IMPT Spring Registration Info for ES Majors!
Eric Zimmerman
Spring Quarter Registration Info for ES
Majors!
***********************************************************************
IMPORTANT REGISTRATION DATES & DEADLINES:
Feb. 9, 2026 Spring
Quarter Registration Pass #1 opens.
Check
GOLD for
your specific day/time & class schedule info.
- View all Registration
Pass Times & Info.
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HELPFUL ES CLASS SCHEDULING TOOLS:
We strongly encourage new ES majors to watch this short video, ES
Freshman Tool Kit, with tips on registration, scheduling,
etc. (.pdf
of slides)
There are also helpful FOUR YEAR PLANS for all three ES majors
that include GE
requirements listed the ES
Degrees
webpage here.
CONFUSED
about what or how to fulfill fill the Area C - Outside
Concentration, then watch
this helpful video done by the ES Advising Team outlining your
options!
Video Explanation
of Outside Concentration Options (12 min) and Slides of Outside
Concentration Video (pdf)
If
you need ES scheduling assistance visit the ES Advising webpage
for drop-in hours or
to schedule a Zoom advising session. You
can also email questions to advi...@es.ucsb.edu
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INDEX:
1) REMINDER: Spring Pass #1 Registration
Restriction
limiting access to add ES courses
to Declared ES and HYDRO majors only. If you’re not
officially
declared an ES major
in GOLD, you will have to wait till Pass #2. To declare the ES
major click here.
2) NOTE: If you Passed
APES (Environmental
Science) with a score of 3 or higher
you’ve automatically received major credit
for ENVS 2!
3) REMEMBER: ENVS 1, 2,
3 are independent
courses and can be taken out
of sequence!
You're welcome to enroll in ENVS 2 if you have not
completed ENVS
1.
4) LOOKING to fulfill
your Area A-1 (Ecosystems &
Society) requirement
this quarter? If so, ENVS 153 is approved for this section
and retroactive to
ALL current ES majors – even if it’s not on your year’s
major sheet!
5) NEW EXCITING ES
COURSE just added to this
Spring Schedule:
ENVS 193EM – Applied Energy Management.
Perfect for students looking to go into Sustainability!!!
6) NEW ES B-1 course
this Spring:
ENVS 193DD – Data Science for
Environmental Studies.
Class will apply as an Area B elective, and B-1 course for
All ES B.S. majors!
7) FOUR NEW ES COURSES
for Area B (B-2 for B.S.) Electives this Spring:
- ENVS 109 – Ethics and Extinction
- ENVS 125C – Land Use and Planning Law
- ENVS 193GS - Environmental Issues in the Global
South
- ENVS 193ML - Material Lives: Consumption,
Accumulation, & The
Environment
8) POLS 177, a
cross-listed course with ENVS 177,
is being offered only under
the Political Science department this Summer. But ES majors who get in
can
use it as a ENVS
elective (Area B) if they wish.
9) List of ES Courses
planned to be offered in 2026
Summer Sessions.
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CONTENT:
1) REMINDER: Spring Pass #1 Registration
Restriction
limiting access to add ES courses
to Declared ES and HYDRO majors only. If you’re not
officially
declared an ES major
in GOLD, you will have to wait till Pass #2. To declare the ES
major click here.
This
is done to assure all declared ES majors have priority access to
the ES classes
they need to assure they graduate in a timely manner. Starting Pass #2 all ES
courses will open to
all majors and as long as there’s still open seats and one meets
the course
prerequisites, they can add ES courses then.
To
learn more about how to officially declare ES or HYDRO as your
official major
visit the ES
Webpage Declaring
the ES major here. It
contains all
the requirements, qualifications, and procedure to declare ES as
your major –
which is done 100% online. Just follow the directions on this
website and it
can take up to a week to declare a single major and 2-3 weeks to
have a double
major request processed.
If
you have questions about declaring ES as your major please
contact the ES Advising
team here.
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2) NOTE: If you Passed
APES (Environmental
Science) with a score of 3 or higher you’ve automatically
received major credit
for ENVS 2!
If this is you, beware, GOLD will allow you to still add ENVS 2 to your Spring Schedule and stay in the class throughout the quarter. But after the quarter is over the Office of the Registrar will flag the class as duplicate matriculation as you already earned credit from APES and it will take away the ENVS 2 units and the grade will not apply towards your UCSB GPA.
This is only the case if you took the APES exam and passed it with a 3 or higher. Otherwise, you still need to take the class.
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3) REMEMBER: ENVS 1, 2,
3 are independent
courses and can be taken out of sequence!
You're welcome to enroll in ENVS 2 even if you have not
completed ENVS
1 yet.
There are no prerequisites to ENVS 1, 2, 3 and you can take them out of sequence. All three courses are also scheduled to be offered in UCSB's 2026 Summer Sessions.
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4) LOOKING to fulfill
your Area A-1 (Ecosystems &
Society) requirement this quarter? If so, ENVS 153 is approved
for this section
and retroactive to ALL current ES majors – even if it’s not on
your year’s
major sheet!
This is a newer course (previously listed as ENVS 193GC) and was added to the A-1 list two years ago. It is retroactive to all current ES majors, even if not on your declared year’s major sheet. So if you need to fulfill this requirement, ENVS 153 is your option this Spring quarter!
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5) NEW EXCITING ES
COURSE just added to this
Spring Schedule:
ENVS 193EM – Applied Energy Management.
Perfect for students looking to go into Sustainability!!!
