Definition of Environmental Literacy for General Education:

Environmental Literacy (EL) courses provide students with the ability to understand, and articulate perspectives on, the interactions between human society and the natural world, as well as the challenges of environmental stewardship. A course from any disciplinary area may satisfy the EL requirement, provided that it focuses throughout on one or more of the following:

1. theories, observations, or models of how humans impact the health and well-being of the natural world;
2. theories, observations, or models of how the natural world affects human health and well-being;
3. public policies, legal frameworks, and/or other social systems that affect the environment;
4. moral and/or ethical dimensions regarding the environment;
5. cultural, creative, or artistic representations of human-environment interactions.

Note: Please be aware that not all courses that deal with the environment are necessarily approved for EL. Please see the list of Approved Gen Ed Courses to verify if a course was approved for EL. You can also email karen.mcdermott@uconn.edu with any questions.