Department of
Anthropology & Geography

Minor in
Permaculture

For Geography click here

The minor in Permaculture is an interdisciplinary program open to students in any major. Permaculture is a design approach for agroecosystems. With a focus on long-term sustainability, it emphasizes ecological principles and diversity of plant and animal combinations suited to the characteristics of places and cultures. As such, it is appropriate for students who are concerned with resource issues, agriculture, community development, and land use planning.

Students must complete a minimum of 31 upper-division units. (With adviser’s approval, a transfer student who has completed equivalent courses at the lower-division level in Categories 1-5 may use those courses to satisfy requirements in the minor as long as the student has a minimum of 20 upper-division units in the minor). Advising and approval for each student’s pattern of courses in the minor is required.

Supplementing the Minor
The following are recommended upper-division GE courses. Choose one course from each category:

1. Social Sciences
   ANTH 3000 Anthropology and Global Issues, 3 units
   PSCI 4318 Environmental Policy and Politics, 4 units
2. Sciences
   BIOL 3000 Frontiers in Biology, 3 units
   CHEM 3070 The Chemicals in Your Life, 3 units
   CHEM 3100 Environmental Chemistry, 3 units
   GEOL 3050 Environmental Geology, 4units
   [Corequisite: GEOL 3053]
   NSCI 3000 Science for Self-Sufficiency, 3 units
   

Requirements (31–34 units)
(Prerequisites are in brackets after each course.)

Category 1 — Physical Environment
Choose two courses from the following (6 units):

BIOL 4000 Biogeography, 3 units
[ZOOL 1050 and BOTY 1050, or consent of instructor]
GEOG 3100 Climatology, 3 units
[GEOG 2010 or consent of instructor]
GEOL 3050 Environmental Geology, 4 units
GEOL 3810 Hydrogeology, 3 units
[GEOL 2100 and GEOL 2200]
GEOL 3900 Soil Geology: Application to Agriculture and Hydrogeology, 3 units
[GEOL 2100 and 2102, or consent of instructor]

Category 2 — Ecology
Choose one course from the following (3-4 units):

GEOG 3020 Human Ecology, 3 units
BIOL 4680 Ecology, 4 units
[BOTY 1050, ZOOL 1050, and statistics or calculus]
BOTY 4600 Plant Ecology, 4 units
[One year of college-level biology, including BOTY 1050, CHEM 1100, 1110, or equivalent]

Category 3 — Pests and Plant Diseases
Choose one course from the following (4 units):

BOTY 3500 Introductory Plant Pathology, 4 units
[BOTY 1050 or equivalent]
ENTO 3000 Principles of Entomology, 4 units
[ZOOL 1050 or equivalent]
ENTO 4800 Agricultural Entomology, 4 units
[One year of college-level biology, including ZOOL 1050 or equivalent]

Category 4 — Techniques
Choose three courses from the following (9-10 units):

BIOL 4200 Ecological Agriculture, 3 units
GEOG 4070 Agricultural Geography, 4 units
[one course in physical geography]
GEOG 4750 Geographic Information Systems, 3 units
[Consent of instructor and computer experience]
PSCI 3810 Multicultural Community Building and Conflict Resolution, 3 units
PSCI 4318 Environmental Policy and Politics, 4 units
PSCI 4325 Land Use Planning, 3 units
[PSCI 1201]

Category 5 — Applied Work/Work Experience (3 units)
It is required that students take an internship with the campus BioAg Center or with a local agricultural entity. See appropriate discipline for your interests. If students come from a community college with credited work experience, this requirement is waived.

Category 6 — Capstone Courses (6-7 units)
Required:

GEOG 4301 Permaculture Applications in Diverse Environments, 3 units

Choose one:

PHIL 4050 Environmental Ethics, 3 units
PHIL 4800 Nature Revisited: Environmental Issues in Philosophical Perspective, 3 units
PSCI 4326 Planning Issues and Agriculture, 4 units