ethics, and Design

3 Units
URBANST 133

Social Enterprise Workshop

4 Units
URBANST 164

Sustainable Cities

4-5 Units

Students may apply up to 16 units of Earthsys 323: Stanford at Sea across Categories 1, 3, and 4.

Category 4: Skills

Complete at least 1 of the following courses:
BIO 141

Introduction to Statistics for Biology

5 Units
CEE 100

Managing Sustainable Building Projects

4 Units
CEE 107A

Understand Energy

3-5 Units
CEE 124

Sustainable Development Studio

1-5 Units
CEE 146S

Engineering Economics and Sustainability

3 Units
CEE 151

Negotiation

3 Units
CEE 175A

California Coast: Science, Policy, and Law

3-4 Units
CEE 176A

Energy Efficient Buildings

3-4 Units
CEE 176B

100% Clean, Renewable Energy and Storage for Everything

3-4 Units
CEE 176G

Sustainability Design Thinking

3 Units
CEE 226

Life Cycle Assessment for Complex Systems

3-4 Units
CEE 260D

Remote Sensing of Hydrology

3 Units
EARTHSYS 100A

Introduction to Data Science for Geoscience

3 Units
EARTHSYS 106

World Food Economy

3-5 Units
EARTHSYS 109CSN

Sustainable Narratives

3 Units
EARTHSYS 125

Shades of Green: Exploring and Expanding Environmental Justice in Practice

3-4 Units
EARTHSYS 141

Remote Sensing of the Oceans

3-4 Units
EARTHSYS 149

Wild Writing

3 Units
EARTHSYS 157

Stanford Science Podcast

3 Units
EARTHSYS 160

Sustainable Cities

4-5 Units
EARTHSYS 177C

Science and Environmental Journalism

4-5 Units
EARTHSYS 177M

Environmental Storytelling

4-5 Units
EARTHSYS 185

Feeding Nine Billion

4 Units
EARTHSYS 192

Multimedia Environmental Communication

3 Units
EARTHSYS 323

Stanford at Sea

16 Units
ECON 106

World Food Economy

3-5 Units
ECON 155

Climate change and global inequality

5 Units
OCEANS 174H

Marine Data Science in Practice

4 Units
SOC 180B

Introduction to Data Analysis

4 Units

Students may apply up to 16 units of Earthsys 323: Stanford at Sea across Categories 1, 3, and 4.

Environmental Justice, Ethics, and Human Rights Subplan

Gateway

Students must complete a minimum of 24 units of Environmental Justice-related coursework.

Complete all of the following course(s):
EARTHSYS 194

Introduction to Environmental Justice: Race, Class, Gender and Place

4 Units

History of Socio-Environmental Movements

Complete at least 1 of the following courses:
CEE 130R

Racial Equity in Energy

2-3 Units
CSRE 121

Discourse of the Colonized: Native American and Indigenous Voices

5 Units
EARTHSYS 120

Environmental Justice in California

3 Units
EARTHSYS 120A

Climates of Inequality

3 Units
EARTHSYS 142J

Environmental Justice and Literature

3 Units
EARTHSYS 146J

Black Ecologies

3-5 Units
EARTHSYS 169

Race, Nature, and the City

4 Units
EARTHSYS 195

Study of the Commons, Commoning, and Cooperative Approaches to Self-Governance and Sustainability

1-3 Units
EARTHSYS 223E

How Do We Get Out of Here? Global Ecocide

3 Units
HISTORY 6S

An Environmental Problem: Energy, Pollution, Catastrophe

5 Units
SOC 103

Human and Planetary Health

3 Units
STS 190

Environment, Technoscience, and Society

4 Units
URBANST 141

Gentrification

5 Units

Ethical Frameworks

Complete at least 1 of the following courses:
AFRICAAM 207

Emergent Thinking: Abolition and Climate Change

5 Units
CSRE 126C

Ethics and Leadership in Public Service

3-4 Units
ETHICSOC 171

Justice

4-5 Units
ETHICSOC 178M

Introduction to Environmental Ethics

4-5 Units

Practice

Complete at least 1 of the following courses:
CEE 130B

Quest for an Inclusive Clean Energy Economy

3-4 Units
CEE 330

Racial Equity in Energy

2-3 Units
CEE 366A

Addressing deep uncertainty in systems models for sustainability

3 Units
CHPR 113

Healthy/Sustainable Food Systems: Maximum Sustainability across Health, Economics, and Environment

4 Units
CHPR 227

The Science of Community Engagement in Health Research

3 Units
CSRE 146A

Designing Research for Social Justice: Creating a Community Engaged Research Project

