The environmental studies capstone course (Envir St 600) is a required component for students completing our major. Priority is given to students declared in the environmental studies major.
Spring 2027 Capstone Courses
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Envir St 600 Section 001: Urban Food Systems and the Environment
Professor Monica White
2:55–4:55 p.m. Tuesday
This course will examine the relationship between food systems and the environment and allow students to identify a project of interest that they will develop from a research question to data collection and analysis. We will pay particular attention to the social, political and environmental impacts of local food organizations.
In an effort to examine community responses to food insecurity, students will explore the food landscape from production (i.e. agriculture) to distribution and participate in community service activities, like work at a community gardening project. Students will work with local organizations active in the urban agriculture in Madison and the state.
Envir St 600 Section 002: Global Resource Geopolitics
Professor Julie Klinger
11:05 a.m.–12:15 p.m. Monday/Wednesday
This capstone course enables students to explore in-depth the relationship between conflict and natural resources; the effects of this relationship on development, peace, and security; to put their education to work by examining best practices in researching matters of societal importance; to develop research-informed solutions to these complex problems; and to practice public engagement by preparing those solutions for dissemination to multiple audiences.
Envir St 600 Section 003: Environmental Justice: Land, Water, Air and Food
Professor Monica White
2:55–4:55 p.m. Thursday
This course will explore several environmental justice organizations for land, water, air, and food. Students will select a specific local, regional or national organization to support in order to examine the strategies a community utilizes to respond to environmental concerns that impact access to and quality of land, water, air, and food.
Envir St 600 Section 004: Net Zero, Done Right? Technical Methods and Critical Evaluation of GHG Reduction Pledges
Ben Peyer
1–2:10 p.m. Monday/Wednesday
Organizations across all sectors face pressure to measure their greenhouse gas emissions and set public reduction targets, but such initiatives are not unalloyed goods: whether they’re able to produce meaningfully accurate targets, whether and why they might make and keep net-zero promises, and the positive and negative justice implications of the specific emissions reductions which follow, are all open to debate.
In this course, we will learn the technical skills required to produce a corporate or municipal greenhouse gas emissions inventory while seeking a nuanced understanding of the social and systemic forces that impact how such changes are implemented.