This is a new ES elective course taught by Brandon Kaysen (same instructor who teaches ENVS 187 - Green Buildings). This course will equip students with the technical, analytical, and strategic skills used by real-world energy managers; bridging theory and application, and showing how energy is generated, delivered, measured, and managed across buildings, campuses, and portfolios. Students learn to analyze and normalize data, benchmark performance using EUI, and understand building science, HVAC systems, controls, and operations. Topics include energy cost drivers, GHG accounting basics, efficiency and electrification strategies, financial analysis, and Zero Net Energy planning. Using real datasets students complete a capstone energy management plan that integrates technical analysis, financial modeling, carbon impacts, and stakeholder communication.
Class will apply as an Area B elective for all ES majors (B-2 for ES B.S. majors).
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6) NEW ES course in
Spring: ENVS 193DD – Data
Science for
Environmental Studies.
Class will apply as an Area B elective, and B-1 course for All
ES B.S. majors!
Students will be introduced to basic computing and data management, manipulation, and visualization using examples from environmental studies. Students will conduct hands-on exercises in class using current data science tools. No background in computing or coding is required, and new learners of both skills are especially welcome. Basic understanding of biological and environmental concepts would provide necessary context for class exercises.
Course will retroactively be applied to all declared ES B.S. majors' B-1 by the time Spring classes start!
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7) FOUR NEW ES COURSES
for Area B (B-2 for B.S.) Electives this Spring:
- ENVS 109 – Ethics and Extinction
- ENVS 125C – Land Use and Planning Law
- ENVS 193GS - Environmental Issues in the Global South
- ENVS 193ML - Material Lives: Consumption, Accumulation,
and The
Environment
ENVS
109 – Ethics and Extinction
Course explores the ethical dimensions of extinction from
numerous perspectives
and genres: ethnographic, historical, philosophical/ethical and
religious
texts; fiction and film; artistic representations; public
protests and rituals;
and current news stories. We consider case studies of iconic
creatures that
have gone extinct or are in danger of doing so, and consider the
ethics of
saving or reviving species
through
hi-tech conservation and “de-extinction” strategies. We will
expand our ideas
of extinction by considering the silencing of nature’s
soundscapes (sonic
extinction), and the entangled loss of animal and human
languages to
extinction. We will also look at emerging narratives about human
extinction
posed by AI systems.
ENVS
125C – Land Use and Planning Law
An examination of local, state, and federal laws regulating land
use and
development. Covers California land use and planning
constitutional and legal
principles, including administrative and judicial processes. The
class will
include an examination of one or more case studies and critique
a local
agency's application of laws and regulations to address
environmental and
climate-related impacts.
ENVS
193GS - Environmental Issues in the Global South
Course adopts a place-based approach to environmental practices
and policies
and seeks to understand how historical and cultural contexts
shape
nature-society interactions in marginalized communities across
the world.
Specific topics include encounters between resource extraction
and
environmental protection, gender and indigenous identities in
environmental
activism, contributions of informal and small-scale livelihoods
to
environmental resilience, and global and local strategies for
climate change
adaptation and mitigation.
ENVS
193ML - Material Lives: Consumption, Accumulation, and The
Environment
Our things make up the tangible artifacts of our lives and
account for much of
our impact on the planet. At a larger scale, our possessions,
and how we use,
store, and discard them, offer key insights into our society’s
relationship
with nature. In this course we use quantitative and qualitative
approaches to
study how household-level consumption and accumulation have
changed over time.
We examine how industrialization, globalization, and capitalism
have enabled
these changes at the societal level, and explore the emotional
dimensions,
considering how societal narratives shape individuals’ desires,
expectations,
and behavior and what these may reveal about broader societal
anxieties.
All courses will apply towards the Area B ES Electives and Area B-2 for ES B.S. majors.
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8) POLS 177, a
cross-listed course with ENVS 177,
is being offered only under
the Political Science department this Summer. But ES majors who get in
can
use it as a ENVS
elective (Area B) if they wish.
All
cross-listed courses, no matter which department one enrolls
under, can be applied
to either the Area B or Area C.
Just can’t
apply it towards both.
To review a list of all ES Cross-listed courses, visit the ES Courses webpage.
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9) List of ES Courses
planned to be offered in 2026
Summer Sessions.
The
following is a list of ES courses ES is proposing to offer over
UCSB’s 2026 Summer
Sessions. Days and times
will be
announced when the final Summer Class Schedule is released to
GOLD in mid-March.
Several courses are being offered online/remote this summer.
Note, there are
two ES courses that are still yet to be confirmed and may not be
offered at
all.
Session A
ENVS 2 - Intro. to Environmental Sciences
ENVS 3 - Intro. Social & Cultural Envt. (ONLINE)
ENVS 108O - History of Oceans
ENVS 129 – Ecopsychology
ENVS 130C - Aquatic Food Mgt. (ONLINE) (fulfills A-1 or a B-1 for
B.S. majors)
ENVS 143 - Endangered Species
Session
B
ENVS 1 - Intro. to Env. Studies
ENVS 60 - Applied Ecology (ONLINE)
ENVS 178 - Politics of the Environment (ONLINE)
ENVS 193TK - Traditional Eco Knowledge (ONLINE)
ENVS 193TW - Transwater Boundary (ONLINE)
Possible
ES Offering still TBD*
ENVS 116 or another course from Area A-2 list
ENVS 117 or another course from Area A-3 list
* ES is still working to lock down instructors for these two
courses. If both
are offered at least one will be in Session B, possible both.
-- Eric D. Zimmerman (he/him) Student Services Manager, Lecturer Environmental Studies, UC Santa Barbara To schedule a Zoom advising appointment visit: https://tinyurl.com/8nrcckds "Work Hard ~ Play Harder!"