3 Units
CSRE 146B

Community Engaged Research - Principles, Ethics, and Design

3 Units
CSRE 161P

Entrepreneurship for Sustainability and Social Impact

3 Units
EARTHSYS 91EJ

Environmental Justice Storytelling: Writing for Impact

3 Units
EARTHSYS 114

Global Change and Emerging Infectious Disease

3 Units
EARTHSYS 125

Shades of Green: Exploring and Expanding Environmental Justice in Practice

3-4 Units
EARTHSYS 142

Remote Sensing of Land

3 Units
EARTHSYS 160

Sustainable Cities

4-5 Units
EARTHSYS 176M

Spatial Planning for Gigascale Renewables & Transmission

3 Units
EARTHSYS 177M

Environmental Storytelling

4-5 Units
EARTHSYS 181

Urban Agroecology

3 Units
EARTHSYS 192

Multimedia Environmental Communication

3 Units
EDUC 379

Moral, Civic, and Environmental Education

3 Units
HISTORY 200B

Doing Environmental History: Water Justice

5 Units
HUMRTS 108

Advanced Spanish Service-Learning: Migration, Asylum, and Human Rights at the Border

1-3 Units
INTNLREL 142

Challenging the Status Quo: Innovation in the Public Sector

3-5 Units
LAW 2504

Environmental Law and Policy

3 Units
LAW 2505

Land Use Law

3 Units
LAW 2515

Environmental Justice

3 Units
LAW 2520

Climate Law and Policy

3 Units
ME 206A

Design for Extreme Affordability

4 Units
ME 206B

Design for Extreme Affordability

4 Units
MS&E 92Q

International Environmental Policy

3 Units
OSPSANTG 71

Santiago: Urban Planning, Public Policy, and the Built Environment

5 Units
PEDS 150

Advancing Health Equity: Exploring Social Determinants of Health and Multi-sector Solutions

3 Units
PUBLPOL 174

The Urban Economy

4 Units
PUBLPOL 135

Regional Politics and Decision Making in Silicon Valley and the Greater Bay Area

4 Units
SUSTAIN 210

Energy Equity Policy Lab

3 Units

Reflection

Students will write a formal reflection to integrate and synthesize learning from coursework in the Environmental Justice Minor, including community-engaged learning experiences and relevant co-curricular learning achieved through involvement with student or community organizations.

Complete all of the following course(s):
EARTHSYS 134

Environmental Justice: Reflection

2 Units

Cardinal Course - Community Engaged Learning

A minimum of 12 units must be earned by completing coursework with a community-engaged learning component. These units must be earned in courses designated as Cardinal Courses by the Haas Center; alternatively, a student may petition opens in a new tabfor one non-Cardinal Course that includes a community-engaged component to count toward this requirement.

These courses will require students to synthesize multiple sources of knowledge to understand EJ problems, develop solutions, and build understanding and gain experience in engaging ethically with community members and organizations across power imbalances (see Principles of Ethical and Effective Service opens in a new tab).

Students will be eligible for the Cardinal Service Notation by fulfilling requirements for the Minor in Earth Systems, Environmental Justice subplan.  

Earn at least 12 units in the following course(s):
URBANST 141

Gentrification

5 Units
CHPR 227

The Science of Community Engagement in Health Research

3 Units
CSRE 12

Community Organizing: People, Power, and Change

4 Units
CSRE 146A

Designing Research for Social Justice: Creating a Community Engaged Research Project

3 Units
CSRE 146B

Community Engaged Research - Principles, Ethics, and Design

3 Units
CSRE 177E

Well-Being in Immigrant Children & Youth: A Service Learning Course

4 Units
EARTHSYS 120

Environmental Justice in California

3 Units
EARTHSYS 120A

Climates of Inequality

3 Units
EARTHSYS 125

Shades of Green: Exploring and Expanding Environmental Justice in Practice

3-4 Units
EARTHSYS 160

Sustainable Cities

4-5 Units
EARTHSYS 181

Urban Agroecology

3 Units
EARTHSYS 192

Multimedia Environmental Communication

3 Units
HUMRTS 108

Advanced Spanish Service-Learning: Migration, Asylum, and Human Rights at the Border

1-3 Units
ME 206A

Design for Extreme Affordability

4 Units
or
ME 206B

Design for Extreme Affordability

4 Units
PEDS 150

Advancing Health Equity: Exploring Social Determinants of Health and Multi-sector Solutions

3 Units
EARTHSYS 194

Introduction to Environmental Justice: Race, Class, Gender and Place

4 Units

Cardinal Courses may be doubled counted across requirements.