Environmental Field Studies Courses
Learn More
You can learn more about ES Field Studies by clicking on the following links:
- See the full listing of Environmental Studies courses
- Flip through the Picasa album to see more photos of ES field courses
- Check out the ES requirements and sign up to become an ES major or minor!
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Students get out of the four-walled classroom in Environmental Studies. For more photos, see the Ravine Lodge Picasa page.
The four-walled classroom is just one kind of learning environment. Environmental Studies believes that the experience-based field studies courses at Lake Forest are a critical component to any student’s education.
Course Spotlight:
The Senior Capstone Seminar (ES 482) started a blog about their course, Causes and Consequences of the Deepwater Horizon Blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. They just returned from a weekend trip to New Orleans, and the blog explores those experiences in particular. Many thanks to the Mellon Foundation and the MacKenzie Fund for making this trip possible.
You can follow the class at:
ES Field Courses:
ES 282: Lake Forestry
The subjects of Lake Forestry are the trees and forests of the Midwest. Students learn the ecology of individual trees and of the forest assemblages that they are part of. Also included in this course are forest history and the history of forestry, the relationship between forest ecosystems and urban and agricultural ecosystems, and current forest conservation and restoration efforts. All classes are held outside.
ES 201: Integrated Environmental Field Study
Integrated Environmental Field Studies (ES 201) is a field course that is held on Long Island, NY, and northern Vermont during the Summer I semester. See the IEFS Picasa Album for more photos!
ES 289: Biodiversity and Agriculture
This course provides a foundation of knowledge of agricultural history; an investigation into the present state of food production, distribution, and consumption; and an exploration of the most successful and sustainable agricultural systems for our future.
The course includes the basic biology of crops, concentrating on the diversity of plants that gave rise to the crops in use today. It also looks at changes in ecosystems caused by agriculture and the different types of new ecosystems that agriculture has given rise to. The relationship between agriculture and conservation is an important theme in this course. The course be interdisciplinary, with readings from biology, history, literature, law, economics, sociology, and politics.
The experiential component to this course is critical, thus as many class sessions will be held outdoors as possible and we will take several field trips during the semester. All classes meet in the LFC Garden (behind Glen Rowan House).
