Postgraduate Course: Human dimensions of environmental change and sustainability (PGGE11130)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The course will provide an introduction to a range of important environmental and sustainability topics, with a focus on their human dimensions. Human dimensions encompass the societal, political, economic, technological and cultural aspects of managing and responding to contemporary environmental change and sustainability problems. The course is organised around expert lectures on core topics. The topics covered are deliberately broad, including climate, food, energy, water and biodiversity. The topics provide the context for small group discussions and class debate exploring common features of environmental change and sustainability problems; assessing their societal origins and implications, and exploring cross-cutting issues of interdisciplinarity and the science-policy interface. |
| Course description |
Each week the course will introduce and explore a new contemporary topic of environmental change and sustainability. Within each topic the course will cover:
Examples of how human activity is changing the environment;
The impact of those environmental changes on society;
Action taken to mitigate environmental change.
The course is based on a series of lectures given by experts in each environmental change topic, drawn from across the School of Geosciences and the University of Edinburgh, along with selected external experts. The Course Organiser (Dr Lovell) will introduce each topic and consider its unique features, along with the particular societal, political, economic, technological and cultural challenges it brings. Different ways of conceptualising the human dimensions of environmental change and sustainability will be explored.
Students will gain insights and knowledge from the lectures, reviewing literature (academic and policy), working together in small groups, writing a policy brief, and communicating their findings to others through developing and presenting a poster.
W1 Introduction
W2 Biodiversity
W3 Water
W4 Climate
W5 Global Change
W6 Food
W7 The science-policy interface
W8 Energy
W9 The science-policy interface
W10 Group poster presentations
W11 Summary & Exam preparation
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2014/15, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 40 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 44,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
152 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
50 %,
Coursework
50 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Posters - Group task [assessed 25% of final mark].
Students will work in small groups to prepare a poster presentation. Each group will develop and present a case study on a sustainability topic. Students will be expected to draw on knowledge and insight from: course lectures and discussions; suggested readings; and additional resources they have identified from their own research. Each group will develop their case study throughout the semester, including in class discussions, culminating in poster presentations by the group during Week 10 of the course (19th November 2014). Further instructions will be provided separately.
Policy Briefs - Individual task [assessed 25% of final mark].
Preparation of a short policy brief on a sustainability topic, to be submitted Monday 3rd November 2014. Further instructions will be provided separately.
Final written examination [50% of final mark]
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| Feedback |
Not entered |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S1 (December) | Human dimensions of environmental change and sustainability | 2:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
1. You will gain insights into a range of contemporary environmental change and sustainability topics;
2. You will learn about the societal, political, economic, technological and cultural aspects of managing and responding to contemporary environmental change and sustainability problems;
3. You will develop a critical understanding of the diverse arguments about sustainability, and ways to theorise them;
4. You will develop skills in group work, poster presentations, writing policy briefs and reviewing academic and policy documents to summarise, evaluate and gain a deeper understanding of particular environmental change and sustainability topics and debates.
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Reading List
Dryzek, J. S. & D. Schlosberg. (1998). Debating the Earth: the environmental politics reader. Oxford University Press.
Hajer, M. A. (1995). The politics of environmental discourse: ecological modernisation and the policy process. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Leach, M., J. Rokstrom, P. Raskin, I. C. Scoones, A. C. Stirling, A. Smith, J. Thompson, E. Millstone, A. Ely & E. Arond (2012). Transforming innovation for sustainability. Ecology and Society, 17 (2), 11.
Middleton, N. (2003). The Global Casino: An Introduction to Environmental Issues. 3rd Edition, London: Hodder Arnold.
Proctor, J.D. (1998) The meaning of global environmental change: retheorizing culture in human dimensions research. Global Environmental Change, 8(3), 227-248.
Rockström, J., W. Steffen, K. Noone, Å. Persson, F. S. Chapin, E. F. Lambin, T. M. Lenton, M. Scheffer, C. Folke & H. J. Schellnhuber (2009). A safe operating space for humanity. Nature, 461 (7263), 472-475.
Stern, P.C., Young, O. R. & Druckman,D. (eds) (1992) Global Environmental Change: Understanding the Human Dimensions. The National Academies Press, US.
Urry, J. (2011). Climate Change and Society. London: Polity Press.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Special Arrangements |
This course is often over-subscribed. Please notify the course secretary (natasa.honeybone@ed.ac.uk) during induction week if you wish to take this course.
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| Keywords | PGGE11130 Environment, sustainability, science-policy interface, interdisciplinarity |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Heather Lovell
Tel: (0131 6)51 4445
Email: heather.lovell@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Natasa Honeybone
Tel: (0131 6)50 2572
Email: natasa.honeybone@ed.ac.uk |
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